It’s Anyone’s Call in the AFC

The road to Super Bowl 50 may run through Denver on paper, but it could certainly make other stops along the way (or bypass the city altogether). While it may pain Denver Broncos fans to hear it, there’s a chance that the team representing the AFC in Santa Clara might never breathe the Mile High air in January.

The American Football Conference this year has already seen a dizzying round-robin of results between playoff opponents during the regular season. The No. 1 seed has defeated the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, while splitting with the No. 5 seed and losing to the No. 6 seed. The No. 2 seed has lost to the No. 1 seed, but defeated the Nos. 4 and 6 seeds. The No. 3 seed has defeated the No. 5 seed, split with the No. 6 seed and lost to the Nos. 1 and 6 seeds.

Here’s another way to put it: The No. 4 seed Texans beat the No. 3 seed Bengals who beat the No. 5 seed Chiefs who beat the No. 6 seed Steelers who beat the No. 1 seed Broncos who beat the No. 2 seed Patriots who beat the No. 4 seed Texans. Confused yet?

The bottom line is this: The AFC is wide open. So with that in mind, we attempt to rank the AFC title contenders as they currently stand, heading into Wild Card weekend.