AFC playoff picture, Week 13: Chiefs sit atop NFL standings

After Week 12 of the NFL season, what do the standings look like in the AFC and AFC West? Where do the KC Chiefs stack up in the conference and division?

The NFL has now completed 12 weeks of the regular season and there will still be a lot of changes to the playoff picture over the final six weeks. A handful of teams are still in contention for a playoff spot, while a bunch of them have already kissed their playoff hopes goodbye.

Week 12 featured only four games involving two AFC teams, while the other eight members of the AFC lined up against NFC teams. Eight teams came into the week with a winning record, seven teams came in with losing records, and one team was exactly 0.500. What were the results of the games this week, and how did the standings change since last week?

Here is how the AFC West standings look after Week 12:

The Las Vegas Raiders earned their second straight walk-off victory in overtime against Seattle. The Denver Broncos hit another low on offense in their loss against Carolina. Brandon Staley’s aggressiveness paid in the Los Angeles Chargers’ comeback win over the Cardinals. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Rams in a fairly boring game at Arrowhead.

According to FiveThirtyEight (QB Adjusted), before Week 12, the Chiefs were virtual locks to win the AFC West with a >99% chance to win the division. The Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, and Las Vegas Raiders were all less than 0.1%, respectively. After Sunday, the Chiefs are still virtual locks as the Chargers, Raiders, and Broncos all have a combined less than 1% chance to win the division.

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” -Yogi Berra but the AFC West race is over and done with. If the Chiefs were to somehow fall to a wild card spot, it would be a collapse of epic proportions. The Broncos are done, the Raiders could make things interesting in the race for the #7 seed, and the Chargers’ best hope is the #6 seed.