The Bills ultimate holiday wishlist includes wins, losses, and injury help

While certainly not their prettiest performance of the season, the Buffalo Bills still improved to 12-3 this past Sunday with a 24-21 win over the New England Patriots.

Despite the victory, though, the AFC East champs failed to gain any ground in the race for the No. 1 seed in the conference, as the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 14-1 with a 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans.

As such, Josh Allen & Co. will need a minor miracle to take the top spot in the AFC, which is where we'll kick things off as we look at a few items on the Bills' holiday wishlist.

The Bills need two wins and two Chiefs losses to earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC

As Buffalo sits two games back of Kansas City with two weeks remaining in the regular season, the math as it pertains to the No. 1 seed is quite simple, as the Bills need to win their final two games and have the Chiefs lose both of theirs.

That's literally the only scenario in play at this point, as one Buffalo loss or one Kansas City victory ends the race.

On paper, the Bills aren't supposed to have any problems over the next two weeks, as they've got a date this Sunday with Aaron Rodgers and the highly disappointing New York Jets, who've lost five of their last six, and then a rematch with New England in Week 18. But as the Patriots just proved this past week, nothing is guaranteed, as they gave the Bills all they could handle.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, have a much tougher slate, starting with a Christmas Day matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers, of course, are still in a tight race in the AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens, who just knocked off Pittsburgh this past Saturday behind strong outings from Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry.

With both teams now sitting at 10-5, the Steelers obviously need every win they can get, so they'll undoubtedly be giving it everything they've got against the Chiefs, which is obviously good for Buffalo.

Following its matchup in Pittsburgh, Kansas City closes the season on the road against the Denver Broncos, who can clinch a playoff spot this Saturday with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals and would actually be Buffalo's opponent in the Wild Card Round if the postseason began tomorrow.

If the Chiefs lose to the Steelers, the Bills will have to wish the Broncos still have something to play for in Week 18. Because if they don't, Sean Payton could end up resting some starters, which would naturally hurt Buffalo.

The Bills need to get healthier and stingier on the defensive side of the football

It's no secret that the Bills don't have the greatest defense in the world, and it's fair to say that most of their victories this season have been because of Josh Allen and the high-octane Buffalo offense.

To be fair, the Bills got a solid second-half performance from Bobby Babich's unit this past Sunday, forcing the Patriots into turnovers on each of their first three possessions coming out of the locker room, the last of which was a forced fumble that resulted in the Taron Johnson touchdown that put the Bills up 24-14.

Outside those 30 minutes, though, the Bills have been absolutely atrocious in recent weeks, allowing 44 points and 457 total yards in the loss to the Los Angeles Rams and 42 points and 521 yards in the win over the Detroit Lions, forcing just one turnover in those two games.

And before buckling down against New England, Buffalo allowed touchdown drives of 58 and 91 yards and nearly 250 yards of offense over the first 30 minutes. So, there's work to be done, for sure.

Of course, that work would be a little easier if the Bills weren't dealing with so many defensive injuries. In the matchup with the Pats, Buffalo was without the services of cornerback Rasul Douglas (knee), safety Damar Hamlin (ribs), safety Taylor Rapp (neck), linebacker Matt Milano (groin), and defensive tackle DeWayne Carter (wrist).

That's a lot of key contributors right there. So, the Bills' holiday wishlist certainly has to include these guys getting healthy.