The Steelers Have the 6 Seed, But Can They Win the Division?

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Standings

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After dismantling one of the leagues premier defenses playing with a lead your team your town, your Pittsburgh Steelers have moved into sixth place in the AFC.  With road games vs lousy divisional teams, the road to the playoffs appears to be clear.

If we’re being honest the Steelers scare the shit out of ever team in the playoffs.  They’re getting hot at the right time and are decently healthy.  Sure everyone would love to invite Le’Veon Bell to the touchdown party but the passing game is doing more than its share to be considered dominant.  If the Steelers could win the division and get that first playoff game at home, they become that much scarier but is it possible to jump the Bengals? Lets look.

Assuming the Steelers win out and Bengals lose out, that leaves both teams at 11-5.  Time to break the tie.

  • Head-to-head – Steelers/Bengals split 1-1, onto the next one
  • Winning % within the division – Both teams would finish 4-2, onto the next one.
  • Winning % in common games – The common games are the 4 in the division (BAL & CLE), the AFC West and NFC West.  In those game, both the Steelers & Bengals are 9-3, onto the next one.
  • Winning %  within the conference – Both teams would be 8-4 vs the AFC, onto the next one.
  • Strength of victory – What does this even mean you ask? Just looking at a teams victories, who beat the better teams?

StandingsNextLevel

The teams the Bengals defeated have a combined winning percentage of .409.  The Steelers meanwhile have beaten teams with a combined winning percentage of .448 meaning the Steelers would win the division and host a first round playoff game.  The only way the Bengals could make up the 6 games is if the teams they beat had 6 more wins than teams the Steelers beat.  With 14 common opponents cancelling each other out that would mean the Bills would rattle off 6 wins in the last two weeks….

Get ready for a fun two weeks.  The formula for the Steelers is embarrass a team one week and unleash them on the Bengals the next and hope they avenge their loss with a Bungal beatdown.

The force has awaken

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