Considering how things have been going lately—Andy Reid’s team is just 3-5 after beginning the season 6-1—that isn’t shocking at all. Those ambitions are probably going to be severely dashed by any five-loss run in an eight-game stretch. In spite of this, Kansas City had a chance to earn the only first-round bye in the league going into Week 16. All of that is now gone, clearing the way for quarterback Patrick Mahomes to perhaps start in a road playoff game for the first time, assuming Kansas City makes it far enough in the postseason.
The Kansas City Chiefs have officially been eliminated from contention for the AFC’s top spot after losing to the Las Vegas Raiders and winning against the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas.
After the game on Monday afternoon, wide receiver Justin Watson talked in the locker room and seemed unconcerned about not landing the number one pick. All he wants is for the Chiefs to start dancing first and move on.“I’ve been on a team that won the Super Bowl [as] a wild card team,” Watson said. “You just have to get in. I know people around here are accustomed to all the home playoff games and the first-round bye but I don’t care if it’s easy, nothing this whole second half of the season has been easy. Just give us a chance to play, and let’s do our thing.”
Watson’s point about what fans are “accustomed to” is appropriate. Dating back to the 2018 season (when Mahomes took over as the franchise’s full-time starter), the worst Kansas City has done is compete until the very end of the AFC Championship Game. Of those five playoff runs, all but one started on the heels of the aforementioned bye. The season that didn’t, the 2021 campaign, saw Kansas City host the shell-of-themselves Pittsburgh Steelers on Wild Card weekend. This year’s opponent could be a bit more daunting depending on the matchup.
While the Chiefs’ sentiment is that their mistakes are fixable and everything they want is still in front of them, that isn’t completely true. Sure, Reid’s team can still win the division and host a playoff game to start January’s all-important run. With that said, getting that bye is off the table and it does make things more challenging. Defensive tackle Chris Jones isn’t losing sleep over it, though, saying the team can still get what it wants out of playoff positioning if it takes care of business and maybe gets some help along the way.
