A KC fan’s viewing guide for Week 18 games that will determine Chiefs’ playoff foe
There are four games this weekend that will either have a direct impact on who the Chiefs will face in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs or could determine who will be coming to Kansas City.
Fortunately for Chiefs fans, all four games will be broadcast in Kansas City. The Chiefs are locked into the third seed in the AFC playoff field, and they won’t know their first-round opponent until the “Sunday Night Football” game is decided.
Here is a viewer’s guide for Chiefs fans for those four games.
Steelers at Ravens
When: Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN and ABC (Ch. 9)
The skinny: If Baltimore wins, there is no chance the Steelers would face the Chiefs. If Pittsburgh wins, then a Dolphins victory over Buffalo and a Titans upset of the Jaguars would mean the Steelers will be coming to Arrowhead.
Texans at Colts
When: Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
TV: ESPN and ABC (Ch. 9)
The skinny: The winner of this game clinches a playoff berth and will face the Chiefs if the Dolphins and Jaguars win their games on Sunday.
Jaguars at Titans
When: Sunday at noon
TV: CBS (Ch. 5)
The skinny: If the Jaguars win, it means the winner of the Colts-Texans game will be a wild card team. And that Colts/Texans winner will be coming to Arrowhead Stadium if the Dolphins defeat the Bills. The loser of this game will be eliminated from playoff contention, because they would be ensured of finishing third in the AFC South.
Bills at Dolphins
When: Sunday at 7:20 p.m.
TV: NBC (Ch. 41)
The skinny: Should the Bills win in Miami, they would be the AFC East champions and would get the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, even if they end up with the same record as the Chiefs. That would be because of Buffalo’s win at Arrowhead Stadium last month in the “Kadarius Toney Offsides Game.”
A Bills victory Sunday night would drop Miami to the No. 6 seed, and the Dolphins would play the Chiefs regardless of the outcome of any other game.
But if Miami wins, there are multiple scenarios involving who the Chiefs would face. Here they are based on a Dolphins victory:
- Buffalo would return to KC if the Ravens and Titans win their games.
- Pittsburgh would play the Chiefs if the Steelers and Titans win
- The Houston/Indy winner would face the Chiefs if the Jaguars win
Bonus: Broncos at Raiders
When: 3:25 p.m. Sunday
TV: Won’t air in KC
The skinny: Throwing this game in as a bonus, because there is a tiny chance it could affect the playoff race even though both AFC West teams have been eliminated. Should the Steelers lose to the Ravens, they will be rooting for the Broncos.
Pittsburgh could sneak into the playoffs with a 9-8 record based on these three exact outcomes Sunday: Titans beat the Jaguars, Broncos defeat the Raiders and Texans-Colts doesn’t end in a tie. That would create a three-way tie for the seventh seed in the playoff field among teams with an 9-8 record: Pittsburgh, Denver and Jacksonville.
The Steelers Depot blog noted it would come down to the seldom-used “strength of victory” tiebreaker, which is based on the teams the Steelers, Broncos and Jaguars defeated this season. Pittsburgh’s victories have been over teams with a better winning percentage than the wins by Denver and Jacksonville. This is the fifth tiebreaker the NFL uses in tiebreaking procedures.
If the Raiders beat the Broncos, it would eliminate the three-way tie for the seventh playoff spot and make it between the Jaguars and Steelers. Jacksonville would get the postseason berth based on a head-to-head victory over Pittsburgh.
Yes, I confess to being a nerd about NFL playoff scenarios.
This story was originally published January 6, 2024 at 7:35 AM.
