Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders In 4-Team Tie, Fighting For AFC's Final 2019 Wild-Card Spot

The 2019 AFC playoff picture got even more jumbled in Week 13. The top four teams competing for the final wild-card berth all have the exact same record.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans are all 6-5. That’s the order in which the teams appear in the standings with Pittsburgh owning the tiebreaker for the No.6 seed.

Pittsburgh escaped Cincinnati with a 16-10 victory over the winless Bengals Sunday. The Steelers have a head-to-head win over the Colts. Pittsburgh controls its own destiny.

There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the Steelers’ playoff chances. Mason Rudolph was replaced by Devlin Hodges at halftime in Week 12. Whether it’s Rudolph or Hodges that starts the rest of the season, Pittsburgh has the worst quarterback of the wild-card contenders.

No wild-card hopeful looked worse than the Raiders Sunday. Oakland barely put up a fight on the road against the New York Jets, losing 34-3. It was the first time the Raiders were beaten by a team with a sub-.500 record in 2019.

Oakland beat Indianapolis earlier this season. The Colts still have their eyes on the AFC South title. Indianapolis fell a game behind the Houston Texans with a loss on “Thursday Night Football.”

Tennessee is also in the AFC South race, trailing Houston by a game with two matchups remaining against the Texans. The Titans beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 42-20, improving to 4-1 with Ryan Tannehill under center.

Indianapolis beat Tennessee in Week 2. The division rivals will meet again in Week 13. The Titans will follow that up with a key game in Oakland in Week 14.

The Cleveland Browns are the AFC’s only 5-6 team. Cleveland’s three-game winning streak has the Browns only a game out of the wild-card race.

Cleveland will visit Pittsburgh in Week 13. The Browns beat the Steelers in Week 11.

The Jets aren’t quite dead yet, though they probably can’t afford another loss. New York is 4-7 after a three-game winning streak. The Jets will face the Bengals and Miami Dolphins in their next two games.

The Browns own a head-to-head win over the Jets. Cleveland lost to Tennessee in the season opener.

The Buffalo Bills have a two-game lead as the AFC’s No.5 seed.