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Colts need 10 things to break right for playoff berth

Published: Dec 28, 2015 at 05:37 AM

The Colts are dealing with a good news/bad news situation as they head toward the final week of the regular season.

Let's start with the good news. Everybody likes good news. The Colts remain mathematically alive to make the playoffs. That's pretty good news, right? But here's the bad news, and yeah, it's pretty bad: There is no freaking way the Colts will make the playoffs.

The Texans' win on Sunday against the Titans gives Houston at least a tie in each of the first five tiebreakers, according to ESPN.com. The Colts need to tie the fifth tiebreaker -- strength of victory -- then come out on top in the sixth tiebreaker, strength of schedule.

So how does that happen? Well, nine separate things need to break Indy's way to save the season. Nine! Here's what has to happen:

»Colts win over Titans

»Jaguars win over Texans

»Broncos win over Bengals in Week 16 UPDATE: Done!

»Ravens win over Bengals in Week 17

»Bills win over Jets

»Falcons win over Saints

»Broncos win over Chargers

»Dolphins win over Patriots

»Steelers win over Browns

»Raiders win over Chiefs

According to ESPN, there was a 0.03 percent chance of all this falling the Colts' way -- 3,326-to-1 odds -- prior to the Broncos' win Monday. These are bad odds.

"I had some pretty crazy odds a couple years back," said coach Chuck Pagano, referring to his recovery from acute promyelocytic leukemia in 2012.

The Colts' situation doesn't look good, but lest we forget this is the same franchise that somehow went directly from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck at quarterback. There's a reason the team's logo is a horseshoe.

Just kidding, the Colts are screwed.

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