If you think the fight for the Premier League title is tight you want to take a look at the NFL AFC Championship race with one week to go in Regular Season.
The playoff picture remains a complete mystery and full of so many potential surprises almost impossible to call all of them. Five of the six participants are set, but where they'll be seeded come January remains anyone's guess.
As it stands the following is known...
The Broncos (12-3) have sealed up the AFC West and clinched a first-round bye.
The Patriots (11-4) have won the AFC East, the Bengals (10-5) have taken the AFC North and the AFC South goes to the Colts (10-5).
The Chiefs (11-4) are locked into the fifth-seed, but an NFL fans wet dream of a final Regular Season schedule for Week 17 will decide where all five remaining playoff teams are slotted.
Denver would need to collapse completely to miss out on home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Broncos on Sunday (29th) face a Raiders squad that, barring disaster, won't stop Denver from controlling the AFC's road to MetLife.
As a huge Bronco's fan I don't see it happening, but if Terrelle Pryor and the Raiders pull off the impossible -- and the Patriots knock off the Bills -- New England become favourites for No. 1 seed.
With nothing to play for this coming Sunday, the Chiefs might sit their starters. The Patriots, obviously, can't follow suit. Should New England stumble, and the Bengals top the Ravens at home, Cincinnati would earn the conference's second seed.
The only other team alive for the bye? The Colts.
If Indy beats the Jaguars and the Patriots and Bengals implode, the Colts land at No. 2.
That would amount to a bizarre finish for Indy -- a maddening squad -- but they must believe nothing feels impossible after seeing what Buffalo did to Miami on Sunday and weighing how dominant Cincy has been at home. What makes it even more crazy is that New England can finish anywhere from first to fourth.
To say the scenario for No. 1 is complex is an understatement of epic proportions, as the Patriots could wind up in the No. 4 spot by losing to Buffalo combined with wins for Cincy and Indy. That minefield of events would notch the Bengals at No. 2 and the Colts at No. 3.
It's enough to make anyone's head spin.
The Sixth seed is also obviously still up for grabs with Four teams alive for the conference's final wild-card spot.
Pundits in the States give the Dolphins an overwhelming 59 percent shot at the sixth spot. If the Dolphins (8-7) take care of business Sunday against the Jets, they're in at No. 6 should the Ravens (8-7), Chargers (8-7) and Steelers (7-8) win. Miami also gets in if they prevail, and either the Ravens lose, or San Diego wins. The Ravens, however, would win a two-team tie breaker with the Dolphins because of Baltimore's regular-season win over Miami. The Dolphins and Ravens both hold head-to-head tie breakers with the Chargers, but if San Diego knocks off the Chiefs -- and the Dolphins and Ravens lose -- the Bolts are in the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
It won't be easy, but if the Steelers (with an 8.9 percent shot) beat the Browns -- and the Ravens, Dolphins and Chargers all collapse -- Pittsburgh is your sixth seed.
Unsurprisingly it's been suggested the Bengals, pounded by the Steelers a week ago, might be wise to mail it in against the Ravens to keep Pittsburgh out of the playoffs. That's nonsense considering how close Cincy is to earning the bye.
And that's the beauty of where we sit as NFL fans heading into Week 17. Outside of the Chiefs, not a single team in the AFC can mail it in come Sunday. One thing for sure whatever happens it ain't going to be dull as this one's definitely going down to the wire.
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