With just three weeks left in the season NFL playoff scenarios will be a term you hear around here frequently. With the San Diego Chargers convincing victory over the San Francisco 49ers, the Kansas City Chiefs can now officially be worried (if they weren't before). The Chiefs are in first place in the AFC West at 8-5 while the Chargers are 8-6.
NFL Playoff Scenarios: Chargers Putting Pressure On Chiefs In AFC West
The Chargers remaining schedule includes two road trips to Cincinnati and Denver. Those teams have a combined five wins and the Chargers will be favored in both. However, San Diego does not control their own destiny right now -- the Chiefs do. Kansas City has remaining games at St. Louis and then back home against Tennessee and Oakland.
Which way will the AFC West go from here?
If both teams win out, Kansas City will take the division by virtue of having a better record.
If the Chiefs slip up, they can expect the Chargers, who are behind New England as the NFL’s hottest team, to take the division. In that scenario, San Diego would hold the advantage in multiple tiebreakers. Since the two teams are tied in head-to-head and their record in the division right now, Week 17 would be important as both play divisional games.
The Chargers have won their last two games by a combined score of 64-7. Most of us expect them to win out. With all the tiebreakers and other scenarios out there, the important thing to remember is that the Chiefs, more than likely, need to stay one game up on the Chargers to make it in.
That means the pressure is on Kansas City to run the table.
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