National Football League

Crowded at the top: AFC playoff picture presents more questions than answers

Updated Dec. 6, 2021 10:44 a.m. ET

Will the best team in the AFC please stand up?

Winning in the NFL is hard. Playing on an elite level is even harder.

And as we near the end of Week 13, AFC teams have found it difficult to separate themselves from the competition, leaving the conference without a clear top dog as the playoffs inch closer.

After Week 13's results, it won't be any easier to figure out who the best team is. Let's take a look at a few of the top contenders.

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens entered Week 13 as the top seed in the AFC at 8-3. But after a last-second, 20-19 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they are 8-4, the same record as the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh's decision to attempt the game-winning two-point conversion drew the ire of Chris Broussard on Monday's episode of "First Things First."

Assuming Justin Tucker — who has a career 98.9% conversion rate on extra-point attempts — would have made the PAT, the Ravens likely would have forced overtime against the Steelers.

Anything can happen in OT, including a tie, but that wouldn't have been the worst outcome, Broussard explained.

Since starting the season 5-1, the Ravens have played .500 ball at 3-3, and Lamar Jackson has struggled to look like the player who won the 2019 MVP award.

In his past five games, Jackson has thrown just seven touchdown passes along with eight interceptions. He hasn't thrown for 300 yards in a game since a 31-25 overtime win over the Colts on Oct. 11.

And the injuries continue to pile up for Baltimore, with All-Pro cornerback Marlon Humphrey suffering what appears to be a season-ending shoulder injury in the loss to the Steelers.

Tennessee Titans

Speaking of the Titans, their 8-4 record and first-place standing in the AFC South might seem like cause for optimism, but the injury bug has hit them hard.

Star running back Derrick Henry suffered a potential season-ending foot fracture. That, combined with both A.J. Brown and Julio Jones being on the injured reserve, has the Titans limping toward the postseason looking like a shell of the team that beat the Chiefs, Bills, Rams and Saints.

They'll spend the rest of their season trying to hold off an Indianapolis Colts team that sits just two games back in the AFC South and is riding the dominant play of running back Jonathan Taylor.

With Taylor finding a groove and quarterback Carson Wentz playing at a high level, could the Colts be a sleeper team to watch as the season winds down?

Cincinnati Bengals

Elsewhere in the conference, the Bengals had the look of a team that could be emerging as a legitimate contender. Back-to-back wins over the Las Vegas Raiders and Steelers by a combined score of 73-23 didn't hurt in that regard.

Their momentum was halted by the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 13, though, with the Chargers emphatically thumping them in Cincinnati 41-22.

Getting rookie wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase back on track could go a long way toward helping the Bengals establish themselves as contenders.

Chase has 958 receiving yards on the season with eight touchdowns, but he hasn't crossed the 100-yard mark in any of his past five games, while scoring only two touchdowns.

He also had inopportune drops, one of which came against the Chargers and turned what should have been an easy touchdown into an interception.

The Bengals are just 2-3 in their past five games.

The Chargers are also an enticing team that has been up and down. They and the Bengals are 7-5, holding the sixth and seventh playoff spots in the AFC, above the Steelers (6-5-1) and Colts (7-6).

The AFC has been so unpredictable that the Cleveland Browns, preseason AFC favorites, have limped to a 6-6 record and need some help to get back into the postseason picture.

Kansas City Chiefs

The two-time defending AFC champs — not to mention winners of Super Bowl LIV — have had an interesting journey this season. They started the campaign looking sloppy on offense, disinterested on defense and prone to turnovers, with the result a 3-4 start.

Since then, though, they've won five straight, including a 22-9 thumping of the Broncos on Sunday, to climb to the top of the AFC West at 8-4.

The Chiefs have cleaned up the turnovers to a point, with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes tossing only two interceptions during the five-game winning streak after throwing 10 in the first seven games.

There still is an element of sloppiness to the offense, as illustrated by Tyreek Hill's assist on Mahomes' INT Sunday night.

But the Chiefs have found ways to win, and one of the biggest improvements has come on the defensive side of the ball. Kansas City has allowed just 11.2 points per game during the winning streak.

That defensive prowess had Nick Wright singing Kansas City's praises on Monday's episode of "First Things First."

What about Monday night's opponents? Great question!

The real AFC favorite could very well be playing on Monday Night Football, which features a juicy AFC East battle between the Patriots and Buffalo Bills (7-4) this week. Whoever wins this one will be alone in first place in the division, with a leg up in the chase for the top seed in the AFC playoffs.

The top seven teams in the AFC are separated by just one game, and they all have at least four losses.

With so little left of the regular season, time is running out for any team to establish itself as the favorite. It could make for an entertaining finish to the regular season.