2011 NFL Playoffs Predictor

Sept. 18 would have been a really good time to place a wager on the Kansas City Chiefs to make the playoffs. You just didn't know it. After all, the team was coming off a Week 2 loss to Detroit by a score of 48-3. They were down three of their top five players (for the year), and had been outscored by a total of 89-10 to Detroit and Buffalo. Yes, those are good teams, but nobody was locking them into playoff seeds in Week 2.

Fast-forward to today, and we're currently projecting the Chiefs as a playoff team. Yeah, we know it sounds odd.

But that happens, because this isn't about where teams are or were, it's about where they'll be. With the help of numberFire, we're projecting the playoffs. We introduced this last week, and the biggest movers since then are easily the Chiefs and Steelers. So here's the updated bracket. And remember, the algorithms factor in everything from weather to injuries to overall trends. Of course, all of this is still highly volatile, due to the fact we're just halfway through the season, but the model can get us close. Check back each week as the numbers continue to paint a clearer bracket portrait.

To see the projected 2011 NFL playoff bracket -- and to find out which teams won't make the playoffs -- you must be an ESPN Insider.

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