A Breakdown of How the Chiefs Can Make the Playoffs

The stage and scenarios are set, and the Kansas City Chiefs have absolutely no wiggle room the rest of the season if it means they can make the playoffs. However, they're going to need some help from a few other teams and the football gods as well.

With four games remaining, the Chiefs have few scenarios where they can make the playoffs, but countless that will eliminate them entirely.

In this episode of the Kansas City Chiefs Insider Podcast, we break down how the Chiefs can make the playoffs in specific scenarios, as well as how they could miss it.

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The scenarios are simple. The reigning AFC champions can keep their hopes of defending their title alive if they win out the remainder of the season, the Los Angeles Chargers go 1-3 or worse, and the Indianapolis Colts have to lose twice. A lot of factors, but a lot of possibilities.

Analyst Rich Eisen shed some light on the situation on a recent installment of The Rich Eisen Show. His comments on the scenario can be viewed below.

"If that happens, your seven seed potentially visiting either Denver or New England in wild card weekend, would be the Kansas City Chiefs," Eisen said on Wednesday.

"Well, the Kansas City Chiefs have the rest of the way, the Chargers at home. Okay. Then they are at Tennessee. Then they have Denver at home, and they're at Vegas. Which one of them gets him in Arrowhead? Because they're not losing on the road."

Having both the Tennessee Titans and the Las Vegas Raiders on the schedule is good for the Chiefs, but what sucks is having the other half be against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos.

Dec 7, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid walks off the field after the game against the Houston Texans at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images | Amy Kontras-Imagn Images

To Eisen and his partners' points, the Chiefs are more than likely to win on the road, but it won't matter if they don't win at home.

"Now, the problem is again they've lost four of their last five and have not looked like a team that can rip off four in a row because they can't string together two, three clean drives. That's the problem. Two, three clean quarters. That's the right now," Eisen continued.

Dec 7, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) reacts to dropping a pass in front of Houston Texans cornerback Myles Bryant (25) during the fourth quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

While the odds aren't in favor of Kansas City, the odds aren't zero. And if we know anything about the Kansas City Chiefs of old, it's not to count them out until that statistical percentage sits a zero.

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