The Colts both have not helped themselves and have not got any help over the last month and a half.

Since coming out of their bye week with an 8-2 record, the Colts have lost five consecutive games, including Monday night’s 48-27 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Lucas Oil Stadium. Meanwhile, just about every result that could’ve helped the Colts along the way has gone against them, including this weekend.

The Jacksonville Jaguars rolled into Denver and thumped the AFC No. 1 seed Broncos, 34-20. The Los Angeles Chargers took a flamethrower to a struggling Dallas Cowboys defense in a 34-17 win. And in the only game that was close – surprisingly enough – the Houston Texans still out-lasted the Las Vegas Raiders, 23-21.

Had one of those results flipped from a Jaguars/Chargers/Texans win to a loss, the Colts would’ve kicked off on Monday night in control of their own playoff destiny. Even in losing, the Colts’ playoff odds would’ve been in better shape with, say, a Chargers or Texans defeat.

The Colts, at 8-7, cannot catch the Jaguars (11-4) in the AFC South or the Chargers (11-4) in the AFC wild card standings. The Texans (10-5) are the only team the Colts could potentially jump ahead of in the AFC playoff standings, but it’ll require a lot to happen.

And so far, as pointed out here, since Week 12, every result the Colts needed to break in their favor has broke against them. The Chargers have beat the Raiders, Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys; the Texans have beat the Bills, Colts, Chiefs, Cardinals and Raiders; the Jaguars have beat the Cardinals, Titans, Colts, Jets and Broncos.

Three games in there stand as massive results in the AFC playoff picture (Chargers-Eagles, Texans-Bills, Jaguars-Broncos). If one of those results is reversed, the Colts’ playoff odds would be significantly increased.

Anyways, the Colts are not currently eliminated from the playoffs, but their path to the postseason is extremely narrow at this point. The Athletic gives the Colts a 1 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.

The only way the Colts will make the playoffs is if they win their final two games against the Jaguars and Texans, and the Texans lose on Saturday night to the Chargers, which would then push the tiebreaker between theoretical 10-7 Colts and 10-7 Texans teams to the strength of victory tiebreaker.

Even if the Colts win out and the Texans lose out, the Colts’ playoff odds would only be at 47 percent, per The Athletic. That’s how narrow this path is, and it’ll take a ridiculous amount of scoreboard watching: