Kansas City Chiefs clinch playoff berth with 56-31 win over Raiders, tie Broncos in AFC West
By Josh Hill
After owning the first overall pick in the NFL Draft this past year, the Kansas City Chiefs have completed a big step on their road to redemption. The Chiefs rolled into O.Co Coliseum and rolled over the Oakland Raiders 56-31 to clinch a playoff berth in the AFC and put the heat on the Denver Broncos for the AFC West lead.
The scenario for the Chiefs is a favorable one as with the win today in Oakland, the Chiefs moved to 11-3 on the season which ties them with Denver in the division. Due to being swept by the Broncos though, the Chiefs need to finish a game better than Denver to win the division which is very possible at this point.
With just two games left in the regular season, the Chiefs opportunities to overtake the Broncos are limited but at the same time, if the Chiefs do over take the Broncos then the time is short for Denver to get the lead back. The tiebreaker belonging to Denver complicates things for Kansas City but they own one of the six playoff spots regardless of where they end up in the division and that’s all that counts.
From worst to first is still a possibility for the Chiefs but at the very least their playoff ticket has been punched and that’s more than most expected out of last year’s worst team.