With Saturday’s victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tennessee Titans remained alive in the battle for the final AFC wild card spot.
For the Titans to have any chance to earn their first postseason appearance since 2009 they most win at Houston on Sunday and the Cincinnati Bengals must lose to the Baltimore Ravens.
Beyond that, several other things must happen.
According to the NFL, there are three scenarios in which the Titans make the playoffs. They are:
1) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ win + OAK loss or tie
2) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ win + DEN loss or tie
3) TEN win + CIN loss + NYJ loss or tie + OAK win + DEN win
Cincinnati currently is 9-6 and needs only a win to lock up that spot. Tennessee is one of three teams —Oakland and the New York Jets are the others — at 8-7.
“We know we’ve got to win the football game and let things happen from there,” coach Mike Munchak said following Saturday’s game. “We don’t control anything else but us beating Houston in Houston, so that’s not an easy task in itself. We get the chance to go down there and play against a good football team, the team that won our division on New Year’s Day.
“We want to finish 9-7. I mean, that’s the best we can do and then we can worry about if we win this game or that game but that’s for later. I think it’ll be exciting.”