Monday, January 4, 2016

NFL Playoff Picks 2015-16

The NFL Playoffs start this weekend, and the NFC is absolutely stacked at the top, with 3 of the top 4 teams in my Pyth ratings (SEA, ARI, and CAR, in that order). Last year I hit both conference champions, and will aim to replicate this continued success picking champions (the MDS Model had Ohio State winning it all last year, has Alabama this year, had San Antonio in 2014 in NBA, and Golden State in 2015 in NBA (granted those last 3 are pretty chalk)).

A quick sidebar, since the regular season has wrapped up: my preseason win total picks went 17-13-2 (56.67%) on the year.

Now for the playoff probabilities:


  1. The NFL bracket is reseeded after each round, and this is accounted for.
  2. San Francisco is the Super Bowl L 50 host, and we sure don't have to worry about factoring in home-field this year in that game!
  3. As mentioned previously, the top of the NFC is legit. CAR, ARI, or SEA win the Super Bowl 55.39% of the time by themselves.
  4. Even though I have SEA as the best team in the NFL, they are the 5th most likely to win it all thanks to an absolutely brutal possible schedule of MIN-CAR-ARI just to GET to the Super Bowl.


AFCWild Card2nd RoundAFCSB
1DEN100.00%57.53%31.75%14.09%
4HOU36.73%9.44%2.45%0.75%
5KC63.27%29.99%14.30%7.74%
2NE100.00%59.14%29.81%14.97%
3CIN63.80%27.74%14.81%7.95%
6PIT36.20%16.16%6.78%3.32%
NFCWild Card2nd RoundNFCSB
1CAR100.00%60.08%39.37%21.53%
4WSH43.49%7.95%1.93%0.59%
5GB56.51%16.92%6.63%3.02%
2ARI100.00%73.84%40.90%23.17%
3MIN40.11%11.40%3.84%1.68%
6SEA59.89%29.42%16.92%10.69%