The latest playoff scenarios ...

AMERICAN CONFERENCE
CHICAGO RUSH
Has clinched a first-round bye.

SAN JOSE SABERCATS
Has clinched a first-round bye.

ARIZONA RATTLERS
Has clinched a first-round home game.

UTAH BLAZE
Utah clinches a first-round home game:
1) UTA win + LAA loss
2) UTA win + GRA win
3) UTA win + two COL wins
4) LAA loss + GRA loss + one COL loss

GRAND RAPIDS RAMPAGE
Grand Rapids clinches a first-round home game:
1) GRA win + UTA loss + one COL loss

COLORADO CRUSH
Colorado clinches a first-round home game:
1) COL two wins + UTA loss

LOS ANGELES AVENGERS
Los Angeles clinches a first-round home game:
1) LAA win + GRA loss + one COL loss

NATIONAL CONFERENCE
PHILADELPHIA SOUL
Has clinched at least a first-round home game.

DALLAS DESPERADOS
Has clinched at least a first-round home game.

GEORGIA FORCE
Has clinched a first-round bye.

ORLANDO PREDATORS
Orlando clinches a first-round home game:
1) NYD loss + CLE loss

NEW YORK DRAGONS
New York clinches a first-round home game:
1) NYD win + NVD loss

NEW ORLEANS VOODOO
New Orleans clinches a first-round home game:
1) NVD win + NYD win
2) NVD win + CLE win

CLEVELAND GLADIATORS
Cleveland clinches a first-round home game:
1) CLE win + NYD loss + NVD loss

No playoffs for Storm

When the Storm left for home after Saturday night's 73-70 loss at San Jose, the team believed it still had an outside shot at making the playoffs. But Sunday afternoon, the organization learned that wasn't the case.

The Storm (7-8) was under the presumption that if it beat Los Angeles this week, it could get in. But only if New Orleans (8-7) lost to Grand Rapids (5-10) and Cleveland (8-7) fell to Columbus (3-12) on the same night.

Wrong.

Based on all possible scenarios for the upcoming week, the AFL determined Sunday the Storm had been eliminated. The problem for the Storm? Point differential.

Although Tampa Bay had the tiebreaker with Cleveland because of a head-to-head win, it lost the tiebreaker with New Orleans. The teams split two regular-season games -- New Orleans won 76-55 at home and the Storm won 41-37 at home. That gave New Orleans the point differential edge, which was the tie-breaker after head to head.

Confused? So was I. And for that matter, so was the Storm.

Storm lose game, not playoff hopes

The bad news for the Storm is that it lost at San Jose 73-70 Saturday night. The good news (and there is a little bit of it) is that there still is an outside chance the team could reach the playoffs.

But it needs help. And a lot of it.

"I'm not quite sure with all the scenarios, but I still think there's an outside chance," Storm coach Tim Marcum said after Saturday's defeat.

First and foremost, the Storm (7-8) must take care of business by beating Los Angeles (5-10) at home Saturday night. It also would need New Orleans (8-7) to lose to Grand Rapids (5-10) and Cleveland (8-7) to lose to Columbus (3-12) on the same night.

Based on records alone, and the fact both New Orleans and Cleveland are playing at home, the odds don't look good. But hey, this is the AFL and anything is possible, right?

New York also is 8-7 and plays Philadelphia (12-3) next Sunday at home, but it beat the Storm earlier the season and would have the edge against Tampa Bay in head to head.

If Tampa Bay, Cleveland, New Orleans and New York all finish 8-8, things get tricky. In fact, as of late Saturday night, neither the Storm PR department nor yours truly knew who would emerge if that happened.

We'll try to sort this out sometime Sunday.

Stay tuned. And thanks for being patient.

Who's still alive? Well, everybody

ALL 17 REMAINING TEAMS STILL IN PLAYOFF CONTENTION 

That was the headline of an AFL press release I just received. And it's not a joke.

Sure it's week 14. Sure, there are teams with losing records still alive. But hey, when 12 of your 17 teams makes the playoffs (that's even more generous than the NHL), this is what you get.

I suppose it's not entirely a bad thing -- especially if you work for the AFL.

Once a team has been eliminated, you can bet it's attendance dips. Since that hasn't happened yet, the league should have an easier time putting fannies in the seats down the stretch. What this format also does is create a schedule whereby every game this week will have meaning. Not many leagues can pull that off this late in the season.

Admittedly, I'm a traditionalist. I like it when it's difficult for a team to reach the postseason, so getting there actually means something. But then again, not much about the AFL is traditional.

Three AFL teams can clinch playoff berths this week

From the desk of the AFL's media relations department ...

NEW YORK – The playoff-guaranteed Arizona Rattlers (6-6), Dallas Desperados (10-2) and Philadelphia Soul (10-3) can join the Chicago Rush (9-3) and San Jose SaberCats (8-5) by clinching playoff berths this week as the Mitsubishi Motors Drive to ArenaBowl XXII New Orleans enters the final four weeks of the regular season.

Arizona and Dallas can clinch playoff berths with wins on the road, while Philadelphia can clinch its third consecutive playoff berth while on its bye week if one of five National Conference teams lose. Chicago can clinch home-field advantage throughout the American Conference playoffs with a win combined with a San Jose loss.

Following is each team’s postseason-clinching scenario for Week 14:
The ARIZONA RATTLERS clinch an American Conference playoff spot with the following scenarios:
1)     Arizona Ratters win
2)     Colorado Crush loss + Kansas City Brigade loss + Utah Blaze loss
3)     Colorado Crush loss + Kansas City Brigade loss + Grand Rapids Rampage loss + Los Angeles Avengers loss

The CHICAGO RUSH clinches home-field advantage in the American Conference with the following scenario:
1)   Chicago Rush win + San Jose SaberCats loss

The SAN JOSE SABERCATS clinch the Mitsubishi Motors Western Division and a first-round bye with the following scenario:
1)     San Jose SaberCats win + Arizona Rattlers loss

The DALLAS DESPERADOS clinch a National Conference playoff spot with the following scenarios:
1)     Dallas Desperados win
2)     Tampa Bay Storm loss
3)     New York Dragons loss
4)     Orlando Predators loss

The PHILADELPHIA SOUL clinch a National Conference playoff spot with the following scenarios:
1)     Cleveland Gladiators loss
2)     New York Dragons loss
3)     Orlando Predators loss
4)     Tampa Bay Storm loss + New Orleans VooDoo loss

AFL playoffs ... who's in

The following teams have clinched playoff berths ...

American Conference
-Chicago (9-3)
-San Jose (8-5)

National Conference
-None

Here's a look at the complete AFL standings.