NFL Playoff Predictions: AFC West Will Send Two Teams to Postseason

For most of the 2011 season, the AFC West has basically been considered to be a joke of a division. It's a division with no elite teams; this year's answer to last year's NFC West.

Take a look at the AFC West now and you'll notice that it's really not that bad. In fact, the possibility exists that it will send not one, but two teams to the playoffs if the chips fall in the right places.

And personally, I think it's going to happen.

We all know which two teams I'm talking about. One is the division-leading Denver Broncos, led by the extraordinary Tim Tebow. The other is the Oakland Raiders, who have gotten good returns from their midseason acquisition, Carson Palmer.

Both the Broncos and the Raiders have the same record of 7-5, but Denver holds the tiebreaker thanks to its win percentage in division games. I have both the Broncos and Raiders winning three of their final four games to finish 10-6.

Given the way things are likely to shake out, the Broncos would hang on to win the division because of their winning percentage in common games. The Raiders will have to hold out hope for a wild card berth.

Because the Pittsburgh Steelers have one wild card berth under wraps, the Raiders will be vying for the second with three other teams: the Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans and New York Jets.

Of the three, the Bengals have the toughest finish, as they have games remaining against the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens. In order to finish 10-6 and be in the mix for a wild card berth, the Bengals will have to win at least one of them.

Given the way the Bengals have played against superior competition, I don't think they're going to be able to do that. If the Bengals do lose to Houston and Baltimore, they'll be out.

The Titans, meanwhile, are due to wrap up their season in Houston. In addition, they also have to play the New Orleans Saints. If they lose both of those games, and I think they will, they're out.

The Jets are the key team. They have four games remaining against inferior competition, so it's conceivable that they could win out. And if they want to edge the Raiders for the final wild card spot, they're going to have to win out.

Because these are the Jets we're talking about, I think we can take it for granted that they won't win out. They're way too inconsistent, and all four of the teams remaining on their schedule are capable of beating them.

If things actually shake out this way, the Broncos will be the AFC West champs and the Raiders will be a wild card winner and the AFC's No. 6 seed.

There's a lot of football still to be played, make no mistake about that. But right now, the AFC West is in surprisingly good shape.