Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Chiefs fall to final wild-card spot

OAKLAND, Calif. -- I'll do my full, normal, weekly look at the Kansas City Chiefs' standing in the AFC playoff picture next week, after the weekend games are concluded.

Just know for now that after Thursday night's 24-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, the Chiefs now hold the final wild-card spot in the AFC. The Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers, both 7-4, would be the AFC's wild-card teams. The Steelers hold the tiebreaker over the Chiefs because of a better record in conference games (6-3 for Pittsburgh, 5-3 for Kansas City). So Pittsburgh would be the AFC's fifth seed, Kansas City the sixth seed.

The Chiefs' first-round playoff opponent if the season ended today would be the Cincinnati Bengals. At 6-3-1, the Bengals lead the AFC North. The game would be played in Cincinnati.

Two games of immense interest for Chiefs fans this weekend with respect to the wild-card race are the ones featuring the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Both teams are 6-4. Each plays an NFC opponent this weekend. Cleveland is at Atlanta on Sunday, Baltimore is at New Orleans on Monday night.

For those who like to fiddle with various scenarios involving the Chiefs and all the other playoff contenders, check out ESPN's playoff machine.

^ Back to Top ^