In the words of Head Coach John Harbaugh’s mother: Get the lead, keep the lead
On New Year’s Eve, the Baltimore Ravens beat down the Miami Dolphins, 56-19 victory officially clinched the AFC’s coveted No. 1 seed. As such, the road to the Super Bowl in the conference goes through Baltimore.
AFC Standings
- *-Baltimore Ravens (13-3)
- x-Miami Dolphins (11-5)
- z-Kansas City Chiefs (10-6)
- #-Jacksonville Jaguars (9-7, 3-1 vs HOU+IND)
- x-Cleveland Browns (11-5)
- Buffalo Bills (10-6)
- #-Indianapolis Colts (9-7, 1-2 vs JAX+HOU, win over HOU & PIT)
- #-Houston Texans (9-7, 1-2 vs IND+JAX, loss to IND, win over PIT)
- #-Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7, two wins over CIN, loss to IND, loss to HOU)
- e-Denver Broncos (8-8)
- e-Cincinnati Bengals (8-8, two losses to PIT)
- e-Las Vegas Raiders (7-9)
- e-New York Jets (6-10)
- e-Tennessee Titans (5-11)
- e-Los Angeles Chargers (5-11)
- e-New England Patriots (4-12)
* – Baltimore has clinched the first-round bye and the one seed.
z- Kansas City has clinched the AFC West
x – Miami and Cleveland have clinched a playoff spot
# – First, the AFC South tiebreaker applies which Jacksonville wins based on head-to-head record against Houton and Indianapolis. That dumps Houston and Indianapolis into the Wild Card tiebreaker with Pittsburgh. Indianapolis has a win over Houston, so the Colts and Steelers go to a tiebreaker and Indianapolis wins on head-to-head. Houston and Pittsburgh go to a tiebreaker, and the Texans have a win over Pittsburgh
e – The Titans, Jets, Chargers, and Patriots have been eliminated from the postseason. The Broncos, Bengals, and Raiders joined them in Week 18.
The Baltimore Ravens now hold the second-best Super Bowl winning odds according to DraftKings Sportsbook (+300), behind only the San Francisco 49ers (+240).