The Kansas City Chiefs began their Sunday in third place in the AFC West and entirely outside of the AFC playoff picture. After taking care of business with a 41-14 win against the Las Vegas Raiders on “Sunday Night Football” they’ll finish the day alone atop the division and hold the No. 4 seed in the AFC conference.
The Los Angeles Chargers started out the week with the lead in the AFC West, but after losing to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10, they’ve fallen down the standings. The Denver Broncos also lost their game with the Philadelphia Eagles, but they were already a game behind Kansas City due to their record against common opponents.
All the Chiefs needed to do in order to claim their place atop the AFC West was to defeat Las Vegas and they did so convincingly. The Raiders entered the week with a second-place record in the division, mainly because the bye week had them with one fewer loss than every AFC west team.
The Chiefs head into a non-conference matchup against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11, but the remainder of their schedule after their Week 12 bye will have only division and AFC conference matchups. They’ll face the Broncos twice and each of the Raiders and Chargers once more. The result of those games will determine the outcome of their 2021 NFL season.
For now, the Chiefs are back in the driver’s seat with their offense and defense getting hot at the right time. They’ve stacked three consecutive wins in what looked to be the toughest stretch of their schedule. It won’t be long before they’re once again talked about as the team to beat in the AFC West division.
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