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 Chicago, Detroit, Jacksonville, Houston and the New York 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 Green Bay Packers, who have won the NFC North after beating Baltimore 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.
FOURTH DOWN GAMBLES
The two successful fourth-down conversions this week by the Chargers gave the NFL 301 on the season, topping the 300 from 2018 for the second-most in a season, behind the record 362 last year.
There were 20 more in Week 15, leaving the league on pace to break last year’s mark.
But the failed chances for the Chargers this week in the overtime loss to Kansas City got much more publicity.
The Chargers got stopped on fourth-and-goal twice in the first half, becoming the first team to do that since the Chargers did it 37 years to the day on Dec. 16, 1984, against Kansas City, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Chiefs were stopped on a fourth down from inside the 5, marking the first time since at least 2000 that teams combined to fail on at least three fourth downs from the 5 or closer, according to Sportradar.
But while the failed fourth downs proved costly this past week, the Chargers have been successful on them plenty this season, tying for the league high with 15 conversions. They have gone for it on fourth down on 17 drives in field-goal range and scored 51 points on those possessions.
The Chargers weren’t the only team struggling on fourth downs near the goal line. The Falcons were stopped three times inside the 10, the first time in the last 40 years that has happened, according to Elias.
RARE BLANKINGS
