How flex scheduling hurt the Steelers playoff chances

Week 17 flex scheduling may affect the Pittsburgh Steelers chances at making the playoffs

In general, flex scheduling is a good idea imposed by the NFL. It was introduced to help ensure that meaningful games late in the season got national exposure while games that had little to no effect on the playoff race are swapped out of primetime slots. But in week 17 both the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans were flexed to the 4:25 kickoff spot. Here’s why that hurts the Steelers.

The AFC Playoff Picture

Let’s start at the top with the 1 seed which is held by the Baltimore Ravens. They have wrapped up the AFC North and the top seed in the AFC and do not have much of a reason to risk injury to their starters in week 17. The Buffalo Bills are in a similar scenario, they failed to win the AFC East but have clinched the 5 seed as the first wildcard, and like the Ravens, won’t be able to improve their seeding in the AFC playoffs. But the three teams between the Ravens and Bills are the 2 seed New England Patriots (12-3), the 3 seed Kansas Chiefs (11-4) and the 5 seed Houston Texans (10-5). All three teams have won division titles, and therefore earned playoff spots. But each team only trails the team seeded in front of them by 1 game and owns their respective tie-breakers.

For example, The Chiefs have a head to head win over the Patriots so if the Patriots lose and Chiefs win on Sunday, the two teams would have the same record and the Chiefs would move into the 2nd seed while the Patriots would fall to the 3rd. The same scenario holds true with the Texans. If they win and the Chiefs lose, the Texans would be able to move from the 4th seed to the 3rd seed in the AFC playoffs. When it comes to the 6th seed, the Titans will clinch the 6th seed if they beat the Texans. The easiest way Steelers will clinch the 6th seed occurs if the Tennessee Titans lose to the Texans and the Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens. Also there’s a scenario where the Oakland Raiders can sweep in and snag the 6th seed.

Flex Scheduling’s Effect

As mentioned above the seeding of the Patriots, Chiefs and Texans can change and each team has something to play for. The Steelers, are the betting favorite at Baltimore this week because the Ravens have announced that they are sitting their starters. But, the Steelers need the Texans to win if they’re going to clinch the 6th seed. The Texans, now playing an afternoon game will have the advantage of knowing the outcome of the Kansas City Chiefs game when they take the field. If the Chiefs win earlier in the day, there’s no way for the Texans to improve their playoff seeding. If that’s the case, there’s really no point to play their starters either.

If the Texans are playing their backups against the Titans, the odds of the Titans winning dramatically increases. While Texans Head Coach Brian Billick has said that their starters will play, that stance may quickly change if the Chiefs win. Steelers Nation may be relegated to hoping that the Texans backups can fend off the Titans while the Steelers simultaneously defeat the Ravens backups.  It’s a complicated and unique scenario where the performance of the Chiefs would affect if the Texans deploy their starters or backups, and depending on what they decide the Texans coaching staff could greatly affect the Steelers’ chances at clinching the 6th seed. All because two games were flexed to afternoon kickoffs.

[vertical-gallery id=456817]

[lawrence-related id=457059]