Can the Bills Secure a Postseason Spot After 6-6 Start?

Can the Bills Secure a Postseason Spot After 6-6 Start?
Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

At the start of the season, Buffalo Bills fans were more concerned with getting as high a seed as possible in the AFC playoffs. However, it’s three months into the season and the Bills and their followers are more worried about making the playoffs at all. Due to the unexpected slow start, New York sportsbooks figure to be out ahead in action with Buffalo fans.

Sitting at 6-6 and in second place in the AFC East behind 9-3 Miami, the Bills are fighting for their playoff lives, just to make it as a wild card. And it won’t be easy.

The Bills still need to play Kansas City and Dallas, back to back, and division-rival Miami on the road in the last game of the regular season. Those three opponents are a combined 26-10. A daunting schedule for the Bills’ playoff chances.

The other two remaining games for Buffalo are against the foundering L.A. Chargers and dismal New England. At this point, eight teams have better records than the Bills and two other teams are also 6-6. Seven teams from each conference make the playoffs. 

In short, the math clearly indicates that Bills face an uphill battle.

Utilizing ChampsorChumps.us,  EmpireStakes.com – your source for NY sportsbook promos - went back to the 2013 season to determine how teams that  started with  6-6 records finished their campaigns. In those 10 seasons, 50 teams have started 6-6. It should be noted that, before the 2021 season, teams played 16 regular-season games and now the NFL plays 17.

Season Performance of Teams Starting 6-6

SituationNumber of Teams Percentage
Making The Playoffs1224.0%
Winning Wild Card Round510.0%
Winning Divisional Round24.0%
Winning Conference Championship00.0%
Winning Super Bowl00.0%

Must be 21+ to participate & present in NY. Gambling problem? Call (877-8-HOPENY) or text HOPENY (467369). Visit BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US promotional offers not available in NY, NV, or Puerto Rico.

Odds Not Promising at 6-6

Of the 50 teams that started 6-6, about a quarter of them, 12 teams, managed to qualify for the playoffs.  From that group of teams, five (or 10%) got past the Wild Card Round, and two (just 4%) won in the Divisional Round.

Just last season, the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers started 6-6, lost three of their final five regular-season games, but still went the playoffs as the 8-9 NFC South champions. Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes ended with a resounding 31-14 loss to Dallas in Brady’s final game.

The push for the 6-6 Bills begins Sunday in Kansas City, where the Bills are -1.5-point and +105 moneyline underdogs at BetMGM New York against the defending Super Bowl champs.

It might not be heartening news for Bills fans, but the reality is that no team that started 6-6 since 2013 has won a conference championship, and obviously, not the Super Bowl.

quote

Author

Bill Ordine

Bill Ordine was a reporter and editor in news and sports for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Baltimore Sun for 25 years, and was a lead reporter on a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News. Bill started reporting on casinos and gaming shortly after Atlantic City’s first gambling halls opened and wrote a syndicated column on travel to casino destinations for 10 years. He covered the World Series of Poker for a decade and his articles on gaming have appeared in many major U.S. newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and others.

Cited by leading media organizations, such as: