CLEVELAND — Thanks to a 20-6 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football, the Cleveland Browns have advanced their record on the season to 10-4.
But while the Browns have yet to officially punch their ticket to the playoffs, they're getting close.
According to advanced analytics website Five Thirty Eight, Cleveland now possesses an 92 percent chance of qualifying for postseason play. That number is up from the 87 percent chance that the Browns possessed a week ago, with Cleveland possessing a chance to officially clinch a playoff spot next week.
But in order to end the NFL's longest postseason drought, the Browns don't only need to beat the New York Jets in Week 16, but also get some help. With that in mind, let's take a look at where the Browns fit into the AFC playoff picture with two weeks remaining in the 2020 regular season.
AFC North
AFC North Standings
- Pittsburgh Steelers 11-2*
- Cleveland Browns 10-4
- Baltimore Ravens 9-5
- Cincinnati Bengals 2-10-1*
*denotes team still needs to play its Week 15 matchup.
As a result of the Browns' Week 14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the only way for Cleveland to win the AFC North is to finish the season with a better record than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The good news? The Browns face the Steelers in Week 17. The bad news? They need Pittsburgh to lose out until then, meaning a Steelers win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night or Indianapolis Colts next week would end the division race.
Considering that Pittsburgh enters Monday night as a heavy favorite over the Bengals, it's likely that the Steelers will have the division locked up by the time they face the Colts next week. But should Cincinnati pull off the upset, the intrigue will last at least one more week.
AFC Wild Card
Through 15 weeks, here's how the AFC Playoff picture looks:
Division Winners
- Kansas City Chiefs (13-1)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2)*
- Buffalo Bills (11-3)
- Tennessee Titans (10-4)
Wild Card
- Cleveland Browns (10-4)
- Indianapolis Colts (10-4)
- Miami Dolphins (9-5)
- Baltimore Ravens (9-5)
- Las Vegas Raiders (7-7)
With the Titans, Browns, Colts, Dolphins and Ravens each winning over the weekend, nothing changed about the current AFC Wild Card standings from a week ago.
Currently, Cleveland is slotted to be the top Wild Card and the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs. And thanks to their head-to-head tiebreaker vs. the Indianapolis Colts, the Browns can clinch a postseason appearance with any of the following three scenarios taking place next week:
- Browns beat Jets, Colts lose to Pittsburgh Steelers
- Browns beat Jets, Dolphins lose or tie to Las Vegas Raiders
- Browns beat Jets, Ravens lose or tie to New York Giants
- Browns tie Jets, Dolphins lose to Raiders
- Browns tie Jets, Ravens lose to Giants
While a Browns win coupled with a Titans loss to the Green Bay Packers wouldn't quite clinch a playoff spot, it would increase Cleveland's playoff odds to 98 percent entering Week 17.
What's ahead?
Here are the games left on the Browns' 2020 schedule:
- Dec. 27 at New York Jets
- Jan. 3 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
At this point, it's pretty simple: the Browns win out and they're in. And even if they only beat the 1-13 Jets next week before losing to the Steelers -- who could be resting their starters in Week 17 with their own postseason seeding locked in -- they'll still have plenty of opportunities to receive the necessary help elsewhere to clinch their first postseason appearance since 2002.