AFC West Standings: Chiefs Out Of The Basement

The Kansas City Chiefs climbed out of the AFC West basement on Sunday with their come-from-behind win over the winless Indianapolis Colts.

Now, heading into their bye week, the Chiefs will be eying their second division game of the season against the Oakland Raiders.

Let’s take a look at the current AFC West standings after the jump.

Chargers 4-1

Raiders 3-2

Chiefs 2-3

Broncos 1-4

The Chargers are off to a fast start for once but KC fans are hoping that it will lead to a late-season collapse. The Chargers are in even better shape than the standings would indicate because they’ve already defeated both the Chiefs and Broncos.

The Chargers have had a favorable schedule thus far in 2011. Their wins have come against the Broncos, Chiefs, Dolphins and Vikings. Their only loss was against the Patriots.

San Diego will be idle this weekend and will come back to find a much tougher four-game stretch. They’ll head out on the road to face the Jets and then the Chiefs at Arrowhead. They then return home for games against the Packers and Raiders.

The Oakland Raiders are playing with heavy hearts following the loss of their owner, Al Davis. The team is much improved under new head coach Hue Jackson and will be looking to catch the Chargers for the AFC West crown.

Unlike the rest of the AFC West, the Raiders will be playing in Week Six when they host Cleveland. They’ll then host the Chiefs and take a week off before facing the Broncos at home and the Chargers on the road.

The Kansas City Chiefs stumbled out of the gate but have righted the ship somewhat with two straight wins over the Vikings and Colts. KC will take the week off before entering a crucial stretch that will likely determine their fate in the AFC West.

The Chiefs will take on the Raiders in Oakland before returning home to face the Chargers, Dolphins and Broncos. The Chiefs likely need to win three of those four contests to keep pace in the division. They particularly need to beat the Chargers at home.

As for the Denver Broncos, they appear to be out of the race sitting at 1-4. Before they fall too far behind, however, the team appears ready to take a bold step in starting Tim Tebow at QB.

The Broncos will have a week to get Tebow ready before entering a four game stretch that will see them face the Dolphins, Lions, Raiders and Chiefs. All of those games, with the exception of the Lions contest, will be on the road.

What do you think, Addicts? Who has the easiest schedule over the next four games?