The Indianapolis Colts’ already slim playoff hopes took another hit on Thursday night with the Los Angeles Chargers beating the Denver Broncos.
Prior to that game, the Colts’ most straightforward path to the playoffs consisted of them winning their final three games and the Chargers finishing the season 1-2 or worse.
But with a win, Los Angeles now has to win just one of their final two games, both of which are on the road but come against the three-win Patriots and the two-win Raiders.
So what the Colts now need is for them to, of course, win out and the Chargers to lose both of those games.
Another path that does exist when it comes to the Colts playoff hopes is if Denver loses their final two games, putting them at 9-8 on the season, and the Colts, Bengals or Dolphins win out.
In this scenario, there would be a three-team tie for the seventh seed at 9-8, and that would wipe away Denver having the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Colts because the first tie-breaker in this instance would be conference record, which Indianapolis would win–thus making them the AFC’s final playoff seed.
Denver finishes their season playing at Cincinnati and then at home against Kansas City.
Obviously, neither of these scenarios are very likely and step No. 1 for the Colts before they can worry about getting help is they have to take care of their own business first. However, the already low playoff chances that the Colts had before Thursday’s game have now been even further reduced.
