The Chiefs find themselves in an all-out fight for their playoff lives; seemingly a win-or-die situation. To make the playoffs, the Chiefs have to only worry about one thing: winning. As I've said on my posts several times, if we do not win, then we are probably not in. Well, I felt I should elaborate on that. Below is a AFC West chart.
AFC WEST | Win | Loss | Tie | % | Division | Conference |
Chiefs | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 2-3-0 | 5-5-0 |
Chargers | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 2-3-0 | 6-4-0 |
Raiders | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 5-0-0 | 5-5-0 |
Broncos | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 1-4-0 | 2-8-0 |
As you can see, the Chiefs are on top of the AFC West, but only by one game. If the Chiefs lose tomorrow but win against the Raiders, and the Chargers win out, the Chargers would win the AFC West. Even though they would be tied at 10-6 and have an identical 3-3-0 divisional record with split head-to-head, the Chargers would have a better conference record at 8-4 than the Chiefs with 6-6. If the Chiefs win tomorrow but lose against the Raiders, and the Chargers win out, then the Chargers would win the AFC West with the same record as the Chiefs but a 3-3-0 to a 2-4-0 divisional advantage.
If the Chargers lose one game, however, and the Chiefs win one out of their next two, the Chargers are eliminated and the Chiefs clinch the AFC West. With San Diego playing Cincinnati and Denver in their final two weeks, though, I wouldn't hold my breath.
And believe it or not, the Raiders are actually still in this. They need KC to lose out and San Diego to lose one of two. Good luck with that.
There is no room for error in the Chiefs quest for the playoffs because they have no way of making a wild card slot. The two teams that are currently leading the chase for wild card slots could lose both weeks and the Chiefs would still not win the tie-breaker if they happen to lose one of their next two.
Wild Card | Win | Loss | Tie | % | Division | Conference |
NY Jets | 10 | 4 | 0 | .714 | 3-2-0 | 8-3-0 |
Ravens | 10 | 4 | 0 | .714 | 2-2-0 | 7-3-0 |
With the pressure of playoffs, and players starting to look at the schedule and the television instead of focusing on the upcoming game, young teams can become overwhelmed and show it on the field. The Chiefs are a young team, but luckily, they have veteran coaches and coordinators. I don't know if there are two more veteran guys than Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, coordinators during the Patriots dynasty. And Todd Haley led the offense on the Cardinals near Cinderella story to the Superbowl a couple of years back. These coaches have been in these situations before, and it is up to them to keep the team focused.
That is why the word 'playoff' has been officially banned from all Chiefs facilities. This fact came in Haley's press conference on the 24th. Other teams have done this before and have been successful in their playoff aspirations. This is exactly what this team needs, to take it one game at a time, and to stay focused on the task at hand.
This goes the same for us fans too; no need thinking about our last playoff season when Damon Huard was our leading passer, Larry Johnson was still on the team, and Tony Gonzalez didn't seek greener grass. It seems like so long ago.
So, players and fans, lets just keep our attention on the Titans game this week and get a win. After all, at the beginning of the season, who saw us in this position?
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