The AFC wild-card race is, to be blunt, a mess. Teams that actively seem to be trying to avoid a playoff slot week after week are still in contention, and we'll have at least one 9-7 team make the playoffs, and possibly an 8-8 team. Traveling to Jacksonville next week isn't an enviable position, but it's certainly better than having no game to play.

The four teams currently in contention are the Ravens, Titans, Chargers and Bills. All of these teams have had incredibly up-and-down seasons. The Ravens started hot but tapered off, the Titans are the Jekyll and Hyde of the NFL, the Chargers got off to a horrid start before getting hot, and the Bills have been handicapped by some questionable decision-making.

As of now, the Ravens hold the fifth seed at 9-6 and the Titans are sixth at 8-7. If either of these teams win, they're in. No questions asked. However, if one or both of them lose, it starts to get a bit messier. The Ravens play the Bengals on Sunday, and the Titans face off against the Jaguars.

The Bills, 8-7, are just outside. They're traveling to Miami to play the Dolphins. The Chargers, meanwhile, will be playing against Oakland. They're also 8-7. The Chargers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bills, but some tomfoolery could render that irrelevant.

Here are some of the different scenarios and how the playoff picture would shake out if they happened. I'm not factoring ties into these possibilities, but those just mess everything up further.

Two-team tiebreakers

Ravens scenarios

If the Ravens are tied with just one other team, we know that both those 9-7 teams will be in the playoffs, as that means the other two teams would finish 8-8. The Ravens would lose the tiebreaker to the Titans (due to a head-to-head loss) or Bills (due to strength of victory) in that instance, making them the sixth seed and the other team the five seed. If the Chargers are the other 9-7 team, the Ravens would get the five seed (due to conference record) and the Chargers would take the final spot.

Titans scenarios

The Titans have the tiebreaker over the Ravens due to a head-to-head win and the tiebreakers over the Bills and Chargers due to conference record. Therefore, they make the playoffs as long as two of the other three teams don't have a better record than they do. That only happens if they lose and either the Chargers or Bills win. If the Titans win and Baltimore loses, Tennessee will earn the No. 5 seed and head to Kansas City for the wild-card round. If Baltimore wins and the Titans end up in a tiebreaker for the No. 6 seed with either of the other teams, they'll get it and travel to Jacksonville for the wild-card round.

Bills scenarios

The Bills only hold a two-team tiebreaker over the Ravens, the team that's a game ahead of them in the wild-card race. If the Ravens win and leave the three 8-7 teams fighting for the final spot, the Bills need both the Titans and Chargers to lose, as they would lose a tiebreaker to the Titans based on conference record and to the Chargers based on a head-to-head loss -- the Nathan Peterman game, in fact.

Chargers scenarios

The Chargers are behind the 8-ball in tiebreakers to the Titans and Ravens due to conference record, but they have a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Bills due to their defensive undressing of rookie Nathan Peterman in his first NFL start. Because they don't have a tiebreaker with the Ravens, they can't get the five seed. If they wind up in a two-team tiebreaker with the Bills for the sixth seed, they're in.

Three-team tiebreakers

Titans-Chargers-Bills

This scenario happens if all four teams (including the Ravens) win on Sunday, or if the Titans, Chargers and Bills all lose. In that case, the Titans get the final playoff spot. The three-team tiebreaker would go to them, as they're currently one conference win ahead of the Bills and two ahead of the Chargers, and that wouldn't change if all three teams have the same result on Sunday.

Ravens-Titans-Bills

If the Ravens and Chargers lose while the Titans and Bills win, that leaves the Ravens, Titans and Bills all tied at 9-7. So who gets the two wild-card spots? The fifth seed goes to the Titans, who'd have a better conference record than both the Ravens and Bills. The remaining two teams would have the same conference record, but strength of victory tiebreaker would give the final spot to the Bills.

Ravens-Titans-Chargers

Just like in the tiebreaker above, the Titans earn the fifth seed by virtue of having the best conference record of their two competitors. This time, the Ravens earn the final wild-card spot, since they'll finish with a better conference record than the Chargers.

Ravens-Chargers-Bills

Should this scenario shake out, the Titans would be 8-8 and thus out of the tiebreaker. That would leave the Chargers as the 9-7 team left out. When determining the fifth seed, the Chargers are the first eliminated since they lag behind the other two in conference record, and the Bills would become the fifth seed, since they beat the Ravens on strength of victory. For the sixth seed, the Ravens beat the Chargers based on conference record.

Four-team tiebreaker

What happens if all four teams end up tied at 9-7 thanks to the Ravens losing and the other three winning? The Titans win the tiebreaker for the five seed over the Bills, Chargers and Ravens due to conference record. Then the sixth seed reverts to our Ravens-Chargers-Bills scenario above, which came out in favor of Buffalo. The Bills' head-to-head loss to the Chargers isn't a factor unless those two teams are locked in a tiebreaker with only each other.

It's a mess in the conference right now, but the path is clear for the Ravens and Titans: Win and get in. If those two win, nothing that happens in the other games matters. The Bills need to hope against hope that the Ravens lose, as that drastically improves their chances. The Chargers, meanwhile, are trying to become the first team make the playoffs after an 0-4 start since 1992 when ... the Chargers did it.