What would it take for the Chiefs to clinch the one seed and the bye in the AFC postseason?
UPDATE: On Christmas Day, the Chiefs clinched the one seed. The Bills are playing for the two/three seed now.
The Buffalo Bills are two games back of the Kansas City Chiefs with two games left to play. if Buffalo wants the one seed in the AFC Playoff Picture they are going to need a lot of help.
In fact, the Chiefs could clinch the one seed as early as Christmas Day.
Kansas City’s magic number sits at one; any combination of Chiefs win or Bills loss will do the trick.
How can the Chiefs clinch the one seed this week?
If the Cheifs win on Christmas Day, they lock it up. They are the one seed and the conference will go through Arrowhead if they keep winning. They’ll be able to rest their starters in Week 18 and enjoy another bye the following week if they’d like.
Buffalo would be in a skirmish with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens for the two seed, ad those two teams duke it out for the division. Buffalo has already clinched a better finish than the AFC South’s Houston Texans
How can the Chiefs clinch the one seed before Week 18?
Another back-door way the Chiefs could clinch in Week 17 would be if the Bills lost to Jets in Week 17. That would leave the Chiefs with nothing to play for in Week 18 while the Bills would still be potentially fighting the Steelers and Ravens.
AFC standings entering Week 17
1. y-Kansas City Chiefs (14-1)
2. y-Buffalo Bills (12-3)
3. x-Pittsburgh Steelers (10-5, 7-3 AFC)
4. y-Houston Texans (9-6)
5. x-Baltimore Ravens (10-5, 6-4 AFC)
6. Los Angeles Chargers (9-6, wins over DEN)*
7. Denver Broncos (9-6, losses to LA)*
8. Indianapolis Colts (7-8, 6-5 AFC, win over MIA)*
9. Miami Dolphins (7-8, 5-5 AFC, loss to IND)*
10. Cincinnati Bengals (7-8, 4-6 AFC)*
11. New York Jets (4-11) — eliminated
12. Cleveland Browns (3-12, 3-7 AFC. win over JAX) — eliminated
13. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12, win over TEN, 3-7 AFC, loss to CLE) — eliminated
14. Tennessee Titans (3-12, 3-7 AFC) — eliminated
15. Las Vegas Raiders (3-12, 3-8) — eliminated
16. New England Patriots (3-12, 2-8) — eliminated
Teams with an asterisk (*) have been eliminated from divisional contention
Teams with an (x) have clinched a playoff spot
Teams with a (y) have clinched their division