Is there still a world where the Kansas City Chiefs make the playoffs?
By Andy Davies
The fate of the Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff hopes may just hang on their Week 15 showdown against AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers.
It has been an unprecedented season for the Chiefs in the Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes era.
The Chiefs currently stand at 6-7, a record that delights more than just the Gen-Z TikTok generation with many NFL fans wishing for a fresh change in the list of AFC champions.
For the first time since the 2015 season, there will be a different winner of the AFC West, a division crown that the Chiefs have held for ten straight seasons.
Not since the Super Bowl winning 2015 Denver Broncos have the Chiefs failed to win the AFC West. After a win for the Denver Broncos against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday and a subsequent home loss to the Chiefs against the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football, this confirmed that the division crown would not be residing in Kansas City.
Not since the 2014 season have the Chiefs failed to make the playoffs, when they went 9-7. With games still to come against the Chargers and Broncos, there is a good chance that they finish the season with a losing season.
This is not something they have done since going 2-14 in 2012, and with games against the Tennessee Titans and Raiders to come, this marks the significance of the Chargers game this Sunday. It is also a game that could still have a huge bearing on whether the Chiefs make the playoffs this season.
Addressing the Playoff Picture
Kansas City are currently the 10th seed in the AFC and are level on wins with the Miami Dolphins, despite the South Florida franchise starting the season 1-7.
They are just two losses behind the seventh seed Texans. However, their loss to DeMeco Ryan’s team on Sunday makes it a three-game gap due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Chiefs have also lost games to the third seed Jacksonville Jaguars and sixth seed Buffalo Bills (both 9-4), making the four-game gap with four games to go near on impossible to catch up on.
Just one win separates the fourth seed Steelers (7-6) and ninth seed Baltimore Ravens (6-7), and with the two teams playing each other in Week 18, it is likely that only one AFC North team makes it in.
This leaves the eighth Indianapolis Colts (8-5), who have freefallen from 7-2 to 8-5. There are two wins separating the teams with four games remaining.
However, with the Chiefs beating the Colts earlier this season and Indy losing quarterback Daniel Jones through a season ending Achilles injury, the Colts are more than catchable.
They have signed former quarterback Phillip Rivers to their practice squad. It is hard to see a player who turned 44 two days ago and has not played since 2021 being the man to inspire the Colts to the playoffs or more. If he is, then it could so easily be made into a film.
This leaves one team who the Chiefs will need to rely on dropping some losses to help them make the playoffs, and this is the Chargers.
Currently boasting a 9-4 record, the Chargers are three wins ahead of the Chiefs. They also currently have the tiebreaker in their favour after their Week One win against Kansas City in Sao Paolo.
A win on Sunday would level the tiebreaker and bring the gap back to two wins, and the Chiefs’ schedule is a lot more favourable than the Chargers’ remaining four.
After Sunday, Jim Harbaugh’s team will take on the Dallas Cowboys, Texans and Broncos. This is a tough run of games against two teams who are very likely to make the playoffs and another whose form is hot.
The Chiefs will need to win out, but they have those two aforementioned favourable matchups against the Titans and Raiders. They could, like the Chargers, face a Broncos team who would be resting players ahead of the playoffs.
Should the Chiefs beat the Chargers, and then beat the Titans, they could be level on wins with the Chargers. With the tiebreaker equal, this would make the final two games so very important. Both teams face the Broncos, and the Chiefs’ game against the Raiders sounds a lot easier a task than the prospect of taking on Texans, as the Chiefs found on last weekend.
Write off the Chiefs at your peril
If the Chiefs lose to the Chargers, then their playoff hopes are dead to rights.
Should the Chiefs beat the Chargers, then their chances of making the playoffs are more than feasible.
There is a reason Mahomes has been to seven straight AFC Championships and won all but two of them, made five Super Bowls and won three of them. The Chiefs know how to get it done, which makes what has happened this season all the more shocking.
Vigilant NFL viewers would have noticed the signs of a decline last season, despite reaching Super Bowl LIX with a 15-2 record. They were one of four teams to go the entire regular season without scoring 30 points or more in a game.
They achieved this feat for the first time in the Divisional Round of the playoffs as they beat the Texans 32-29, proof that once you are in it doesn’t matter how you played in the regular season.
In 2025, they have carried on their poor regular season performances but without their cloak of invincibility largely removed following their 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in February’s Super Bowl.
In spite of this, the Chiefs still have a group of individuals capable of turning it on when it matters, no matter the quality of performance.
Whether this is the coaching of Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo, the Mahomes and Travis Kelce connection, or the defensive unit including Chris Jones and George Karlaftis, there is still talent on the team. Take away the drops from the offense on Sunday, along with Texans quarterback CJ Stroud escaping a near certain sack, the Chiefs could have easily won this game.
Against a Chargers team with offensive line injuries present, including Joe Alt, this Chiefs defense could give Herbert some issues. The 2020 sixth overall pick out of Oregon has already beaten the Chiefs this season, but this was in Week One at a neutral venue. Facing the Chiefs in Arrowhead is an entirely different proposition and is still a cauldron of noise despite the lack of results this season for the fanbase.
Arrowhead is a place that can swallow a quarterback up, no matter what their record is. A win between the trenches could be the key to Kansas City winning this game and reminding everyone that they are still here.
A spot in the playoffs looks increasingly hard for the Chiefs this season, but until they are officially eliminated, then there is always a chance of another postseason berth. Make no mistake, the Chiefs need to win on Sunday.
ANDY DAVIES
NFL ANALYST
ANDY IS A SPORTS JOURNALISM GRADUATE WITH OVER FIVE YEARS EXPERIENCE OF NFL WRITING AND PODCASTING. ANDY HAS BEEN TO EVERY NFL STADIUM AND IS THE HOST OF THE ACROSS THE POD PODCAST. HE HAS PRESS PASS EXPERIENCE AT THE LONDON GAMES AND MANY OTHER NFL BASED EVENTS SUCH AS THE SUPER BOWL, HAVING INTERVIEWED THE LIKES OF AARON RODGERS, justin jefferson, JASON BELL, OSI UMENYIORA, PATRICK MAHOMES, TRAVIS KELCE, DERRICK HENRY, SAQUON BARKLEY AND JALEN HURTS.