ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Some players ran to the walls of New Era Field to celebrate with fans, and others dropped to the powder-covered turf to make snow angels.
No matter how they chose to react to LeSean McCoy's winning 21-yard touchdown run in Sunday's 13-7 overtime victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the feeling was the same: The Buffalo Bills gutted it out in adverse conditions to keep their postseason hopes alive.
How realistic the playoffs are remains to be seen. The Bills' chances of ending their 17-year playoff drought and reaching the postseason remain relatively low. According to FiveThirtyEight, the Bills have a 24-percent chance of making the playoffs.
The Bills finding their footing in the AFC playoff race will be about as difficult as it was for players Sunday to hoof through the half-foot of snow on the field.
The New England Patriots will clinch the AFC East if they win Monday night in Miami. So for Buffalo to nab a playoff berth, they must step over the Tennessee Titans (8-5), Baltimore Ravens (7-6) and either the Los Angeles Chargers (7-6) or Kansas City Chiefs (7-6), depending on which team wins the AFC West.
The Chargers overtaking the Chiefs next Sunday would help because the Bills own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Kansas City. The Bills will not have such luck against the Ravens or Titans, neither of whom they play this season. Baltimore finishes with an easy schedule against the Cleveland Browns, Colts and Cincinnati Bengals, while the Titans can reach nine wins with a victory next Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers before hosting the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars to finish the year.
The Bills can reach nine wins if they sweep the Miami Dolphins in games next Sunday and in Week 17, but achieving their first 10-win season since 1999 will require a road win over New England in Week 16. Without that victory, the Bills will get mired in tiebreakers that have a better chance of leaving the Bills out of the playoffs for an 18th consecutive season than getting them in.
Even finishing 10-6 would not guarantee the playoffs. There are scenarios that would keep the Bills out of the playoff field even if they win out.
It is a familiar discussion around Buffalo this time of year, and one that most fans will welcome given the alternative of fading into irrelevance had the Bills lost Sunday to the Colts.
They came close. Emergency quarterback Joe Webb fired an interception with less than a minute remaining in a tied game, giving the Colts the ball at the Buffalo 28-yard line. The Colts ran three plays and gained only 3 yards, and future Hall of Fame kicker Adam Vinatieri missed the same 43-yard kick he converted (as an extra point) minutes earlier.
Had Vinatieri's field goal cut through snow to drop Buffalo to 6-7, the talk of the Bills being in the hunt for the playoffs would have effectively ended. Even the hardened Buffalo fans, bundling up and braving the elements to watch a dull quarterback battle between Jacoby Brissett and Nathan Peterman, would agree on that point.
Instead, the Bills survive to experience another week of being in the hunt.