The Bills already won their Week 15 game, so the “if they win today” scenario has effectively happened. The key impact is that they stayed alive in the AFC East race and improved their playoff positioning.
AFC East implications
With the win over the Patriots, the Bills prevented New England from clinching the AFC East in Week 15, keeping the division title mathematically in play for Buffalo. The victory moved the Bills to within one game of the Patriots in the division standings heading into the final weeks.
Playoff odds and seeding
Beating the Patriots significantly boosted Buffalo’s overall playoff odds and kept open both the division-title route and a wild-card path. Various playoff- probability models show the Bills’ chances of making the postseason rise notably with this win compared with a loss, including better odds of at least one home playoff game if they can close the gap in the division.
What still needs to happen
For the Bills to actually win the AFC East, they still need help, such as future Patriots losses against other AFC East opponents plus Buffalo taking care of its own remaining schedule. If that help does not come, the Bills’ win today still keeps them in strong contention for a higher wild-card seed rather than fighting just to sneak into the bracket.
