The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers both had bye weeks during Week 12. Both the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos played opponents in the AFC and the results didn’t end up too great for either team. The Raiders suffered a 34-3 loss to the New York Jets, and the Broncos fell to the Buffalo Bills by a score of 20-3. The AFC West scored a combined six points in Week 12.
While Week 12 hasn’t ended quite yet, all of the AFC West teams have played their games already. Here’s a look at the standings in the division through the twelve weeks of play:
| Place | Record | Team | Next Opponent |
| 1 | 7-4 | Kansas City Chiefs | vs. Oakland Raiders |
| 2 | 6-5 | Oakland Raiders | at Kansas City Chiefs |
| 3 | 4-7 | Los Angeles Chargers | at Denver Broncos |
| 4 | 3-8 | Denver Broncos | vs. Los Angeles |
Week 13 will be a unique week in that each of the teams in the AFC West plays another division opponent. Oakland will go to Kansas City and Los Angeles will travel to Denver.
The Chiefs have a 1.5 game lead over the Raiders heading into Week 13. The story could have been a whole lot different had Oakland won against the Jets. A Week 13 win would only tie things up in the division rather than giving Oakland a lead. Instead of coming into a division rivalry game hot, the Raiders will now be trying to get back on track in Kansas City. It’ll be a tough one given Andy Reid’s tremendous 17-3 career record coming off of the bye week.
The Broncos and Chargers are both playing for draft positioning at this point. Neither team has much of shot at making the playoffs even if they won out the remainder of the season. If Denver gets the win on their home turf they’ll tie things up in the AFC West standings with Los Angeles.
Following Week 12, the Chiefs sit in the driver’s seat to bring home a fourth consecutive AFC West title. It’ll be the first time they’ve won four in a row in franchise history. That’s about the best outcome you could possibly ask for, especially when your team didn’t play a football game this week.
