Monday, December 10, 2007

Chargers may gain AFC's No. 3 seed


Could the Chargers suddenly be looking at a No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs?

Those chances increased Sunday when the Chargers beat Tennessee in overtime, 23-17; then Pittsburgh got clobbered by New England.

The Chargers (8-5) are only one game behind Pittsburgh (9-4) for the third seed.

Should the Chargers win out (and they should against Detroit, Denver and Oakland) … then Pittsburgh only needs to lose only one more AFC game for the Chargers to become No. 3.

That Pittsburgh loss could happen as early as this Sunday, when the Steelers play host to an outstanding Jacksonville team.

Since the Chargers and Pittsburgh don’t play each other this season, the next tiebreaker is their record within the AFC. Both are 7-3 now, but another Pittsburgh loss within the conference (such as to Jacksonville) would place the Steelers behind San Diego in the tiebreaker.

The Chargers undoubtedly scored their biggest win of the season at Tennessee. Not only did they come back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter for the first time ever on the road; they also beat a team that still has a (very) slight chance of making the playoffs.

What’s the difference between being seeded third and fourth in the playoffs? No. 3 likely opens with Cleveland, while No. 4 probably plays Jacksonville.

At this point, Cleveland appears to be the better alternative.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It doesn't matter what seed the Chargers get. They still will eventually have to play the Patriots.