The Kansas City Chiefs clinched the AFC West in Week 15 thanks to a win over the Houston Texans.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs still weren’t able to capture the No. 1 seed. That belongs to the Buffalo Bills who beat the Miami Dolphins over the weekend, keeping their tiebreaker over K.C. for another week at least.
Here’s a look at the AFC playoff picture following Week 15 and heading into Week 16:
AFC standings after Week 15
Playoff seeds
1. Buffalo Bills (11-3) [AFC East leader]
2. Kansas City Chiefs (11-3) [AFC West winner]
3. Cincinnati Bengals (10-4) [AFC North leader]
4. Tennessee Titans (7-7) [AFC South leader]
5. Baltimore Ravens (9-5) [wild card]
6. Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) [wild card]
7. Miami Dolphins (8-6) [wild card]
In the hunt
8. New England Patriots (7-7)
9. New York Jets (7-7)
10. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-8)
11. Las Vegas Raiders (6-8)
12. Cleveland Browns (6-8)
13. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-8)
14. Indianapolis Colts (4-9-1)
Eliminated
Denver Broncos (4-10)
Houston Texans (1-12-1)
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 two of their last three 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.
What's the playoff seeding tiebreaker?
The playoff tiebreaking procedure is:
- Head-to-head record, if applicable.
- Best conference win-loss record.
- Best common games win-loss record (minimum of four).
- Strength of victory.
- Strength of schedule.
- Best combined points scored and points allowed ranking within the conference.
- Best combined points scored and points allowed ranking within the NFL.
- Best net points conference games.
- Best net points in all games.
- Best net touchdowns in all games.
- A coin flip.
