NFL playoff standings: How Bills or Chiefs win in Week 11 impacts AFC's No. 1 seed race

runaway 2024/11/17 07:51


The Chiefs have looked remarkably vulnerable and unsinkable at the same time this season, and the Bills know all about how it feels to be on the losing end of a nail-biting game against Patrick Mahomes.


In the regular season, however, arguably no team is better than Buffalo at getting the best of Kansas City. The Bills have won each of their last three regular season contests against the Chiefs, all of which were played at Arrowhead Stadium. Last season's matchup even ended in some controversy when a would-be Chiefs touchdown was wiped out by a Kadarius Toney offsides penalty.


The playoffs are an entirely different story. The Bills don't have to worry about that just yet, though. A win on Sunday would not only end the Chiefs' bid for an undefeated season but suddenly tighten the race for the AFC's top seed with plenty of time for Buffalo to make up more ground.


Chiefs playoff picture


The Chiefs are sitting comfortably atop the AFC at 9-0, even if most of their wins have been anything but comfortable. With a 1.5-game advantage over the Bills, a three-game lead in the AFC West and games still to come against the lowly Panthers, Raiders and Browns, it's clear Kansas City is in the driver's seat for the AFC's only playoff bye.


The Bills can change that rather quickly. While a Buffalo win would still leave the Chiefs in control of their own fate, it would leave the Bills with the tiebreaker and put pressure on Kansas City to keep its foot on the gas with only a half-game lead.


A Chiefs win, however, would put the team at least two games ahead of the rest of the pack in the AFC. The Bills' path to surpassing Kansas City would be extremely difficult, given they would sit 2.5 games back and lose the head-to-head tiebreaker, while the Steelers and Ravens would sit multiple games back regardless of who wins their AFC North matchup on Sunday. Baltimore already lost the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Chiefs with its Week 1 loss at Arrowhead Stadium.

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