With their third straight loss on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs have fallen to 7-6 on the season and are now four spots out of the playoffs. The Chiefs once controlled their own destiny when it came to the playoffs, but now will have to win out and hope that other teams lose out.
Here are the current AFC playoff standings:
- New England Patriots (10-3) (AFC East leader)
- Denver Broncos (10-3) (AFC West leader) (Patriots own the tiebreaker due to head to head win)
- Indianapolis Colts (9-4) (AFC South leader)
- Cincinnati Bengals (8-4-1) (AFC North leader)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5) (Wildcard #1)
- San Diego Chargers (8-5) (Wildcard #2)
In the hunt: Baltimore Ravens (8-5), Houston Texans (7-6), Miami Dolphins (7-6), Kansas City Chiefs (7-6), Buffalo Bills (7-6), Cleveland Browns (7-6)
Here is the explanation of why Kansas City stands where they are courtesy of ESPN.com
"“Wins tie break over Buffalo and Cleveland based on best win percentage in conference games.”"
Just a few weeks ago, Kansas City was holding onto the fifth spot in the AFC playoff picture, but now are far on the outside looking in. The Texans were even able to leapfrog the Chiefs and now seem to be in strong contention for a Wildcard spot of their own.
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Basically, the Chiefs don’t have any options other than to keep winning. They take on the Oakland Raiders this upcoming weekend and hopefully will be able to win and increase their chances of making it into the postseason.
As for the rest of the teams fighting for their postseason lives, the AFC North will start to sort itself out when the Browns and Bengals duke it out in Cleveland. If the Browns lose, they are more than likely out of the playoff hunt. The Ravens host the struggling Jaguars and the Steelers will travel to Atlanta to play the Falcons.
The Houston Texans will travel to Indianapolis in a huge AFC South battle. If the Colts win then they will win the AFC South for the third consecutive year.
The Dolphins travel to Foxboro to play the Patriots and are really in a must win situation. Also in the AFC East, the Bills host the Green Bay Packers.
The battle of the AFC West will likely be decided by the matchup on Sunday when the Broncos and Chargers play for the second time. The Broncos won in a blowout last time, but haven’t been looking very good lately despite winning their past three games. The Chargers have looked pretty impressive recently and might give Denver all they can handle.
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