Where Kansas City Chiefs stand after Week 16

Playoff seeds

1. Buffalo Bills (12-3) [AFC East winner]
2. Kansas City Chiefs (12-3) [AFC West winner]
3. Cincinnati Bengals (11-4) [AFC North leader]
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (7-8) [AFC South leader]
5. Baltimore Ravens (10-5) [wild card]
6. Los Angeles Chargers (9-6) [wild card]
7. Miami Dolphins (8-7) [wild card]

In the hunt

8. New England Patriots (7-8)
9. New York Jets (7-8)
10. Tennessee Titans (7-8)
11. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-8)
12. Las Vegas Raiders (6-9)

Eliminated

Cleveland Browns (6-9)
Indianapolis Colts (4-10-1)
Denver Broncos (4-11)
Houston Texans (2-12-1)

If the playoffs started today, the Chiefs would host the Dolphins in the wild-card round.

The Bills defeated the Chiefs earlier this season, giving them a playoff-seeding tiebreaker over the Chiefs. That’s why Buffalo is in the No. 1 spot. The chances of the Bills losing their next two games are slim, so the Chiefs will likely need to win out and hope for one more Bills loss to take the No. 1 seed. Buffalo’s biggest challenge remaining this season is its Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Chiefs will also need to be careful because one more loss could send them further down the seeding chain. The Bengals, who are just one game below the Chiefs, would hold a tiebreaker over the Chiefs if they held the same record.

Long story short: The Chiefs need to win out and hope for one more Bills loss.