NFL Playoff Picture: 5 Teams with Most to Lose in Week 15

With three weeks left in the season, the need to win has never been greater for NFL contenders.

But while Green Bay, San Francisco and Houston all have playoff berths sewn up, everybody else is vulnerable and can’t afford any slip-ups.

Even so, the NFL is all about David smiting Goliath from time to time, and here are five teams that need to keep it together this week:

Broncos Can't Afford to Have Tebow Train Derailed

It’s been a miracle ride for Denver, as the Broncos are riding the Tebow Train into first place in the AFC West with Tim Tebow stealing hearts and headlines.

That being said, this week’s matchup against the New England Patriots is the toughest the Broncos have had in a while, and the precarious hold Denver has on first place is in great jeopardy with Oakland still in the hunt.

Although Tebow has gotten much of the credit for the Broncos’ surge, the fact is that the Denver defense stepped up at about the same time as he moved into the starting lineup.

Sunday’s matchup against the Tom Brady-led Patriots has plenty riding on it for the Broncos.

Titans Have Plenty to Lose Against Winless Colts

One of the questions entering the final three weeks of the season is whether or not the Indianapolis Colts will go through the 2011 season winless.

Winless seasons don’t happen all the time, and the Tennessee Titans have to be concerned that the Colts will rise up this week.

Tennessee is still in a reasonably strong position to make the playoffs, owning a 7-6 record and having two relatively weak opponents the next two weeks in the Colts and the Jaguars before finishing up with AFC South leader Houston.

If the Titans want that season finale with the injury-plagued but 10-3 Texans to mean anything, they’d better take care of business against the Colts.

Struggling Bengals Can't Afford to Slip Up Against Rams

It’s been a tough four weeks for rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cincinnati can’t afford a loss this week against the troubled Rams. Two-win St. Louis doesn’t look like much of a threat with QB Sam Bradford out, but the Bengals (7-6) aren’t in position to take anyone lightly.

This is the softest game left on the schedule for the Bengals, who have the Ravens and a resurgent Cardinals teams left after this week.

The Bengals have lost four of five, and while they hold a tiebreaker over another 7-6 AFC team in Tennessee, that will go up in smoke if Cincinnati can’t win Sunday.

Jets Need to Fend off Eagles to Keep Playoff Run Going

While the New York Jets would be in position to make the playoffs if the season was over today, they aren’t in a strong position at 8-5 in the AFC East.

And knowing that they have to face the resurgent Philadelphia Eagles Sunday doesn’t do much for the Jets’ postseason plans. Michael Vick is back at quarterback for the Eagles, a team that has much more in the way of talent than it does in the way of wins (5-8).

The Jets have been able to right their ship by having the offense move away from the passing of quarterback Mark Sanchez and follow instead the punishing running game of Shonn Green, but if the Eagles slow Green Sunday it could be a major test of Sanchez’s ability to lead the troops.

Lions' Season Could Ride on Matchup with Raiders

The Detroit Lions should be feeling pretty good about things with an 8-5 record, but the numbers suggest that Detroit is troubled heading into Sunday’s game at Oakland.

For one thing, the Seattle Seahawks are just one game behind the Lions in the NFC standings. Seattle has the better record in the conference and would get the nod if it happened that the two teams finished with the same record.

Since San Diego and Green Bay are on the Detroit docket after this week, dropping this one on Sunday to the Raiders could be a backbreaker for the Lions.

But even while the Lions get star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh back from a two-game suspension for this one, Detroit has been unable to shut down running games this year.

If that happens against the Raiders Sunday, the Lions’ season will be in jeopardy.