Week 15 NFL Predictions: Teams That Will See Their Playoff Hopes Crushed

Week 15 is going to bring a tough reality for a group of NFL teams. While most of the bottom feeders have long been resigned to their fate, a few bubble teams have been carrying on, clinging to a strand of playoff hope.

This coming weekend, the string will break for three teams and each will be forced to focus their attention on the future. Here's a look at my predictions for every game on the Week 15 schedule. Below that is a deeper analysis into the teams that will see all realistic hope dashed with a loss.

Thursday, Dec. 12	Time	TV	Prediction
Sunday, Dec. 15	TIME (ET)	TV	Prediction
Monday, Dec. 16	TIME (ET)	TV	Prediction
San Diego at Denver	8:25 p.m.	NFL	Denver
Washington at Atlanta	1 p.m.	FOX	Atlanta
Chicago at Cleveland	1 p.m.	FOX	Chicago
Houston at Indianapolis	1 p.m.	CBS	Indianapolis
New England at Miami	1 p.m.	CBS	New England
Philadelphia at Minnesota	1 p.m.	FOX	Philadelphia
Seattle at NY Giants	1 p.m.	FOX	NY Giants
San Francisco at Tampa Bay	1 p.m.	FOX	San Francisco
Buffalo at Jacksonville	1 p.m.	CBS	Jacksonville
Kansas City at Oakland	4:05 p.m.	CBS	Kansas City
NY Jets at Carolina	4:05 p.m.	CBS	Carolina
Green Bay at Dallas	4:25 p.m.	FOX	Dallas
Arizona at Tennessee	4:25 p.m.	FOX	Arizona
New Orleans at St. Louis	4:25 p.m.	FOX	New Orleans
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	8:30 p.m.	NBC	Cincinnati
Baltimore at Detroit	8:30 p.m.	ESPN	Baltimore

Green Bay Packers

Aaron Rodgers hasn't been medically cleared to play yet, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. The team is preparing to run Matt Flynn back out as the team's starting quarterback. To put it plainly, the Packers haven't been good without Rodgers.

On Sunday, the team won its first game with No. 12 out of the lineup, but it wasn't all that impressive. At home against a 3-9 Atlanta Falcons team, Green Bay won by a single digit, 22-21. 

This week, the Packers won't have the confines of Lambeau Field to protect them. The team will be on the road to face a desperate Dallas Cowboys team that was just blown away 45-28 on Monday night by the Chicago Bears. Dallas has the worst defense in the NFL statistically, but Tony Romo and the offense has been held under 20 points just three times this season. 

Without Rodgers, the Packers offense has struggled mightily to score. That theme has been personified on the road. In two games away from Lambeau Field since Rodgers went down in Week 9, the Packers have averaged 11.5 points per game.

Green Bay's offense won't score enough to keep pace—even against the Cowboys. 

The loss will drop the Pack to 6-7-1. With just two games remaining in the season, Green Bay would need to win its last two and have the Bears and Detroit Lions lose in Week 15 and the final two games of the season. 

That's not happening. The Packers will be done and Rodgers could be shut down for the remainder of the season.

New York Jets

Somehow, the Jets are still alive in the hunt for the final wild-card spot in the AFC. The team sits a game behind the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens at 6-7. A win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday would bring the Jets to .500 and keep them in the mix.

Unfortunately for Jets fans, that much-needed win won't be happening.

New York is 1-5 on the road this season with the lone win coming over the Falcons in Week 5. Geno Smith is set to face the league's No. 1 defense in points allowed and No. 2 defense in total yards surrendered.

For a rookie quarterback like Smith, the game is setting up to be quite the challenge. He has already tossed 20 interceptions to just nine touchdowns this season. Against a nasty defense like the Panthers, those numbers figure to decline.

If either the Ravens or the Dolphins win—and I expect Baltimore will—the Jets will be two back with two to play. This team simply isn't good enough to overcome that predicament.

San Diego Chargers

Frankly, the Chargers have done well to remain relevant in the playoff picture this long. The team has retooled on defense and it lost Danario Alexander, a player who most figured was its best receiver, in training camp. 

Rookie Keenan Allen has really emerged as a budding star and Philip Rivers has had an amazing year. Allen has 61 receptions and 902 yards. Rivers has completed 70.3 percent of his passes and is on pace to set a career high in passing yards.

That said, the Chargers are in the same position as the Jets. At 6-7, a loss would more than likely leave them two games behind the Ravens and/or Dolphins if either or both win. 

It is crazy to even think the Chargers could win its last two games and the Ravens and Dolphins would lose all of theirs. Even worse for the Chargers, the team has to go to Denver to play the AFC-leading Denver Broncos to stay alive.

Denver is undefeated at home and looks to be the team to beat in the AFC. That's especially the case with the New England Patriots losing Rob Gronkowski for the season, per Marc Sessler of NFL.com. In Week 10, the Broncos handed the Chargers a 28-20 defeat in San Diego.

On Thursday night, Peyton Manning and Co. will overpower the Chargers and squash their playoff chances.