AFC playoff picture: How KC Chiefs look vs competition after Week 16

The Kansas City Chiefs are AFC West Division Champions for the 6th straight year. Their shellacking of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, combined with the shocking upset of the L.A. Chargers by the Houston Texans,meant that they won the division much earlier than I expected.

With only two weeks left in the regular season, it’s still mind-boggling that whopping one team has clinched a playoff spot. That’s right, the Chiefs are the only team to get their ticket into the dance so far. This is going to set up a wild series of events over the next two weeks to determine the final six teams.

The teams trending upward are the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans, who look like favorites to win their respective divisions, but even that isn’t set in stone. The Bills and Titans have the Patriots and Colts breathing down their necks, respectively. Even after their convincing win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Bengals don’t quite have the AFC North in the bag yet—especially if they lose to the Chiefs next week.

Let’s look at the current AFC Playoff Picture and where the Chiefs stand after Week 16.

If you think the AFC’s division races are going to be crazy, the Wild Cards are going to be an absolute bloodbath. There are currently eight teams in the conference within 1-2 games of either a Wild Card spot or division lead. I predict that the final three teams are going to be the Patriots, Chargers, and Colts, but all three of those teams could also miss the playoffs altogether just as easily.

What does this all mean for the Chiefs? They can breath a sigh of relief that they’ve gotten the division title wrapped up (almost) before Christmas. Had the Chargers won, the next two weeks would have been very stressful for Chiefs fans. Not all of the pressure is off though, because now Kansas City has to turn it’s attention to clinching the #1 seed.

By winning the division, the Chiefs are already guaranteed one of the top four seeds in the playoffs. Currently, they control their own destiny to getting the top seed, but one loss could cause them to tumble down to the #2 seed, and two losses could drop them to the #4 seed. If they lose one game, and the Titans win out, the Titans have the tiebreaker and will get the #1 seed.

The Bills also own the tiebreaker but it would take something catastrophic for them to leapfrog the Chiefs (and the Titans), yet it’s still possible. Similarly, the Bengals could, in theory, own the tiebreaker should they beat the Chiefs next week, and then both the Bengals win and the Chiefs lose in Week 17. Again, catastrophic. Let’s keep things simple by just winning out.

As the rest of the conference fights for their place in the playoffs, hopefully the Chiefs can take care of business against the Bengals and Broncos and clinch that sweet bye week. Nothing is sweeter for the king than to sit upon his throne and watch the peasants fight for a chance at his crown, especially when that throne is Arrowhead, and the crown is the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

Here’s the current AFC playoff picture after Week 16:

1. Kansas City Chiefs*
2. Tennessee Titans*
3. Cincinnati Bengals*
4. Buffalo Bills*
5. Indianapolis Colts
6. New England Patriots
7. Baltimore Ravens
8. L.A. Chargers
9. Las Vegas Raiders
10. Miami Dolphins (the Dolphins have yet to play in Week 16)
11. Pittsburgh Steelers
12. Cleveland Browns
13. Denver Broncos

(*= current division lead)