The Kansas City Chiefs have successfully climbed to the top of the mountain and for the next year, they will rule over the NFL as Super Bowl champions. Congratulations to them — as their postseason run is so well deserved. The Chiefs won three games to win the title and came back from double digit deficits in all three contests to do it — an incredible display of perseverance and grit. And after overcoming so much adversity, there’s no one in the NFL that could possibly dispute the merits of a Chiefs title.
But the Miami Dolphins would still probably say “you’re welcome”, if they had the chance.
Because Kansas City’s postseason run started in Arrowhead because of the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs avoided the Patriots in the postseason because of the Miami Dolphins. The Baltimore Ravens ran into the buzzsaw known as Derrick Henry because of the Miami Dolphins.
When Miami tilted the AFC playoff picture on it’s head in Week 17, the ramifications on the surface meant that Kansas City and not New England would hold a 1st-round bye in the postseason. But if we flipped that result, what would the playoff picture look like?
If the Dolphins had lost to the Patriots, Kansas City would have hosted Tennessee in the Wild Card round — the AFC Championship Game in reality. And the other Wild Card round game would have remained the same with Houston defeating Buffalo.
Fast forward to the Divisional Round? A victorious Kansas City would have had to travel to Foxborough to play the Patriots, while the #1 seed Baltimore Ravens would have hosted the Houston Texans instead. Kansas City had already secured a road win against New England this offseason — but a Chiefs Super Bowl run would have included a road win in Foxborough, potentially a road win in Baltimore and an extra game played had it not been for the Dolphins’ colossal upset.
Here’s to Miami’s next big mark on the NFL playoffs being a win of their own in January.
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