Two Team Tiebreakers Status

1. Display Status

      Has Won          - Means that when analyzing all possible regular season outcomes, the two teams will finish in a two-team tiebreaker that affects the playoff seeds at least once and when it occurs the team under consideration (TUC) will win that tiebreaker every time.  Note this is not the current status of the tiebreakers but the status at the end of the season.

      Currently Ahead  - Means that when analyzing all possible regular season outcomes, the two teams will finish in a two-team tiebreaker that affects the playoff seeds at least twice with each team winning at least once.  The color is based upon the current status of the tiebreakers.  See explanation below on current status calculations.

      Currently Equal  - Means that when analyzing all possible regular season outcomes, the two teams will finish in a two-team tiebreaker that affects the playoff seeds at least twice with each team winning at least once.  The color is based upon the current status of the tiebreakers.  See explanation below on current status calculations.

      Currently Behind - Means that when analyzing all possible regular season outcomes, the two teams will finish in a two-team tiebreaker at least twice with each team winning at least once.  The color is based upon the current status of the tiebreakers.  See explanation below on current status calculations.

      Has Lost         - Means that when analyzing all possible regular season outcomes, the two teams will finish in a two-team tiebreaker that affects the playoff seeds at least once and when it occurs the team under consideration (TUC) will lose that tiebreaker every time.  Note this is not the current status of the tiebreakers but the status at the end of the season.

2. Current Status Calculations

The current status calculations starts by analyzing the first league tiebreaker - typically a head-to-head tiebreaker.  Every tiebreaker has a minimum, current, and maximum values for each team.   The comparsion between the two teams starts with the current value and if tied progresses to the maximum value and finally to the minimum value.  If those three comparison are equal and there are still unplayed games involving that tiebreaker (ie. maximum value != minimum value) then the tiebreaker status is considered "Currently Equal".  If those three comparisons are equal and no unplayed games involving the tiebreaker remain (team1 max = team1 cur = team1 min = team2 max = team2 cur = team2 min) then the next league tiebreaker is used to determine the current status.

3. Blurred Team Rows

A team row may be blurred if

• The two teams cannot finish with the identical records/points.


• The two teams may finish with identical records but not at a record which would influence the final playoff seeding.  Thus we only consider the tiebreakers needed to determine the playoff teams, not those needed to sort the full conference table.


• The two teams may finish with identical records but will also finish tied with a third team resulting in a three-way tiebreaker that never reduces to the desired two-team tiebreaker.


• League tiebreaker procedures do not allow the two team to finish in a two-team tiebreaker.  For example two non-divisional NFL teams, one that has clinched its division and the other that has been eliminated from its divisional win can never meet in a tiebreaker even if they finish with identical records.


• A college team in on probabtion.

4. Examples

The following examples uses NFL teams.

• The NFL has a head-to-head tiebreaker as its first comparison.  If the Tennesse Titans beat the Baltimore Ravens in the first week of play and they play only once, the Titans will acheive "Has Won" two-team tiebreaker results after just one week of play.  This "Has Won" row may revert to a blurred row after future game play makes it impossible for the Titans and Ravens to finish tied or tied at a record that does not influence the playoff seeds.


• The Dallas Cowboys are 9-0 after 9 weeks of play while the Green Bay Packers are 1-8.  The two teams do not play each other.  Although the Cowboys currently has more conference wins (the second tiebreaker) the Packers could conceivably already achieved "Has Won" results, since for the two teams to tie the Cowboys must lose all of its 8 remaining games and the Packers must win all of its 8 remaining games.  These "forced" game plays may results in the Packers winning the conference record TB.


• Expanding on the last example, the Cowboys are 8-1 after 9 weeks of play while the Packers are 1-8.  Although much less likely, again the Packers may have already achieved "Has Won" results.  To tie, the Cowboys must lose 7 or 8 games while the Packers must win 8 or 7 games.  All possible regular season outcome in this case may still result in the Packers winning the conference record tiebreaker.