For the Kansas City Chiefs, most of the recent conversation has been about making the playoffs. There are dozens of possible ways to do this, and the number of permutations seems to grow exponentially as the Chiefs continue to lose games they basically have to have.
But there’s another scenario that’s very different for the Chiefs that’s also on the table, unfortunately. It would take a wild series of results, but Kansas City could also be eliminated from the playoffs completely if they lose to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, according to a story written by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.
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So let’s review. Three other results would need to happen for this to be possible: The New England Patriots would have to lose to the Buffalo Bills, the Jacksonville Jaguars would need to beat the New York Jets, and the Houston Texans would have to hold up their end by defeating the Arizona Cardinals.
If all of that actually happens, Kansas City would fall to 6-8, and a loss would clinch the Chiefs finishing behind the Denver Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Chargers, Bills and Texans in the AFC standings. That would leave only one remaining playoff spot, with would automatically go to the winner of the AFC North.
There are a couple of other circumstances where the Chiefs would be eliminated. It’s all a bit dizzying, but swap out the Colts beating the Seahawks in place of the Texans beating the Cardinals, for instance, and the Chiefs get eliminated if that happens as well.
It’s a grim set of circumstances to be sure, which means it’s really up to the Chiefs to keep their fading playoff hopes alive. They really do need to win out at this point, and even if that happens the Chiefs will still be long shots.
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If there’s a piece of good news in all this, it’s that Kansas City will be getting the Chargers coming off a Monday night game, so the short week could help even out some of the issues have had with injuries to their offensive line.
But the harsh reality is that the Chiefs are a shadow of the team that’s been beating up on the AFC for the last half-decade. Kansas City has lost four of their last five games, and that streak will look a lot more like a death spiral if the Chiefs can’t turn things around this Sunday.