[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by Gravedigger

At this moment, it's all about the Chargers, you want a decent seed in the playoffs, you have to beat the Chargers.

Chiefs are 2-3 overall, 0-1 in AFC west, 1-3 in Conference.
Chargers are 4-1 overall, 2-0 in AFC west, 2-0 in Conference.

Chiefs are back 2.5 games on the Chargers.

Chiefs have @WAS, @TEN, NYG, GB, @LV, DAL, DEN, LV, @LAC, PIT, @CIN, @DEN.

Chargers have @BAL, NE, @PHI, MIN, PIT, @DEN, @CIN, NYG, KC, @HOU, DEN, @LV

We have to pickup 2 games, preferably against AFC opponents, while beating the Chargers in their stadium. We have some cupcakes, but so do they.

Losable games for Chiefs GB, DAL, PIT, @CIN, and you might even be able to make a case for @TEN

Losable games for Chargers @BAL, PIT, @CIN, and you might even be able to make a case for NE.

It doesn't look good for us to win the division in the hole that we've put ourselves in. We might be starting at the 5, 6, or 7 seed, meaning you're going into Buffalo, into Baltimore or into Tennessee if the Playoffs were today. Two of those teams we've already lost to, one handily beaten, one barely beaten, and hopefully we come out on top in Tennessee.

We need to beat Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Raiders x2, Broncos x2 and Bengals to stake your AFC claim. Beating the Chargers would help as well. You can lose to Green Bay and Dallas, but you need to beat everyone else. I think best case scenario I think we can realistically hope for is 12-5 which I don't know if that'll catch the Chargers without them collapsing due to unforeseen circumstances. My though is we're going to finish 10-7 and hopefully draw the Ravens or the Titans in the playoffs, that gives us our best chance to get back to the AFC Championship Game. Then we'll likely have to go to the Chargers or the Bills, I would rather draw the Chargers, and then the Bills personally. Might as well make it a rematch of the AFC Championship game to get to the Super Bowl, but we have alot to get through before that so we need to take care of business and start kicking ass again.

Good breakdown. Only thing is, I think there are several more games that can go into the "Losable" category for us. One of these years, we're not going to sweep Denver and this year looks as good as any. Beating the Raiders twice is not a given, and hell I'm more worried about the WFT than many people here seem to be. They put up over 30 on the Falcons whom I believe we just passed for the honor of worst defense in the league (although I don't recall the exact metric used. Either way, we all know our defense sucks). The Titans game is absolutely losable. That's the thing, with a defense this shitty, we can lose almost any week. If we get into 12 more shoot outs because of our defense, you gotta figure a team with a decent/good QB would win half of those. We have Mahomes so I'll give us 8-4 which puts us right at that 10-7 mark you mentioned. That may be our ceiling (regular season, I'll have to see Mahomes not make the conference championship game before I believe it) if the defense does not improve.