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Kansas City Chiefs: AFC playoff picture after week 11

By Leigh Oleszczak

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 19: Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Xavier Williams (98) celebrates his sack on Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. (Photo by Scott Varley/Digital First Media/Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 19: Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Xavier Williams (98) celebrates his sack on Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. (Photo by Scott Varley/Digital First Media/Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty Images) /
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The Kansas City Chiefs dropped their second game of the season on Monday night against the Rams. What does the AFC playoff picture look like now as a result?

After one of the craziest games that Kansas City Chiefs fans have seen in a long time, the team is now 9-2 on the season. The two losses have both come against playoff teams and have come down to the final minute of the game. That’s promising for Chiefs fans.

The loss didn’t hurt the Chiefs in the AFC playoff standings as of now, but winning that game really would have widened the gap for the good guys down the stretch. Here’s what the AFC side of the playoffs would look like if the season ended today.

  1. Chiefs (9-2) – BYE
  2. Steelers (7-2-1) – BYE
  3. Patriots (7-3)
  4. Texans (7-3)
  5. Chargers (7-3)
  6. Ravens (5-5)

The only thing that changed from a season ago (aside from the records obviously) is that the Ravens jumped into the six seed and the Bengals dropped out. That means the Ravens would travel to Foxboro to play the Patriots and the Texans would host the Chargers.

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From there, the lowest remaining seed would play the Chiefs, so there’s no way they’d host the Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round. If I had to guess, I’d say the Chargers would knock off the Texans and the Patriots would handle the Ravens. That’d mean LA would come to Arrowhead and the Patriots would head to Pittsburgh.

What I like about this playoff picture is that all four division winners are DESERVING division winners. Normally we have a .500 team at the top in at least one division at this point of the season (see this time last year with the Chiefs and the AFC West).

The Chargers dropping a game to the Broncos over the weekend was huge for KC. Sure, the Chiefs didn’t take advantage and improve their lead in the division, but they still have a game and a half lead on the Bolts plus another head-to-head match-up coming up in a few weeks.

For those six teams in the postseason right now, every game counts now. The Chiefs have a bye week this week while the Steelers head to Denver, the Patriots play the lowly Jets, and the Texans face the Titans on Monday night. As for the current two Wild Card teams, LA hosts the Cardinals and Baltimore hosts the Raiders.

The Chiefs don’t have a tough schedule down the stretch with their Thursday night game against the Chargers being the most difficult remaining game. Can the Chiefs end the year at 14-2 and grab hold of home field advantage? With how hot the Steelers have been right now and the Patriots being the Patriots, nothing is guaranteed.

Do you think the Chiefs end up getting home field advantage in the playoffs?

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