No, the Kansas City Chiefs will not go back to the Super Bowl this year, where they have finished their season for all but one year so far this decade. They’re not even going back to the playoffs; that fate sealed with an exclamation point yesterday afternoon. Determined by a division rival–and not even its front-runner. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’s Richie Whitt gushed the details from his beat:
The Los Angeles Chargers achieved two major feats on a frigid Sunday in Kansas City:
1. They finally killed the Kansas City Chiefs.
2. They kept their hopes in the AFC and AFC West alive and well.
With the win, the Bolts’ chances of making the playoffs have skyrocketed to more than 90 percent according to most NFL scenario calculations. The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, improving to 12-2 and keep their two-game lead in the division.
It took two clutch interceptions and literally knocking Patrick Mahomes out of the game late with a knee injury but the Bolts beat the Chiefs, swept the season series and officially elminated K.C. from the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
By winning two clutch games over last season’s Super Bowl opponents in six days, the Chargers have solidified themselves as a threat in the playoffs. They are 10-4 overall and 8-2 in the conference, which is a key tiebreaker used when multiple teams have the same record.
Despite that impressive resume, the Chargers have perpetually played second fiddle for most of their existence. This year, they’re not only not the best team in their division, they’re not even the best team in their stadium. That distinction is held by Inglewood’s NFC representative, as ATHLON SPORTS’ Arnab Mondal reminded:
The Los Angeles Rams closed out a tense showdown with the Detroit Lions as Stafford’s second TD connection with Colby Parkinson helped seal the win. Detroit cut the lead to one late, but Los Angeles’ defense held strong. Quarterbacks were key. Matthew Stafford found Parkinson for two touchdowns, including the game-winner. At the same time, Jared Goff kept Detroit alive with several big throws, hitting Amon-Ra St. Brown repeatedly and finding Jamison Williams for a deep TD before halftime. Williams finished with 78 yards and two scores on 15 carries. Puka Nacua had nine catches for 181 yards. The victory improved the Rams to 11-3 and kept them atop the NFC, setting up a huge Thursday divisional clash with the 11-3 Seattle Seahawks.
Mmm hmm. The Rams are also not the best team in their division, as the surprising Hawks found just enough to spoil a storybook return to the league that the SEATTLE TIMES’ Bob Condotta practically sweated through the storytelling of:
Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV revealed Sunday that among the team’s nicknames for kicker Jason Myers is one that plays off his jersey number. “Big five, man,” Jones said in referencing Myers.
What the Seahawks needed from Myers on Sunday was a really big sixth. With 18 seconds left against the 13.5-point underdog Indianapolis Colts, Myers, who had already made five field goals, lined up for a potential game-winner looking into the open end of Lumen Field — where the winds typically swirl the most and the nastiest. All he was being asked to do was kick it 56 yards through the upright to prevent the Seahawks from suffering their most disappointing and maybe costliest defeat of the season. The kick stayed true to the middle.
It was Myers’ singlular scoring that caused the Colts’ emergency QB Philip Rivers, literally grandfathered into the position (the father of ten recently added a grandchild to his brood) to leave the field for the first time since 2020 in defeat. The Colts’ playoff chances took yet another hit with a fourth consecutive defeat, but they still are just a game behind the Texans for the conference’s final wild card slot.
Seattle most def needed that win because the 49ers became the NFC’s top wild card team in the wake of an easy win over AFC-worst Tennessee yesterday and the Broncos dropping Green Bay below them in a most consternating fashion–or so contends THE ATHLETIC’s Mike Sando:
Bo Nix passed for 302 yards and four touchdowns to win on a day when the Broncos’ defense and special teams were a net loser (-4.2 EPA). This wasn’t necessarily an aberration, either.
Denver keeps winning even though its defense has been well below average (-3.0 EPA or worse) in each of the past four games. Since 2000, the only other teams to win four in a row with the defensive deck stacked against them to that degree had Mahomes (2018 Chiefs), Drew Brees (2011 Saints), Peyton Manning (2006 Colts) and Carson Palmer (2003 Bengals) behind center. The only team to win five in a row under those circumstances had Tom Brady (2011 Patriots).
But as the saying goes, you are what your record says you are. Right now the Broncos are the conference’s top seed and have won eleven straight in the process. And there you have the reality check that more than half of the NFL’s double-digit winning teams come from its two Western divisions, so all of these teams need to play all out to see which one of them get the chance to play in a game which a now-vanquished opponent has kept them away from for all but one year. And you do remember that in that aberrative 2021-22 season it was the Rams who emerged with the title–and they edged past the 49ers to do so.
Sure seems like this is a season Horace Greeley would have loved. “Go West, Young Man” was never a more apropos phrase.
Courage…