AFC standings, Week 18: KC Chiefs clinch top seed
Final AFC Standings
This wasn’t the greatest closing week the NFL has seen in recent memory as there were no major upsets or significant changes to the final standings, outside of the seventh seed. The wild card round this week will certainly be more exciting. For perfect balance, Eight teams in the AFC finished the season with a winning record and eight teams finished with a losing record.
Here are the final standings in the AFC:
1. team. 124. . 14-3. . Kansas City Chiefs
. Buffalo Bills. 2. team. 16. . 13-3
. 12-4. . Cincinnati Bengals. 3. team. 56
. 9-8. . Jacksonville Jaguars. 4. team. 52
Los Angeles Chargers. 5. team. 13. . 10-7.
team. 26. . 10-7. . Baltimore Ravens. 6
59. . 9-8. . Miami Dolphins. 7. team
55. . 9-8. . Pittsburgh Steelers. 8. team
New England Patriots. 9. team. 47. . 8-9.
7-10. . New York Jets. 10. team. 30.
. Tennessee Titans. 11. team. 35. . 7-10
team. 53. . 7-10. . Cleveland Browns. 12
28. . 6-11. . Las Vegas Raiders. 13. team
Denver Broncos. 14. team. 45. . 5-12.
team. 46. . 4-12-1. . Indianapolis Colts. 15
team. 10. . 3-13-1. . Houston Texans. 16
The final AFC standings are as follows:
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Buffalo Bills
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Baltimore Ravens
- Miami Dolphins.
The Chiefs won the race for the coveted #1 seed in the conference. Yes, it wasn’t under traditional circumstances, but the team will take it no doubt. They may not get to host the AFC Championship Game but the bye week and only being required to potentially face, at most, one of Cincinnati and Buffalo is worth the trade-off.
According to FiveThirtyEight, heading into the postseason, the Kansas City Chiefs are the team with the best chance to win the Super Bowl in the NFL with a 25% chance to win it all. After Kansas City, in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills are at 21%, the Cincinnati Bengals are at 9%, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are at 1%. No other team in the conference is above 1%.
The AFC playoffs are going to be a barn burner, especially once the divisional round rolls around. The Chiefs, Bills, and Bengals are the clear top contenders in the conference but the Chargers are also serious threats. The Jaguars, Ravens, and Dolphins could make cinderella runs, although I wouldn’t count on it.
Ideally, the Chiefs would see someone other than the Chargers come to Arrowhead for the divisional-round playoff game but fans should be confident no matter who it is. In the best scenario, the Chiefs face neither Buffalo nor Cincinnati but the odds of both getting bounced before the conference title game are slim.
The Chiefs are the top seed and they have to take advantage this year. In a conference with both Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, getting every advantage possible is vital and the #1 seed goes a long way. To advance to Super Bowl LVII, they now need to win either two home games, or one home game plus one neutral field game. Even with a potential neutral field conference championship, that’s a pretty good deal when Patrick Mahomes is your quarterback.
Next. Top five draft classes in Chiefs history. dark