NFL Predictions Week 15: Teams Whose Playoff Hopes Will End on Sunday

A handful of teams still harbor playoff aspirations heading into Week 15. By the time Sunday's slate of NFL games wraps up, that list will grow smaller.

The playoff field won't be completely decided following this week, but a few contenders will have almost certainly lost any shot of making the postseason. A 10-6 record will likely be needed to win the wild card in both conferences, meaning those teams sitting at 7-6 this weekend have everything to play for. A loss could be devastating.

Below are picks for each of the 15 games still left in Week 15, followed by three teams with 7-6 records who could be looking at fateful defeats on Sunday.

Away Team	Home Team	Spread	Pick
Pittsburgh Steelers	Atlanta Falcons	PIT -3	PIT
Washington Redskins	New York Giants	NYG -6.5	NYG
Miami Dolphins	New England Patriots	NE -7.5	NE
Oakland Raiders	Kansas City Chiefs	KC -10	KC
Houston Texans	Indianapolis Colts	IND -7	IND
Cincinnati Bengals	Cleveland Browns	CLE -1	CIN
Jacksonville Jaguars	Baltimore Ravens	BAL -13.5	BAL
Green Bay Packers	Buffalo Bills	GB -4	BUF
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Carolina Panthers	CAR -3	CAR
New York Jets	Tennessee Titans	NYJ -3	TEN
Denver Broncos	San Diego Chargers	DEN -5	DEN
Minnesota Vikings	Detroit Lions	DET -7.5	DET
San Francisco 49ers	Seattle Seahawks	SEA -9	SEA
Dallas Cowboys	Philadelphia Eagles	PHI -3.5	PHI
New Orleans Saints	Chicago Bears	NO -2.5	CHI

Note: Spread info is courtesy of OddsShark.com.

Cleveland Browns

Starting Johnny Manziel is the right move for the Cleveland Browns. Brian Hoyer wasn't taking the team anywhere, so why not see if Manziel can provide a spark and rejuvenate the Browns' postseason hopes?

The problem is that head coach Mike Pettine might've waited a little too long to pull the trigger. The Browns have lost three of their last four games and now sit at the bottom of the AFC North. Losing to the Bengals would all but condemn Cleveland to another season without playoff football.

The Browns will be heartened by Cam Newton's performance against the Bengals back in Week 6. The Carolina Panthers quarterback passed for 284 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 107 yards and a TD.

Manziel is obviously a mobile quarterback and could follow Newton's blueprint. He'll also have that extra motivation after Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis' comments earlier in the week, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com:

Still, Manziel remains untested in the NFL. Until we see more evidence of him in the league, it's premature to think that he could have a Newton-like impact.

In addition, Cincinnati should lean heavily on a running game that's proven successful this year, and with the Browns' shaky run defense, Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard should make up for whatever problems Andy Dalton may have against Cleveland's tough secondary.

San Francisco 49ers

It's all going wrong for the San Francisco 49ers. Their head coach is under fire, they're coming off a loss to the Oakland Raiders, their chances for the postseason are dwindling, and they have to hit the road and play the Seattle Seahawks.

While Seattle's had its fair share of problems this year, the Seahawks are perhaps the hottest team in the league right now. They've won six of their last seven games and look more and more like the team that won the Super Bowl last year.

The simple fact is, the 49ers aren't going anywhere until Colin Kaepernick improves. And it's hard seeing that improvement coming against Seattle, which held the San Francisco QB to 16-of-29 passing for 121 yards and two interceptions on Thanksgiving.

Pro Football Focus and PFF's Jeff Deeney noted two ominous stats regarding Kaepernick and the Seahawks secondary:

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Seahawks corners have allowed a 78.0 passer rating when targeted this season. The lowest such figure in the NFL for the third straight year

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) December 11, 2014"

Sports Illustrated's Doug Farrar attempted to diagnose what exactly is wrong with the 49ers offense. He noted that the offensive line is failing to get much push at the line of scrimmage on short downs and also struggling when blocking up the field as well. That's causing a chain reaction through the entire unit.

Farrar also spoke with Greg Cosell, who works with NFL Films and NFL Matchup. Cosell explained that rather than rising above and persevering, Kaepernick's getting dragged down into the morass:

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There are issues throughout their entire offense. Kaepernick is not the kind of quarterback who can compensate for that. He's now reached the point where he's not seeing things. If you want to reduce quarterbacking to its simplest terms, and this is the extreme Cliff's Notes version, it's 'See the field, make good decisions, and throw it straight to the right receiver.' Kaepernick is not doing that.

"

It seems dangerous to completely write off the 49ers. They still have a ton of talent on offense, and Jim Harbaugh's a good head coach.

However, until San Francisco proves otherwise, it's a team without any sort of offensive identity, and the issue will be laid bare against the Seahawks.

Miami Dolphins

The New England Patriots could potentially lock up the AFC East with a win over the Miami Dolphins and a loss by the Buffalo Bills. For the Dolphins, the permutations are a little more simple: Win or almost certainly kiss the playoffs goodbye.

Losing to New England would eliminate Miami from the East race, meaning the Dolphins' only playoff out would be the AFC Wild Card. Winning the wild card would be hard to do at 9-7, especially with the Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans all above Miami in the standings.

When the Dolphins beat the Pats back in Week 1, New England had 315 yards of total offense. Fox Sports Florida's Surya Fernandez noted doing that again will be much easier said than done:

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Even if Miami were playing its best football of the year, it still might not be enough to limit New England's potent offense. The Dolphins were victorious in Week 1 thanks in part to limiting the Patriots to 89 rushing yards on 20 attempts, but Miami has allowed 661 combined rushing yards over their past three games, the most in franchise history over a three-game stretch.

[...]

As if limiting the Patriots' offense led by quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski weren't enough of a challenge, three Dolphins linebackers -- Jelani Jenkins, Koa Misi and Jonathan Freeny -- did not practice Wednesday because of injuries, in addition to Chris McCain being a limited participant. Cornerbacks Cortland Finnegan and Jamar Taylor were also limited.

"

The Patriots might be the hottest team in the AFC, even after that Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers. They preceded that defeat with convincing victories over the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions.

New England's a demonstrably better team that it was to start the season and should put the final nail in Miami's playoff coffin on Sunday.