Home Stretch: Week 12 GOTWs

[Aestis]

This is bar none the craziest wildcard race we've had in the league yet.

An incredible seven AFC teams are within just one game of each other, all fighting over two AFC wildcard spots: CLE, CIN, SD at 6-4; HOU, NYJ, DEN, OAK at 5-5.

In the NFC, if Seattle loses to Dallas tonight, that would mean seven teams are within two games of the 5 seed, fighting for their own precious two wildcard spots: SEA (if they lose to DAL) & DET at 6-4; CHI at 5-4; NYG at 5-5; MIN at 4-5; LA & SF at 4-6. Even if SEA wins, that's 6 teams within 2 games of the current 6 seed.


With so many teams fighting for so few spots, playoffs effectively start early for about a third of the league:

49ers (4-6) @ Jets (5-5)
Both of these teams have knocked off juggernauts in their respective conferences (SF beating 8-2 ARI and NYJ handing KC their only loss), but inconsistency has plagued both squads. No room for jekyll & hyde performances now, they'll both need every win they can get from here on out.


Texans (5-5) @ Lions (6-4)
Another game with major playoff implications. While a loss in Detroit wouldn't mathematically mean elimination for HOU, realistically it very well might knock them too far back to make it in. The AFC is a bloodbath at the moment, and while a 6-loss team might make it in, HOU's conference & tiebreakers are poor enough that it probably wouldn't be them. Meanwhile, the Lions are in the NFC wildcard driver's seat right now, but with 3 games against the Packers & Vikings still looming, it's not a safe seat to be in. Beating the Texans would keep them ahead of the crowd and give them just a little breathing room.


Chiefs (9-1) @ Bengals (6-4)
Mattraq finally is playing up to his potential this season, ironically a season he thought was lost after a player or two got hurt early on. When he lets setbacks get into his head, he forces the ball on offense, turns it over, goes on tilt, and can lose to anyone. But when he's focused at the task at hand, he's a top tier defender, a solid offensive player capable of finding the open man, and there's not a team in the league he can't beat, as evidenced by his knocking off the powerhouse Steelers last week. It was a huge win for a team with a tough second-half schedule trying to claw its way to a playoff berth. Can they knock off two AFC favorites in back to back weeks? A win this week over KC would be a gigantic boon for the Bengals' playoff chances.


GOTW
Chargers (6-4) @ Raiders (5-5)
San Diego has truly taken a step forward this season under new HC/GM cmcfarland, marked by solid play-calling and an aggressive defense. Their Achilles heel is turnovers. If they can learn to dial it back and avoid TOs through the air, this is a dangerous team capable of earning a playoff berth and upsetting someone once they're in. HC/GM Sagebus has had Oakland atop the AFC West for most of the cycle, yet he now faces the prospect of missing the playoffs and finishing 4th in this competitive division. They started off the season very slow but have been quietly notching wins as of late. Can they pull off the second-half comeback?