The AFC West is now a two-team race. And even that’s a rout.
It’s been verified by Elias Sports Bureau that the third-place Oakland Raiders are eliminated from the division title even though with a 3-8 record they can mathematically match the Broncos, who are currently 8-3, with five games remaining.
Five straight wins by the Raiders and five straight losses by the Broncos, though, would still give the Broncos the tiebreaker of best record against common opponents. Under this unlikely scenario of five consecutive Raider wins and five consecutive Bronco losses, the Broncos and Raiders would be tied in their head-to-head series, 1-1. The Broncos and Raiders would each have a 4-2 record within the division.
The next tiebreaker is common opponents, and there the worst the Broncos could do is 7-5 while the best the Raiders could be is 6-6.
So bye-bye Raiders. No one was worrying about them anyhow, but the plug has been pulled.
Still on life support are the San Diego Chargers. They are essentially five games behind the Broncos with five to go. The Broncos can clinch the AFC West with either a win Sunday against Tampa Bay or San Diego loss against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Oh, and the 1-10 Kansas City Chiefs are done, too.
