Pittsburgh Steelers chance of making the playoffs, by the numbers

The Pittsburgh Steelers playoff scenarios aren't pretty. Whenever you have to rely on a Rex Ryan coached team to upset the New York Jets, it isn't good. In fact, anytime you need help and don't control your own destiny equates to several issues the team moving forward. However, the Steelers' playoff hopes are far from dead, in all actuality their hopes are quite alive.

Our friends at NumberFire help us break down the Steelers' playoff chances, by the numbers.

Projected Record: 9.75 - 6.25 (Change: -0.43 wins)
Playoffs: 37.06% (Change: -27.28%)
Seed:
5-seed: 0% (Change: -31.7%)
6-seed: 37.06% (Change: 7.74%)
Conference Championship: 3.71% (Change: -5.49%)
Super Bowl: 1.67% (Change: -2.41%)

The Steelers playoff chances have been dampened after their Week 16 loss, but are far from abysmal percentages. In fact, although the team can no longer be the 5th seed, they almost have a 40-percent chance of making the playoffs. A large part of this is examining not only the Steelers' chances of beating the Cleveland Browns in Week 17, but also the odds the Buffalo Bills have of beating the New York Jets in upstate New York Sunday.

The Jets and Bills are AFC East rivals, but the connection between the teams goes much deeper than that. Rex Ryan used to coach the Jets, and don't think for a second he wouldn't just love to stick a dagger in their playoff chances by defeating them at home. For the Bills, they know they won't be in the 2015 AFC Playoffs, so this game will be their Super Bowl.

For the Steelers, they hope the Bills pull through and take care of business, because if that scenario comes to fruition, it will be the Steelers punching their ticket to the postseason party.