Heading into Week 13, they had not yet clinched a playoff spot in the NFL this year, but that changed on Friday.
Thanks to their wild 19-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Kansas City Chiefs (11-1) became the first team to clinch a playoff berth in 2024. Going into Week 13, the Chiefs had multiple scenarios in which they could gain a position. a playoff spot and the easiest is a simple two-step process:
The Dolphins lost to the Packers on Thanksgiving night, setting the stage for Kansas City to become the first team to punch their ticket.
With the victory over Las Vegas, the Chiefs accomplished something no NFL team has done in 26 years: They became the first team to clinch a playoff berth for the non-division title with at least five weeks left in the season. , which is something that almost never happens this early. According to NFL playoff guru Joe Ferreria before the Chiefs’ victory on Friday, the last time a team clinched a playoff berth for the non-division title this early was in 1998, when both the Broncos as the Falcons clinched a playoff berth in Week 12 (The season lasted only 17 weeks in 1998, so there were also five weeks left in the season).
With the loss, the Raiders became the first AFC team and second NFL team overall to be eliminated from playoff contention (the Giants were the first).
As for the Chiefs, they can obviously still clinch the division title at a later point, but for now, they have only clinched a playoff berth, but not the overall division.
That being said, there will be a split on the line this weekend. The Bills will clinch the AFC East with a win over the 49ers on Sunday night. If that happens, the Bills will become the first team since the 2009 Colts to clinch a division title with at least five weeks left in the season.
The Lions can also clinch a playoff spot this weekend, but their scenarios are a little more complicated. We covered all of those, plus three other scenarios the Chiefs could enter, and You can consult each of them here.
