The Colts (7-6) returned to the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center on Monday squarely in the AFC playoff picture as the conference's No. 6 seed. Here's where the AFC playoff race stands entering Week 15 (record, Week 14 result):
- New England Patriots (9-4, idle)
- Tennessee Titans (9-4, 20-0 win vs. Jaguars)
- Kansas City Chiefs (9-4, 48-9 win vs. Raiders)
- Baltimore Ravens (8-5, 24-22 loss @ Browns)
- Los Angeles Chargers (8-5, 37-21 win vs. Giants)
- Indianapolis Colts (7-6, idle)
- Buffalo Bills (7-6, 33-27 loss @ Buccaneers)
- Cleveland Browns (7-6, 24-22 win vs. Ravens)
- Cincinnati Bengals (7-6, 26-23 loss vs. 49ers)
- Denver Broncos (7-6, 38-10 win vs. Lions)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6-1, 36-28 loss @ Vikings)
- Las Vegas Raiders (6-7, 48-9 loss @ Chiefs)
- Miami Dolphins (6-7, idle)
The Colts hold head-to-head tiebreakers over the Bills and Dolphins, and at 6-3 in the AFC hold conference record tiebreakers over the Browns (4-5), Bengals (5-3), Broncos (3-5), Steelers (4-4) and Raiders (4-4). If teams have the same record and do not play a head-to-head matchup, the tiebreaker moves to conference record.
The Colts play the Raiders in Week 17.
Here's what the Week 15 schedule looks like:
- Chiefs @ Chargers (Thursday, 8:20 p.m.)
- Raiders @ Browns (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.)
- Patriots @ Colts (Saturday, 8:15 p.m.)
- Panthers @ Bills (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
- Jets @ Dolphins (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
- Titans @ Steelers (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
- Bengals @ Broncos (Sunday, 4;05 p.m.)
- Packers @ Ravens (Sunday, 4:25 p.m.)
If the Colts beat the Patriots and the Chargers lose to the Chiefs, the Colts would enter Week 16 as the AFC No. 5 seed, as those results would equal the two teams' records at 8-6 while bumping the Colts' conference record to 7-3 and dropping the Chargers' to 5-4.
The Colts play both the current AFC No. 1 seed (Patriots) and NFC No. 1 seed (Arizona Cardinals) on consecutive Saturday primetime slots, with Week 16's a Christmas night kickoff at Arizona.
