Chiefs Playoff Picture: Analyzing the Latest Outlook for Kansas City

The Kansas City Chiefs currently sit atop the NFL with a 9-0 record. This would place the Chiefs currently in the number one seed for the NFL playoffs, with home-field advantage throughout. Kansas City has a bye going into Week 10, which should allow them to rest and focus on the big game looming for them in Week 11, against the Denver Broncos in Denver.

The Broncos currently sit at 7-1, and the game between Kansas City and Denver could be the difference between the top seed in the AFC and the fifth seed.

Since the division winners are guaranteed the top four seeds in the playoffs, and the Chiefs and Broncos reside in the same division, one of the two of them is guaranteed no higher than a fifth seed. The Broncos could wind up with the second-best record in the AFC and still be seeded fifth.

The Playoff Odds

History seems to bode well for the Chiefs. Not counting this year's teams, in the modern Super Bowl era 18 teams have started a season 9-0, and all 18 made the playoffs that respective year. Of those 18 teams, 11 went on to play in the Super Bowl.  

For those of you keeping score at home that's 61 percent of all NFL teams making it to the Super Bowl after starting their season 9-0.  Of the 11 teams that made the Super Bowl, seven went on to win the whole thing.  

The Playoff Picture

Seed	Team	Wins	Losses	Points Scored	Points Against
1	Kansas City Chiefs	9	0	215	111
2	New England Patriots	7	2	234	175
3	Indianapolis Colts	6	2	214	155
4	Cincinnati Bengals	6	3	217	166
5	Denver Broncos	7	1	343	218
6	New York Jets	5	4	169	231
X	Tennessee Titans	4	4	173	167
X	Miami Dolphins	4	4	174	187
X	San Diego Chargers	4	4	192	174

If the season were to end today, the Chiefs would finish with the top seed and a first-round bye along with the New England Patriots. The Colts would get the New York Jets at Indianapolis, and the Denver Broncos would travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals.

The top seed, however, has been somewhat unlucky for AFC teams over the years. Since 1975, of the 37 AFC Super Bowl participants only 19 (51.3 percent) were number one seeds. Of those 19, only six (16.2 percent) managed a Super Bowl win. The last was a decade ago when the New England Patriots did it in 2003.

The Remaining Schedule

The Chiefs have a fairly difficult back half of their schedule remaining. They have two dates against the Denver Broncos, a game at home against Indianapolis and back-to-back road trips to opposite sides of the country in Washington and the Oakland Raiders.

Week	Day	Date	Time	Opponent	Opponent Record
11	Sunday	17 November	8:30 PM EST	at Denver Broncos	7-1
12	Sunday	24 November	1:00 PM EST	San Diego Chargers	4-4
13	Sunday	01 December	1:00 PM EST	Denver Broncos	7-1
14	Sunday	08 December	1:00 PM EST	at Washington	3-5
15	Sunday	15 December	4:05 PM EST	at Oakland Raiders	3-5
16	Sunday	22 December	1:00 PM EST	Indianapolis Colts	6-2
17	Sunday	29 December	4:25 PM EST	at San Diego Chargers	4-4

While the schedule is certainly navigable for the Chiefs, it provides a slightly more daunting challenge than the first half of the season. A first-half schedule which saw Kansas City take on only one team currently sitting above .500, the Dallas Cowboys.

Overall, the things look to be going pretty well for Kansas City. If the Chiefs only split their remaining games, they will still finish either 12-4 or 13-3, certainly well ahead of the two-win season they cobbled together last season.

The Chiefs are all but a lock for the playoffs, and if they can fend off the Broncos figure to have home-field advantage for a least one playoff game.