Chiefs playoff scenarios: Start watching the scoreboard
By Britt Zank
With the Kansas City Chiefs winning on Thursday night, they now control the AFC West. With three games remaining it’s pretty safe to start talking about the playoffs in Kansas City.
The easiest scenario to decide is the No. 2 seed. If the Chiefs win out they can’t finish any lower than that. So what are the Chiefs chances of having the top seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs? To be honest, they aren’t good.
The New England Patriots hold control of the tiebreaker in common opponents. The common opponents are the Jets, Broncos, Texans and Steelers. The Patriots are 3-0 against those teams and the Chiefs are 2-2. The Chiefs can gain a game against the Broncos in two weeks, while the Patriots still have to play the Jets and Broncos. If the Patriots win even one of those, the Chiefs get eliminated from the No. 1 seed if both teams are tied. So for the Chiefs to have any hope at the No. 1 seed they need to win out and the Patriots have to lose at least two games.
If the Chiefs don’t win out the most likely landing spot would be the No. 5 seed. With one loss and the Raiders winning out, it would be between the Chiefs and Broncos for the two wild card seeds. As long as the Chiefs tie the Broncos they will own plenty of tiebreakers to be ahead of them. This means the Chiefs can lose one game and do no worse than the No. 5 seed. That would put them on the road in the first round of the playoffs, likely against the AFC South winner. If the Chiefs lose two games they can still make the No. 5 seed but would bring the Ravens, Steelers and Dolphins into the mix.
Those are the three most likely scenarios for the Chiefs when you take their remaining schedule into account. But they are not the only ones as the Chiefs could finish the year in any seed of the playoffs but the No. 4 slot. If the Steelers win out and both the Chiefs and Raiders lose twice, the Steelers would be the No. 2 seed and the Chiefs would drop to the No. 3. The sixth seed is in play if the Chiefs lose two or three games and the Dolphins or Broncos finish strong. If both the Broncos and Dolphins finish strong and the Chiefs flounder, they could even be out of the playoffs.
With so many scenarios in play, it’s time for fans to start scoreboard watching. You should be cheering for anyone playing the Dolphins, Broncos, Raiders, Patriots, Steelers and Ravens. If things go right this weekend, the Chiefs could clinch a playoff spot with a win next week. That makes this a good weekend for Chiefs Kingdom to cheer on the Cardinals, Bills, Titans and Ravens. For playoffs in general you want the Dolphins and Broncos to go down. For seeding you want the Ravens to show up on Monday night to defeat the Patriots.
This is all great for the fans, but the Chiefs should not pay any attention. They have three tough games ahead and cannot risk even one slip up. As far as the team is concerned, just win out. Head into the playoffs knowing you will have a bye and at least one home game. And we’ve all seen what this team can do both at home and off bye weeks!