The odds aren’t in their favor, but that isn’t going to cause the New Orleans Saints to keel over and give up. The New York Times Playoff Picture simulator tripled their odds of reaching the postseason after Sunday’s win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Now the Saints have a 37% shot at making the playoffs, largely due to their 27% chance of winning the NFC South. It’s technically possible the Saints could earn the seventh playoff seed as a wild card team in the NFC, but it’s very, very unlikely — this simulator gives them less than a 1% shot at it. They’ll need help from two or three other games to clinch it.
Still, the Saints don’t control their own destiny. The reason their chances of winning the division and reaching the playoffs are so low is because they’ll need the Buccaneers to lose again in Week 18 even if New Orleans defeats the Atlanta Falcons. They dug quite a hole for themselves and now they’ll need help getting out of it. They have a chance, and at this point it’s all fans can ask for.
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