ChanceBot Simulations: Week 12 NFL Playoff Index

What follows is a Week 12 Playoff Index for the NFL, as calculated by ChanceBot.com.

Index values represent each team's chance of making the playoffs. A value of 100 indicates that the team is a "lock"—even if they haven't technically clinched yet.

	Playoff Index
Team	Week 12	Week 11	Change
New England	100.00	100.00	0.00
Dallas	99.98	99.88	+0.10
Green Bay	99.97	99.93	+0.03
Indianapolis	99.85	99.78	+0.07
Pittsburgh	96.06	99.04	-2.98
Tampa Bay	95.67	83.95	+11.72
Jacksonville	89.13	74.62	+14.51
NY Giants	85.05	71.73	+13.32
Seattle	75.84	74.44	+1.39
San Diego	72.97	83.39	-10.42
Cleveland	55.94	38.18	+17.76
Arizona	51.57	38.95	+12.62
Tennessee	38.20	61.79	-23.59
Washington	33.89	36.81	-2.92
Philadelphia	22.94	16.38	+6.56
Kansas City	19.17	16.30	+2.88
Detroit	17.07	36.32	-19.26
Denver	14.33	7.06	+7.27
Houston	11.55	7.17	+4.39
Minnesota	6.14	6.67	-0.53
Carolina	5.03	9.56	-4.53
Chicago	3.33	10.03	-6.69
New Orleans	3.27	10.80	-7.54
Buffalo	1.74	8.12	-6.39
Cincinnati	1.00	4.11	-3.11
Atlanta	0.26	4.41	-4.15
Baltimore	0.04	0.38	-0.33
Oakland	0.02	0.07	-0.05
San Francisco	0.00	0.13	-0.13
St. Louis	0.00	0.00	0.00
Miami	0.00	0.00	0.00
NY Jets	0.00	0.00	0.00

(Note that for some teams the change value doesn't equal the difference between the first two columns. This is due to rounding in the first two columns.)

Largest Gains: Cleveland (+17.76), Jacksonville (+14.51), NY Giants (+13.32)

Largest Drops: Tennessee(-23.59), Detroit(-19.26), San Diego(-10.42)

Points of Interest

The Bills were hit hard by their loss to New England. Much worse, in fact, than ChanceBot had previously forecast.

First, Buffalo took a significant blow in the power rankings that drive ChanceBot's simulation engine. Additionally, wins by Jacksonville and Cleveland leave the Bills on the precipice in the AFC.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have played themselves back into contention in the NFC West. This is easily the weakest division in the NFL—so if the Cards stay hot, they should make the postseason.

Mark Myers is the founder and primary developer at ChanceBot.com, a sports simulation and analysis website. He can be reached at [e-mail]