Chiefs vs. Chargers Impact on AFC West, No. 1 Seed Race

Thursday Night Football is setting up to be one of the most important games of the NFL season with the Kansas City Chiefs heading to Los Angeles to face the Chargers.

The Chargers won the first meeting between the two in Week 3, 30-24, but find themselves a game behind the Chiefs in the AFC West.

Let's break down all the playoff implications in the AFC for TNF, with all odds mentioned from WynnBET Sportsbook.

AFC West

The Chiefs are -230 at WynnBET to win the division while the Chargers are +190, and this game may decide who wins the division.

If Kansas City can grab the road victory, they will take a two game lead into the final three weeks of the year. It won't be smooth sailing with games against the Steelers, Bengals and Broncos to finish the year, but the two-time defending AFC Champions will have an overwhelming advantage to close out the division.

If Los Angeles wins, they will pull into a tie with the Chiefs, but have the tiebreaker over Patrick Mahomes and co. meaning they are essentially up a game down the stretch. The Chargers play the Texans, Broncos and Raiders down the stretch, which is an easier schedule, so this game is massive for Brandon Staley's bunch.

AFC Wild Card

Both teams figure to make the postseason, but it is crowded so I'll lay out the scenarios.

For starters, one of these two will almost certainly make the playoffs through the AFC West. As of this writing, the Chargers are the first wild card team (No. 5 overall) in the conference with the Colts and Bills, Browns, Bengals and Broncos all behind them by a game. Again, it's tight.

A loss may put their postseason spot in jeopardy, but as I mentioned above Los Angeles does have one of the easier closing schedules down the stretch. The team also has tiebreakers over the Browns and Bengals in head-to-head records.

A win would give them a massive advantage towards locking up a postseason berth in the first year of the Brandon Staley era while a loss can make it dicey down the stretch.

No. 1 Seed

The No. 1 seed race in the AFC is tight with several teams in the mix heading into Week 15. The Chiefs are tied with the Patriots and Titans record wise, but lost to Tennessee already this season so they don't have the tiebreaker with them. As of now, they are behind the Patriots in secondary tiebreakers.

A win for Kansas City keeps them on pace to grab the No. 1 seed, while the Chargers could make life difficult for them with a loss, putting them essentially two games behind Tennessee for the top spot as well as a game behind New England.

If the Chargers win, they would have an outside chance at taking the No. 1 seed, but I wouldn't bank on it, considering they lost to the Patriots already this season as well as the 8-5 Ravens.

Overall, this game feels important for the Chiefs to stay in the mix for the top spot in the conference while the Chargers are trying to stay above water in the playoff race.

Check out the BetSided team's best bets for Thursday Night Football and more on the latest edition of the "Bet & Breakfast" podcast!