A little hope going into Monday

[Shake n Blake]

I did the ESPN playoff machine and wound up with this:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine/_/results/400951569~1~400951573~1~400951577~1~400951586~1~400951588~1~400951591~2~400951595~1~400951600~1~400951606~2~400951610~1~400951618~2~400951614~2~400951622~2~400951629~1~400951633~1~400951640~1~400951672~2~400951677~2~400951680~2~400951684~2~400951707~1~400951710~2~400951713~1~400951718~2~400951726~1~400951728~1~400951731~1~400951722~1~400951733~2~400951740~1~400951746~1~400951754~2~400951557~1~400951560~1~400951561~1~400951564~1~400951647~1~400951649~1~400951652~2~400951654~1~400951660~2~400951662~2~400951665~2~400951687~2~400951689~1~400951692~2~400951694~1~400951696~2~400951705~1~400951768~1~400951772~1~400951774~1~400951777~1~400951778~2~400951781~1~400951784~1~400951806~1~400951808~2~400951809~1~400951811~1~400951812~2~400951813~2~400951814~1~400951816~2~400951596~1~400951602~2~400951613~1~400951617~1~400951621~1~400951625~1~400951631~1~400951637~1~400951642~1~400951667~2~400951671~1~400951675~2~400951682~2~400951709~2~400951714~2~400951719~1~400951734~1~400951739~2~400951741~2~400951745~2~400951748~1~400951750~1~400951756~1~400951757~2~400951759~1~400951762~1~400951764~2~400951788~2~400951789~2~400951791~2~400951792~1~400951793~1

Now that's with the Bengals going 4-2 down the stretch with losses to Pitt and Minny, while beating Baltimore in week 17. The Ravens have a fairly easy schedule down the stretch, with games against the Texans, Colts and Browns coming up. I have them losing to the Steelers, Lions and Bengals. If we go 4-2 down the stretch and all of this happens, we'd still need the Ravens to lose one of those 3 "easy" games to get in.

Of course, we also have 5 other AFC teams with the same record as ours. We need to go at least 4-2 down the stretch and hope for some help. An unlikely win over the Steelers would help immensely.