Updated NFL Playoff bracket after Chiefs advance to AFC Championship Game, eliminate Texans
Deny it, run from it, do whatever you want, but the Kansas City Chiefs might simply be inevitable at this point. Yes, Andy Reid's team, still led by Patrick Mahomes, won 15 games in the regular season but everyone seemed to think that they were far more vulnerable than in their past two Super Bowl runs as they eyed a historic three-peat. And yet, they're back in the AFC Championship Game.
After getting the week off in the Wild Card Round as the No. 1 seed in their respective conference, the Chiefs took the field once again in the Divisional Round at Arrowhead Stadium for a date with the Houston Texans. With DeMeco Ryans' team coming off a dominant performance to beat the Chargers a week ago, they looked live to pull off a potential upset of the reigning champions.
Even early on Saturday in the Divisional Round matchup that looked to be the case as Mahomes couldn't find much of a rhythm on offense and the Chiefs went into halftime only up one score, 13-6. After the Texans fateful missed extra-point in the third quarter left Kansas City in the lead, though, they smelled enough blood in the water to get it done. As fate would have it, it was a Travis Kelce touchdown that really set things up for a Chiefs win but a Harrison Butker field goal and then a Leo Chenal blocked field goal sealed it.
So the Chiefs remain the Grim Reaper and are still on the prowl for another Super Bowl. After that game, though, let's dive into the updated NFL Playoff bracket to see where things stand in the postseason.
Updated NFL playoff bracket after Chiefs move on to AFC Championship Game
Here is what we've seen transpire in the NFL Playoff bracket to this point, all of the results and scores from the Wild Card and Divisional Rounds to this point.
- Houston Texans 32, Los Angeles Chargers 12 (Wild Card)
- Baltimore Ravens 28, Pittsburgh Steelers 14 (Wild Card)
- Buffalo Bills 31, Denver Broncos 7 (Wild Card)
- Philadelphia Eagles 22, Green Bay Packers 10 (Wild Card)
- Washington Commanders 23, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20 (Wild Card)
- Kansas City Chiefs 23, Houston Texans 14 (Divisional)
More pressingly, after the Chiefs win, here's where the NFL Playoff bracket now fully stands.
Matchup (Round) | Date and Time |
|---|---|
6 Commanders at 1 Lions (Divisional) | Saturday, Jan. 18 (8 p.m. ET) - FOX |
4 Rams at 2 Eagles (Divisional) | Sunday, Jan. 19 (3 p.m. ET) - NBC |
3 Ravens at 2 Bills (Divisional) | Sunday, Jan. 19 (6:30 p.m. ET) - CBS |
NFC Championship Game | Sunday, Jan. 26 (3 p.m. ET) - FOX |
2 Bills/3 Ravens Winner at 1 Chiefs (AFC Championship Game) | Sunday, Jan. 26 (6:30 p.m. ET) - CBS |
Super Bowl LIX | Sunday, Feb. 9 (6:30 p.m. ET) - FOX |
The Chiefs are the only team to this point that has punched its ticket to conference championship Sunday and they'll wait for the winner of the Ravens-Bills showdown in the other AFC Divisional Round matchup, which will be played on Sunday night. Regardless, we know for a fact that Kansas City will host the winner at Arrowhead Stadium but will be facing one of the two favorites to win MVP this season in either Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen.
On the other side of the bracket, we're still waiting on things in the NFC to be decided with the top-seeded Lions hosting the Commanders on Saturday night in the Divisional Round before the other matchup on Sunday afternoon with the Eagles and Rams facing off in Philadelphia. Detroit is the clear and deserved favorite after a phenomenally impressive 15-win season but, as we know, anything can happen once it's playoff time.
But for now, the Chiefs' dream of a Super Bowl three-peat remains intact for another week. However, after a pretty sloppy win over Houston, one could pretty easily argue that they'll need to be even better to get to the next stage of the proceedings in the postseason.
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