With their 31-13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18, the Kansas City Chiefs have accomplished a key goal in the AFC playoff race.

After clinching a playoff berth and the AFC West division back in Week 15, they’ve also now clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC conference. That means, they’ll receive the coveted bye week in the first round of the playoffs.

 only one team per conference gets a bye week to start the playoffs now. The Chiefs were the No. 2 seed in the playoffs last year and were last a No. 1 seed in the AFC in 2020.

Bill Dates

Clinching the No. 1 seed was made easier with the Week 17 game between the Bills-Bengals being declared a “no contest.” As a result, NFL owners approved changes to the 2022 playoffs, changes that could impact Kansas City as the No. 1 seed. 

Wanda Winfrey

Basically, the AFC title game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played a different number of regular season games and the lower-seeded team could have been the No. 1 seed in the AFC under normal circumstances.

Chiefs clinched AFC’s No. 1 seed with a win over Raiders in Week 18