The Kansas City Chiefs received a little bit of good news on Sunday ahead of their own game against the San Diego Chargers (one that started at 4:25pm ET). The Miami Dolphins lost to the New England Patriots by a score of 35-14, a result that was good for KC. There was no scenario where the Chiefs could catch the Pats heading into Week 17 so a win for Tom Brady and his crew did not matter from Kansas City's point of view. But seeing the Dolphins lose eliminated the possibility of Kansas City dipping down to the sixth seed in the AFC. KC can do no worse than 5th and they will play nobody stronger than 4th-seeded Houston in Wild Card Weekend.
Kansas City can win AFC West still
However, the matter that remains at hand as their game time on New Year's Day starts is if they will win their division still, the AFC West. If Kansas City beat the San Diego Chargers, a team that is only playing for pride, and if the Oakland Raiders lose to the Denver Broncos, then KC would improve to the 2nd seed for the AFC playoffs. That in turn would see Oakland fall down to a 5th seed and they would be the ones playing Houston next weekend while KC would get a bye into the divisional round. Furthermore, KC would host at that point, so the playoff complexions of the two teams certainly hinge on their results on Sunday. Those are the only two game results that now matter in the AFC playoffs as everything else is fixed with the season quickly winding down.
Houston will pay attention to the results
The Houston Texans definitely have a point of view on the results involving KC and Oakland. Houston, as divisional champs, know that they will host on Wild Card Weekend. However, they will certainly prefer to play Oakland as the Raiders lost their star quarterback, Derek Carr, to injury last weekend.
Houston, which lost a meaningless game to Tennessee on Sunday 24-17, will probably be looking for Oakland to lose on Sunday and KC to win, the same scenario that the Chiefs want. The season won't quite be over after the KC and Oakland games as there is still the night game, which features the Detroit Lions hosting the Green Bay Packers.
