With their 31-13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18, the Kansas City Chiefs have accomplished a key goal in the AFC playoff race.
After clinching a playoff berth and the AFC West division back in Week 15, they’ve also now clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC conference. That means, they’ll receive the coveted bye week in the first round of the playoffs. Remember, only one team per conference gets a bye week to start the playoffs now. The Chiefs were the No. 2 seed in the playoffs last year and were last a No. 1 seed in the AFC in 2020.
Clinching the No. 1 seed was made easier with the Week 17 game between the Bills-Bengals being declared a “no contest.” As a result, NFL owners approved changes to the 2022 playoffs, changes that could impact Kansas City as the No. 1 seed. Basically, the AFC title game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played a different number of regular season games and the lower-seeded team could have been the No. 1 seed in the AFC under normal circumstances.
Here’s a chart with those scenarios (via NFL Research):
On a much smaller note, the Chiefs also accomplished a sweep of the AFC West with this win over Las Vegas. They have six combined wins against the Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos on the year. That’s no easy feat in and should again put the league on notice that the AFC West still is Kansas City’s to lose.
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