Kansas City Chiefs: Broncos continue to help out Chiefs in playoff race

The Kansas City Chiefs had a bye in week 12, but they had some help when it came to the AFC playoff race thanks to the Denver Broncos. This now marks two straight weeks that Denver has helped KC.

Last week, the Denver Broncos barely edged out the Los Angeles Chargers on a last second field goal. That win prevented the Chargers continuing to creep up on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West race. This week, the Broncos continued to assist the Chiefs by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh was riding a six-game win streak and sat in the second seed in the AFC playoffs before this game. With the loss, they’re now the four seed in the conference, but it’s worth noting that Houston has not played yet. They’ll face the Titans on Monday night.

The AFC playoffs are set for the most part, but that six seed is wide open and suddenly, could the Broncos be emerging as a potential playoff team? They have a somewhat easy schedule down the stretch. That wouldn’t be something Chiefs fans would want to see, as the Broncos played KC tough both times this season.

More from KC Kingdom

For now, let’s be thankful that the Steelers have lost ground in the AFC race. The Chiefs hold the tiebreaker over Pittsburgh, but it seemed like the Steelers were getting hot at the perfect time. That was terrifying, considering what they’ve been able to do against the Chiefs in years past.

While I’ll have an updated playoff picture posted on Tuesday so we can take into account the Monday night game, for now, the Chiefs still sit number one. The Patriots, Steelers, and Texans are currently just a game behind them and New England has a tiebreaker over KC.

The Broncos beating Pittsburgh is definitely a good thing because it takes some pressure off the Chiefs. Kansas City’s schedule to end the year isn’t awful, as they have two of their final five games against the hapless Raiders. The other three games will be against the 6-5 Ravens, 8-3 Chargers, and 6-5 Seahawks.

That Chargers game is going to be big, but before we get to it, the Bolts and Steelers will play next week in a very meaningful game for both teams. Los Angeles is absolutely still in play to win the AFC West, but in order for them to do that, they’ll have to do something they haven’t been able to do in five years: Beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

While it’s been tough having to root for the Broncos the last two weeks, Denver did their part in helping out the Chiefs in the playoff picture. It’d be nice if the Broncos could go back to losing now though, because they have been looking like a much better team recently and, like I mentioned earlier, played the Kansas City Chiefs tough in both of their match-ups this season.

Next up for the Chiefs: A road game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday afternoon at 3:05. Can they get their tenth win next weekend?

Home/Kansas City Chiefs