The Miami Dolphins are one of three teams vying for the last spot in the AFC playoff bracket. The path to that No. 7 seed isn’t easy, though.
For now, the 9-7 Denver Broncos are in line to take the last wild card berth. And on Saturday night, the Cincinnati Bengals improved to 9-8 to put themselves next in line. The 8-8 Miami Dolphins are currently third out of three.
The good news for the Dolphins is they’ll win any tiebreaker with the Broncos and Bengals thanks to a superior record vs. AFC opponents. So a win Sunday against the New York Jets would move them to 9-8 and ahead of Cincinnati. Then all the Dolphins would need is the Broncos to lose and fall to 9-8 as well.
To put it more simply, the Dolphins’ path to the playoffs looks like this:
- Dolphins win vs. Jets
- Chiefs win vs. Broncos
If those two results happen, Miami would win a three-way tie of 9-8 teams for the last spot.
The problem for the Dolphins is that neither they nor the Chiefs will have their starting quarterbacks in Week 18. Miami is expected to start Tyler Huntley against the Jets and Kansas City will sit several starters, including Patrick Mahomes, against the Broncos.
It’ll be up to Huntley and Chiefs backup Carson Wentz to save the Dolphins’ season.
