What To Root For: Week 14 NFL Games That Impact The Kansas City Chiefs Playoff Hopes
By Ben Nielsen
Nov 30, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt (99) reacts after the game against the Tennessee Titans at NRG Stadium. The Texans beat the Titans 45-21. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Assuming all the teams we want to win pull out victories this week, this is how the wild card standings would shape up (assuming Houston beats Jacksonville):
5. Kansas City Chiefs, 8-5 (own head-t0-head tie breaker over Miami)
6. Miami Dolphins, 8-5
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7. San Diego Chargers, 8-5 (lose division tie-breaker to Chiefs)
8. Houston Texans, 7-6
9. Buffalo Bills, 7-6 (tie-breaker over Ravens due to AFC win-percentage)
10. Baltimore Ravens, 7-6
11. Pittsburgh Steelers, 7-6
12. Cleveland Browns, 7-6
One team we didn’t discuss are the Houston Texans. You may ask why I’m not considering them a threat in the AFC to the Chiefs, especially since the presently own a better AFC record than Kansas City. The issues here for Houston is A) they already have six losses and B) they still have games against the Colts and the Ravens remaining.
The interesting part here is they still have two games left against Jacksonville, and should Houston pull off an upset over Indy or Baltimore then Houston suddenly becomes a threat as a six seed because they would have eight AFC wins. Until then, so long as KC only has five losses then Chiefs don’t have anything to worry about.
Again, Kansas City controls their own destiny. A 4-0 finish to the season and the Chiefs are in the playoffs as a five seed no matter what happens around them. And given the schedule, it is not improbably for the Chiefs to be able to pull this off.