Kansas City Chiefs division title hopes rest on Denver Broncos game

The Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos game will obviously have playoff implications. Every game this late in the season has playoff implications, and those division games are the most important. That means this Chiefs and Broncos game is very important.

Ignoring some of the Wild Card implications, the reason this is such a huge game for the Chiefs is the opportunity to stay in the race for the AFC West title. The 8-3 Broncos currently hold a one-game lead over the 7-4 Chiefs with five to play.

IF the Chiefs have any hope of winning the AFC West, they have to beat the Broncos on Sunday. They just have to. Losing would put them two games behind the Broncos with four to play, and Denver would own the tiebreaker via two head to head wins over Kansas City. The Chiefs realistically aren't competing for the division title anymore with a loss to Denver.

Losing to Denver doesn't mean the Chiefs playoff hopes are over. Not at all. The Chiefs can lose this game, drop to 7-5 and still be right in the thick of the AFC Wild Card race. There are a million tiebreaker scenarios that could come up but the Chiefs head to head wins over the Chargers, Dolphins and Bills, as well as their 5-3 record in the AFC, bodes well for some Wild Card tiebreakers.

Division hopes comes down to Sunday night at Arrowhead. A win and the Chiefs can remain hopeful of some help down the stretch to win the division. A loss and the Chiefs can kiss that division title goodbye.