Not to be forgotten in the aftermath of the epic showdown last night should be the impact it has on the playoff race, though. With the Chiefs losing their second game of the year, their lead in the AFC is getting smaller as a look at the conference’s postseason picture shows:
As we already
discussed yesterday, New England owns the tiebreaker over both the Chiefs and the Texans due to beating them both earlier during the season. As a result, the Patriots — who will still play the Steelers in week 15 for what appears to be at least a first-round bye — now finds themselves ahead of Houston in the standings and are only one game behind the currently top-seeded Chiefs.
And while Kansas City still controls its own destiny for the number one seed, the team still has some challenges awaiting after its week 12 bye. Meanwhile, the Patriots’ biggest hurdles appear to be the Minnesota Vikings and a Steelers team that needs to play against four teams currently in the playoff race:
NFL schedule weeks 12-17
<table class="p-data-table" width="100%"> <thead> <tr> <th>Team</th> <th>Chiefs</th> <th>Steelers</th> <th>Patriots</th> </tr> </thead> <tfoot> <tr> </tr> </tfoot> <tbody> <tr> <td>
Week 12</td> <td>BYE</td> <td>at Broncos</td> <td>at Jets</td> </tr> <tr> <td>
Week 13</td> <td>at Raiders</td> <td>vs Chargers</td> <td>vs Vikings</td> </tr> <tr> <td>
Week 14</td> <td>vs Ravens</td> <td>at Raiders</td> <td>at Dolphins</td> </tr> <tr> <td>
Week 15</td> <td>vs Chargers</td> <td>vs Patriots</td> <td>at Steelers</td> </tr> <tr> <td>
Week 16</td> <td>at Seahawks</td> <td>at Saints</td> <td>vs Bills</td> </tr> <tr> <td>
Week 17</td> <td>vs Raiders</td> <td>vs Bengals</td> <td>vs Jets</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
Judged by the schedule awaiting the three teams, the Patriots and Chiefs seem have the easiest path towards earning a bye week. And when it comes to home field advantage throughout the tournament, New England’s week six win over Kansas City could loom large when it is all said and done — the Rams’ victory yesterday is a big reason for that.
https://www.patspulpit.com/2018/11/...fs-loss-los-angeles-rams-new-england-patriots
The Pats appear to have the easiest schedule & the Steelers have the hardest schedule the rest of the way imo. In Denver will be tough for Pittsburgh; in NO will be a loss. The Chargers will also be a challenge for them. The Pats have history in Pittsburgh on their side with health being a key. KC will have back-to-back tough games against the Chargers and in Seattle which may match up with them pretty well.