The Kansas City Chiefs put together one of their more complete performances on Saturday night as they swept through to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. The Chiefs will now have an eager eye on the last remaining AFC game on Wild Card Weekend as it will determine their next playoff opponent and whether they will host a game next week.
With the assistance of the free PFN NFL Playoff Predictor, let’s examine the Chiefs’ playoff scenarios in terms of their potential opponents for the Divisional Round.
What Are the Kansas City Chiefs’ Playoff Scenarios and Potential Opponents in the Divisional Round?
The Chiefs’ comprehensive victory on Saturday night ensured that the No. 3 seed in the AFC will still be alive entering the Divisional Round. They also put themselves in a position to potentially host a game next weekend if the Buffalo Bills slip up on Monday afternoon.
The Chiefs’ playoff scenarios are as follows: If the Bills win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City will head to Buffalo to face the Bills. However, if the Steelers win, then the Chiefs will host the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium next weekend.
The way the NFL playoff bracket works is that the lowest seed remaining in the conference after Wild Card Weekend faces the No. 1 seed in the Divisional Round.
The Texans are currently the lowest seed (No. 4), but the No. 7-seeded Steelers would take that dubious honor with a win in Buffalo on Monday. That would send the Steelers to Baltimore to face the Ravens.
In that scenario, the No. 3-seeded Chiefs would host the No. 4-seeded Texans in the Divisional Round. Kansas City would also then have a chance to host the AFC Championship Game if Pittsburgh upsets Baltimore.
A Bills win would send the Texans into Baltimore to face the Ravens. That would leave the Chiefs facing the No. 2-seeded Bills in Buffalo, most likely next Sunday. Kansas City could still host the AFC Championship Game in that scenario if both themselves and Houston were to prevail.
The Chiefs would naturally prefer to host the Texans than travel to Buffalo. Additionally, KC has a 9-5 record against Houston, including a 2-0 record in the postseason. The Chiefs have won the last three matchups between the teams, with the first of those three being a 51-31 victory over the Texans in the 2019 Divisional Round.
You have to go back to the 2019 regular season to find the last time the Chiefs lost to the Texans (31-24). Kansas City has a 3-2 record against Houston in games played at Arrowhead Stadium, including that playoff win in January 2020.
The Chiefs’ record against the Bills is not as good, both historically, and recently. Buffalo holds the advantage 29-24-1 against Kansas City’s franchise, dating back to when the Chiefs were the Dallas Texans in 1960.
In more recent times, the Bills and Chiefs have split the last six matchups between the two teams. Intriguingly, only one of those games was played in Buffalo. That game ended in a 26-17 win for the Chiefs in October 2020.
Buffalo has won the last three regular-season matchups, including a 20-17 win over the Chiefs in Week 14 of the most recent season. However, the last two postseason games between the teams were won by the Chiefs, including that dramatic game in Arrowhead in the 2021 Divisional Round.
The Chiefs came out 42-36 winners after overtime after Patrick Mahomes took his team down the field in 13 seconds for the game-tying field goal as time expired. Kansas City then won the coin toss, took the ball, and scored to close out the game without the Bills touching it.
The outcome of that game resulted in a change to the playoff overtime rules, with both teams now assured of getting the ball at least once.
The Chiefs will not be afraid of taking on the Bills in Buffalo, but they would certainly prefer to be playing the Texans in Kansas City next weekend.
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Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!
