Were the NFL playoffs starting today instead of Jan. 6 and 7, both the NFC's Atlanta Falcons and the AFC's Tennessee Titans would make the field as wild-card entries.
The problem for both franchises is that the three games each must play before that weekend easily could knock either or both of them out of the postseason.
So who's got the better chance to once again chase their Super Bowl dreams?
Go to MakeNFLPlayoffs.com and you'll find a chart that rates the Titans' chances of winning the AFC South at 37 percent but the chance of reaching the playoffs a stout 86.6 percent.
The site isn't quite as high on the Falcons, giving last year's Super Bowl loser a 20 percent chance to win the NFC South but a fairly strong 65 percent chance of reaching the postseason.
Call me a party pooper, but I'm not sure either will make the field. However, were I forced to choose an either/or team, I'd probably go with the Falcons.
Tennessee Titans cornerback LeShaun Sims (36) intercepts a pass in the end zone intended for Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (10) near the end of the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)Here's why: Though Tennessee plays two of its final three games at Nissan Stadium while the Falcons must visit both Tampa Bay on Monday night and New Orleans on Christmas Eve, the Titans have struggled most of the season on offense and may have saved one of their weakest offensive performances yet for this past Sunday at Arizona, where they fell by a very non-playoff-worthy 12-7 score.
Of particular concern is third-year quarterback Marcus Mariota, who threw two interceptions against the Cardinals, completed only 16 of 31 passes and oversaw an offense that gained just 204 yards against a 'Zona defense that has surrendered 24.4 points and 320.6 yards a game for the season.
Titans coach Mike Mularkey tried to downplay his QB's struggles, blaming it on a knee injury supposedly suffered in the first half, though Mariota played the whole game.
To his credit, the QB wasn't hiding behind excuses.
"The defense played lights out, special teams did their job and I have been hurting our team," Mariota said on the team's website. "I have to find ways to get better and improve."
He certainly does. Though tight end Delanie Walker often has gotten him out of jams this season, the former Heisman Trophy winner rarely resembles the kind of franchise quarterback the front office so often trumpets him to be.
He often misses wide-open receivers, chunks untimely interceptions and is rarely completely healthy. Though injuries can't be controlled, the clock would appear to be ticking on Mariota's window to prove himself an elite NFL QB.
Now 8-5, the Titans would seem to have a very winnable game at San Francisco this weekend, but the season's last two games, though both at home, come against a red-hot Los Angeles Rams squad on Christmas Eve and the surging Jacksonville Jaguars on New Year's Eve.
For much of the season, Titans loyalists have pointed to that Jacksonville game as their ace in the hole, since a victory there over a Jags team they've already beat 37-16 would throw any tiebreaker their way.
But with the Jaguars (9-4) now one game clear of the Titans and outscoring their opponents by a total of 127 points while Tennessee has been outscored by a total of 21 points, the home team may enter that one as a healthy underdog.
As for the Falcons, they may not be the offensive machine they were a year ago, and their schedule is slightly tougher, but Atlanta also has Matt Ryan at quarterback, Julio Jones at wideout and Devonta Freeman at running back. That alone gives them considerably more than a puncher's chance in every remaining contest.
Beyond that, the Titans' foes are all trending upward. Bad as the 49ers are overall (3-10), the've won three of their last four games. The Rams have won six of their last eight. The Jags have won six of their last seven.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay will enter Monday night having lost three straight and facing an Atlanta bunch that will have had 10 days rest after hosting and edging New Orleans. The Saints have lost two of their last three, and though the Panthers have won five of their last six, it was just two years ago that they came to the Big Peach on their run to the Super Bowl and lost their regular-season finale to the Falcons.
Because of that, it would seem that the Falcons have the better chance to reach the postseason for a second straight season than the Titans have of getting there for the first time since the 2008 season.
As Falcons coach Dan Quinn was addressing the media Tuesday, he said of the Tampa game, "It's going to be a battle. We'll see how much better during this week (we can get) in the things we want to improve upon. We know, for us, it has to come back to us."
For the Falcons, it may well be us, as in the whole team playing as one, all of them equally important and dependent on each other.
But for the Titans to reach the playoffs it would seem to come back to and down to Mariota. If he's up to the task - if he, by his own words, can begin to help more than hurt this somewhat timid Titans offense - the franchise may not need another Music City Miracle to still be playing in January.
Yet should Tennessee come up short, should it miss the playoffs despite being given an 86.6 percent chance to make it three games from the finish, it might be time to at least consider using an early-round pick on a quarterback in either the 2018 or 2019 draft.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.