Insane Scenario Could Put Buffalo Bills At Risk Of Missing Playoffs Or Set Them Up For First Round Bye

The Buffalo Bills are one win away from clinching a berth to the NFL Playoffs. However, there is a unique scenario in which they could miss out all together. It would all come down to Sunday night.

Josh Allen and the Bills will travel south for the winter to play the Dolphins in Miami as the final game of Week 18, which of course is the final game of the season. There is potentially everything on the line.

One particular sequence of events could create all-or-nothing stakes for Buffalo. Let’s break it down.

Here is what it looks like:

• Steelers vs. Ravens
  • Pittsburgh win
• Jaguars vs. Titans
  • Jacksonville win
• Texans vs. Colts
  • Either team wins— no tie.

Should those three things happen, it would create a literal do-or-die scenario in the final game of the regular season.

If the Pittsburgh wins, Jacksonville win, and Indianapolis and Houston do not tie, a Buffalo win would clinch the No. 2-seed in the AFC and a first-round bye. A loss would eliminate the Bills from the playoffs all together.

The stakes do not get much higher than that!

There are obviously a lot that needs to happen for it to reach the point where Sunday Night Football could make or break the entire NFL season for Buffalo. However, each individual outcome is very possible.

The Steelers have shown some signs of life down the backstretch of the season. The Ravens will likely sit most, if not all, of their starters after already clinching the No. 1 seed. Pittsburgh could win.

Neither the Jaguars nor the Titans have much to play for. It should be a pretty equal game. Jacksonville could win.

The odds of the Texans and Colts playing to a tie are so much lower than literally any other result. A non-tie not only could happen but likely will happen.

Buffalo’s NFL Playoffs fate really comes down to the first two games.