KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. He serves as KSHB 41's digital reporter for all Chiefs games. Share your story idea with Tod.
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With apologies to Jim Mora — playoffs, you kidding me? We’re going to talk about playoffs.
Well, yeah, because that’s kind of the point of an NFL season, especially for a Kansas City team that’s become so accustomed to success in the last decade.
But entering the final four weeks of the season, the Chiefs are in uncharted territory in the Andy Reid era, especially since the arrival of Patrick Mahomes.
Kansas City has a 16% chance to make the playoffs after slipping below .500 with a 20-10 loss on Sunday against the Houston Texans, a loss that officially ended any hope of winning the AFC West.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing whenever you set goals for yourself at the beginning of the year, but we’re at the point of the year — and it’s been like that for the last couple weeks — where we’re worried about getting to the playoffs and give ourselves a chance,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “So, that’s where our mindset and our focus is at.”
Even if the Chiefs win out, the chances to make the postseason are scarcely better than a coin flip, but a couple losses by Indianapolis and the Los Angeles Chargers are all that it would take to salvage the 10-season playoff streak.
“It’s never over,” Reid said. “You keep battling. I’ve been doing this a long time, seen some things. So, you keep going.”
It may not be a great chance, but there is definitely still a chance if the ball bounces Kansas City’s way during the next month — and that’s what several of the team’s leaders chose to focus on after the latest letdown in a season filled with them.
“We’re 6-7,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “We’ve got four games left. We can finish the season at 10-7 and we can have a shot for the playoffs, if the cards fall in the right place.”
Kansas City may no longer control its playoff fate, but there are things still within the team’s control.
“We can control how we finish the season,” Jones. “We can finish strong and, God willing, we can find a way to get in the playoffs.”
The stark reality is that the Chiefs haven’t put together a four-game win streak all season, but what better time to change that than down the stretch in December?
“We’ve got four opportunities to play good football,” Bolton said. “Obviously, we need help from other people as we go down this process, but we’ve got a month of football left to be played and that’s where our mindset’s at.”
They won three straight — home games against Detroit, Las Vegas and Washington — in October amid a run of five victories in six weeks, but now Kansas City’s in the midst of a five-game faceplant.
The Chiefs have lost four of five since Nov. 2 to see their postseason hopes crater, but the one win — against the Colts in overtime — just might save the season.
It’s honestly not as outlandish as you think for Kansas City to make the playoffs — not with Daniel Jones suffering a season-ending Achilles’ rupture and considering the Chargers’ backloaded slate of road games to finish the campaign.
If Indianapolis — who finishes the season with road games at Seattle and Houston sandwiched around home games against San Francisco and Jacksonville — lose two more games, the Chiefs’ head-to-head win provides an edge.
That leaves the Chargers as the easiest target for snaking a playoff spot.
For Kansas City to win out, and reach 10-7, it would have to beat LA, so there’s one loss.
If the Chargers lose two more times — voila! — Kansas City snags an improbable Wild Card berth, which probably means a trip to Denver or New England in the first round.
The Chiefs are the only team with a losing record left on the schedule for the Chargers, who hosts Philadelphia on Monday Night Football.
After its trip to Kansas City, Los Angeles finishes the season at Dallas, at home against Houston and at Denver.
Are the Chargers guaranteed to lose two of those games? Of course not, but they are home underdogs against the Eagles and early bettering lines for Week 15 have Chiefs as the favorite next Sunday as well.
It gets complicated if the Broncos have nothing to play for by Week 18, but they could still be in the hunt for the No. 1 seed, which would put Kansas City fans in the odd circumstance of rooting for Denver.
But if it means giving Mahomes a crack at the playoffs, it would be worth it.
“We’ve still got an opportunity, man,” Jones said. “Even though it’s a slim opportunity, we’ve got an opportunity. We’ve got to finish strong. No matter what, we’ve got to finish strong to be able to in the playoffs, if that opportunity presents itself.”
The flip side — Kansas City is eliminated from the playoffs with a loss to Los Angeles, so we really have reached must-win territory.
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