NFL 2022 AFC End of Regular Season Placings Quiz

Clinched top seed with a 12-3 record and those three losses were no more than 4 points (@Colts, 20-17, Bills 24-20 and @Bengals 27-24). But ten of their wins were 10 points or less with only three big margins (@Arizona in rd 1 44-21, @ 49ers in rd 7 44-23 and the last game of the regular season @ Raiders 31-13).

However, the Chiefs won their last five straight, and Mahomes demonstrated why he is the best quarterback in the AFC and arguably the NFL. They earned a bye on the Wild Card Weekend as they were seeded number one in the AFC.

Buffalo Bills won 13 times and lost only three times in 2022 and therefore clinched AFC East. Each one of those losses was by three points or less (@Miami, 21-19, @Jets 20-17 and in overtime to Minnesota 33-30). They had some big wins (31-10@Rams, 38-3 vs Pittsburgh and @ Chicago 35-13).

The 17th match in the penultimate round @ Bengals was cancelled after Damar Hamlin collapsed onfield after a tackle. He had had a cardiac arrest and was revived by first responders. The match was initially postponed and then cancelled. Hamlin left hospital a week later.

The lack of a result affected some of the seeding calculations so adjustments had to be made to the finals series (eg some potential matches were scheduled to be played at neutral grounds). The Bills were seeded second in the AFC playoffs.

Cincinnati Bengals, the February 2022 Super Bowl LVI finalists, clinched AFC North with a 12-4 record but started the season badly, losing their opening match to Pittsburgh 23-20 in overtime then next week at Dallas 20-17. They lost two more to divisional rivals Baltimore 19-17 and lost badly to Cleveland 32-13 (However, they won all three of their second-round matches with divisional rivals - in fact, all four teams in AFC North went 3-3 with their divisional counterparts in 2022).

Their biggest wins were against Atlanta in rd 7 (35-17) and Carolina in rd 9 (42-21 ).

The Bengals earned the third seed in the AFC playoffs.

Jacksonville Jaguars went from three wins, 14 losses in 2021 to 9-8 in 2022. They won AFC South on the last game of the season against the Tennessee Titans where the score was 20-16. The Jaguars qualified as the fourth seed by taking the AFC South conference title (The Titans faded badly as the season progressed.

At one stage they were 7-3 before ending the season 7-10). The Jaguars did the reverse - They were 3-7 at their bye week then won six of their last seven games losing only to Detroit, 40-14 in Week 13.

Fifth seeding - Highest wild card placing was earned on a 10-7 record by the Los Angeles Chargers. Had some good wins against Jacksonville (38-10) and same-town NFC rivals, the Rams (31-10) but only had a 2-4 record against divisional teams including two, three-point losses to the Chiefs (27-24, 30-27).

The worst loss was to the Seahawks 37-23. Drew Jacksonville is the first week of the playoffs.

Baltimore ravens came second in AFC North with a 10-7 record despite losing three of their last four matches which coincided with the loss of main QB Lamar Jackson to injury. Those last three losses were to all three divisional rivals. However, none of their 7 losses for the season was by any more than 11 points and their 10 wins meant they attained the second wild card place.

They drew the Bengals in the Wild Card playoff weekend.

Scraped into seventh seed with a just-enough 9-8 winning record coming second in AFC East. Had trouble keeping their top two quarterbacks on the field. When they were on the field, they went 8-3 before the bye, then lost 5 straight before scraping home 11-6 in their last game against the Jets. With that narrow win, the Dolphins edged out the Steelers for the last-seeded seventh place. Had some big wins (In rd 1 against the Patriots 20-7 and against the Browns 39-17, with two big losses at the Jets 40-17 in rd 5 and the 49ers in rd 12 33-17. Drew second-seed Bills in the playoffs.

The Steelers had a great second half of the season winning seven from nine after a 2-6 start. Would have qualified if, in the last game, Dolphins-Jets was tied or the Jets won, as the Steelers had a 28-14 win over the Browns in their last game. The loss to Miami, 16-10 early in the season was costly. If they had won that, it would have been the Steelers not Miami at seventh seed.

The Steelers had a lot to take heart from 2022. Rookie QB Kenny Pickett matured considerably over the course of the season and their only two losses in the back half of the season were to divisional rivals Bengals (37-30 ) and the Ravens (16-14).

It is hard to qualify for the playoffs when you come third in your division and that's what happened to the Patriots. Third and eliminated. Inconsistent all season with almost alternating wins and losses, never more than two wins in a row (They were big wins though: 29-0 vs the Lions and 38-15 at Cleveland early in the season).

It came down to the last game: Win and they would have sewn up seventh seed regardless of Miami's and Pittsburgh's results. But they were up against the Bills, and they lost, badly, 35-23 finishing with an uncommon losing season 8-9.

Both New York City teams played well in the early part of the season. At one stage the Jets were 6-3 and 7-4, but they faded badly and lost their last six straight, not even scoring a touchdown in their last three matches. If they had won their last match, and other results on the day went their way, there was a very slim possibility they could have grabbed the seventh seed on 8-9. They could influence placings in their last game, as in the last quarter, they were tied with Miami 6-6 (which would have been enough to allow Pittsburgh to clinch seventh seed) but they lost 11-6 finishing 7-10 for the season.

Other AFC teams eliminated from the 2022-23 playoffs (last place first) were: Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans,