ChanceBot Simulations: Week 15 Playoff Index

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	Week15	Week 14	Change
New England	100.00	100.00	0.00
Indianapolis	100.00	100.00	0.00
Dallas	100.00	100.00	0.00
Green Bay	100.00	100.00	0.00
Seattle	100.00	97.95	+2.05
Tampa Bay	99.89	99.97	-0.08
Pittsburgh	98.84	99.09	-0.25
NY Giants	98.12	88.24	+9.88
San Diego	98.10	98.30	-0.20
Jacksonville	97.48	93.50	+3.98
Cleveland	87.44	66.17	+21.27
Minnesota	55.47	42.87	+12.60
Arizona	18.67	36.68	-18.01
Washington	13.45	9.17	+4.27
Tennessee	11.72	35.80	-24.08
New Orleans	8.66	4.33	+4.33
Detroit	3.46	6.67	-3.21
Buffalo	3.02	3.66	-0.64
Denver	2.57	2.19	+0.38
Chicago	1.20	3.48	-2.28
Philadelphia	0.94	9.91	-8.97
Houston	0.83	0.64	+0.19
Carolina	0.15	0.73	-0.57
Miami	0.00	0.00	0.00
NY Jets	0.00	0.00	0.00
Baltimore	0.00	0.00	0.00
Cincinnati	0.00	0.48	-0.48
Kansas City	0.00	0.16	-0.16
Oakland	0.00	0.02	-0.02
Atlanta	0.00	0.00	0.00
St. Louis	0.00	0.00	0.00
San Francisco	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 (+21.27), Minnesota (+12.60), NY Giants (+9.88)

Largest Drops: Tennessee (-24.08), Arizona (-18.01), Philadelphia (-8.97)

Points of Interest

Both Cleveland and the Giants continue to show either the largest gains or the largest drops.

Having reached nine wins, the Giants are virtually assured a playoff spot. And the schedule down the stretch helps their chances, since Arizona and New Orleans will face off head-to-head, as will Washington and Minnesota.

Meanwhile, Minnesota is ahead of the rest of the pack for the last playoff seed in the NFC. The Vikings are playing good ball, but their last three games are against teams clinging to playoff hopes. Even 5-8 Chicago, who Minnesota hosts this weekend, has an outside shot at the postseason.

In a certain sense for the Vikings, the playoffs are starting now. 

Over in the AFC, the Jaguars maintained their stranglehold on a wild-card spot, and seem destined for the fifth slot in the conference. The Browns have an opportunity to grab hold of the sixth seed this weekend when they play Buffalo.

The Bills, on the other hand, have one last shot to lift themselves into contention for the playoffs. It's hard to believe Buffalo still has a shot, given the up-and-down season they've had. But if they can win out, the only help they'll need is Indy over the Titans in week 17.

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