It’s happy hunting for playoff berths
Record 27 teams still have chance to make postseason
While no team has clinched a postseason spot in the jam-packed AFC, there never have been more teams alive in the playoff hunt this late in a season.
Only the Bears, Lions, Jaguars, Texans and Jets have been eliminated so far, with 27 teams still with at least a sliver of a postseason chance, tied for the most ever with three weeks left in the season.
The only other times that has happened came in 2004, 1995 and in 1982, when 16 teams made the playoffs in a strike-shortened, nine-game season.
The only team that has clinched a spot is the Packers, who won their third straight NFC North title after beating the Ravens on Sunday.
No team has clinched in the AFC, marking just the sixth time since the eight-division format started in 2002 that no team in a conference had clinched a playoff berth with three weeks left in the season.
It last happened in the AFC in 2016. It also happened in the AFC in 2002, the NFC in 2010 and both conferences in 2014.
Rare shutouts
Tom Brady had a rare shutout loss this week with a 9-0 defeat to the Saints, marking the first time his team had been held scoreless since Dec. 10, 2006, when the Patriots visited the Dolphins.
Brady had gone 255 straight starts in the regular season and playoffs without being shut out, the second-longest streak ever for a QB behind Drew Brees, who was never shut out in 304 career starts.
It also was the first time in Brady’s career that he was shut out at home.
Ben Roethlisberger has the longest active streak without being shut out for any current QB, with the Steelers scoring in his last 225 games in the regular season and playoffs.
Brady’s old team, the Patriots, were held scoreless in the first half in their loss to the
Colts on Saturday night for the first time since Oct. 2, 2016, against the AFC East-rival Bills, when Jacoby Brissett started in the final game of Brady’s suspension for “Deflategate.”
The Patriots had gone 99 straight games in the regular season and playoffs without being shut out in the first half, the longest streak in the NFL since at least 1991.
They also held the previous record of 82 straight games from 2006-11.
Power rankings
The Associated Press Pro32 NFL Power Rankings, as voted by a 12-member panel, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Tuesday, total points based on 32 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 32nd-place vote, and previous ranking:
Rank, team
1. Green Bay Packers (12)
2. Kansas City Chiefs
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
4. Los Angeles Rams
5. Dallas Cowboys
6. New England Patriots
7. Arizona Cardinals
8. Indianapolis Colts
9. Tennessee Titans
10. Buffalo Bills
11. Los Angeles Chargers
12. San Francisco 49ers
13. Cincinnati Bengals
14. Baltimore Ravens
15. Pittsburgh Steelers
16. Minnesota Vikings
17. Miami Dolphins
18. New Orleans Saints
19. Cleveland Browns
20. Philadelphia Eagles
21. Las Vegas Raiders
22. Denver Broncos
23. Washington
24. Atlanta Falcons
25. Seattle Seahawks
26. Carolina Panthers
27. Chicago Bears
28. New York Giants
29. Detroit Lions
30. New York Jets
31. Houston Texans
32. Jacksonville Jaguars