I may be whistling by the graveyard here... defense still banged up... 2-3 conference record and losses head to head with the Chiefs, Texans and Bills. Their games are with the Steelers (2) Browns (1) Bengals (2) Vikings, Pats, Green Bay and the Jets... I think they need 8-1 (11-6) to very likely get in with their conf record and head to heads.... 7-2 (10-7) gives them a fair shot but no guarantee... 6-3 (9-8) I think is outside looking in with the Pats, Bills, Chargers, Chiefs, Jags, Bronco's Steelers, Colts all way ahead of them... not that it cant happen... but I can envision a 3-2 in the remaining division games and one loss to either the Vikings, Green Bay or the Pats... I think that effectively knocks them out...
So effectively if the season ended today, they would need to knock KC, Buffalo or the Chargers out of the playoffs or overtake the Steelers.... Chargers currently have a 3 game lead over them... not impossible...Steelers cant get swept .... but that is what they are facing. A loss to Minnesota would really hurt.