The Kansas City Chiefs can't gain anything with a win this weekend. The Chiefs already have the top seed in the AFC locked up and have earned the right to rest many of their starters against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. However, the odds of one game in particular could still greatly increase the odds of another Super Bowl appearance for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Entering the final week of the regular season the Chiefs are locked into the number one seed, the Buffalo Bills are locked into the number two seed, and the Houston Texans are locked into the number four seed. What is still yet to be determined is if the Baltimore Ravens will keep the number 3 seed or if the Pittsburgh Steelers will overtake them. You can read about the full AFC playoff picture here.
A Ravens win leads to the easiest road to the Super Bowl for the Chiefs
The Ravens just need to beat the Cleveland Browns in Baltimore to win the NFL North and the third seed. However, if they lose to the Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers would claim the division and the three seed. That is a worst-case scenario for the Chiefs. That's because there are really two powerhouse teams in the AFC that pose a real threat to the Chiefs. Those teams are the Ravens and the Buffalo Bills. In Leigh Oleszczak's recent piece on the toughest potential Chiefs playoff opponents for the divisional round, he had the Texans and Steelers as the two easiest possibilities and the Ravens as the toughest.
If the Ravens are the three seed and both they and the Bills win it would set up a showdown between the two teams in the divisional round . Meanwhile, the Chiefs would face the winner of the Texans and Steelers in the divisional round. Those are two slumping teams that the Chiefs beat fairly comfortably recently and that would mean that KC would only have to play one true AFC powerhouse in order to make it to the Super Bowl.
Yes, I think the Chiefs are capable of beating both the Ravens and the Bills—and I respect the "in order to be the best, you have to beat the best" mentality—but every fan should still be hoping for K.C. to play either the Steelers or Texans in the divisional round over the Ravens. The Chiefs showed last season that they could go on the road and beat both of those teams in back-to-back weeks, but I'm in favor of whatever gives them the best odds to make it to the Super Bowl and that definitely is having their two biggest challengers facing each other for a chance to visit Arrowhead.
While a Ravens' win against the 3-13 Browns on Saturday may seem like a sure bet, the fact is that the Ravens have fallen flat against bad teams twice already this season. The first time was against the 4-12 Las Vegas Raiders, but the second time was against this very Browns team back in October. Jameis Winston had just taken over as the quarterback and threw for 334 yards and 3 touchdowns and the Browns won 29-24.
So while it seems like it should be a safe bet, Chiefs fans should be cheering for the Ravens to show up and beat the Browns this time. It's also worth noting that the Ravens could lose and still get the No. 3 seed if the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Steelers. It would be pretty amusing if the Bengals helped the Chiefs get an easier path to the Super Bowl and then the Chiefs eliminated the Bengals by losing to the Denver Broncos because they rested their best players.
So what do you think Chiefs fans? Are you cheering for the Ravens on Saturday? Do you agree that getting the Steelers/Texans in the divisonal round while the Ravens and Bills have to play each other is the best possible situation for the Chiefs? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below.