The AFC West is a big player in the playoffs ... if they started today. Which they don’t. We’re talking a look at the NFL playoff picture now that the Kansas City Chiefs are the new No. 2 seed in the AFC right behind the No. 1 seed New England Patriots. You can find the full playoff picture here.
The AFC West has three teams in the AFC playoff picture as of today. In fact, the final AFC West team (Broncos) has a two-game lead on the next closest team so it’s a pretty good bet at this point we’re going to see three AFC West teams in the playoffs.
The 7-2 Chiefs are ahead of the 7-2 Raiders because the Chiefs own the head to head record. The Chiefs play the Raiders one more time this year and they’ll also play the Broncos two more times. There’s plenty here to still be decided.
If the playoffs started today, the Patriots and Chiefs would get a first round bye. That’s huge for the Chiefs, obviously. They can make a run if they’re at Arrowhead. It’s harder to see them doing that on the road.
If they started today, the Texans would host the Broncos and the Ravens would host the Raiders. I would put my money on the Broncos and Raiders winning both of those.
The Steelers are not in the playoff picture right now. I could definitely see them turning it around and winning the AFC North. The Bengals have only three wins (they play on MNF this week) so they don’t appear to a huge factor - yet. They could keep winning and make it interesting.
AFC playoff picture
- Patriots (7-2)
- Chiefs (7-2)
- Texans (6-3)
- Ravens (5-4)
- Raiders (7-2)
- Broncos (7-3)
- Dolphins (5-4)
- Titans (5-5)
- Steelers (4-5)
- Colts (4-5)
- Bills (4-5)
- Bengals (3-4-1)
- Chargers (4-6)
- Jets (3-7)
- Jaguars (2-7)
- Browns (0-10)