KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the fourth time in the Patrick Mahomes era, which is now in its seventh season since he took over as Kansas City’s starting quarterback, the Chiefs are the top seed in the AFC for the NFL playoffs.
So, what does locking in that No. 1 seed and a first-round bye mean for the Chiefs?
“It'll definitely help,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. “We’ve got some of the guys that are banged up, so to get guys back and freshen up a little bit, I think will be a positive for us.”
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Every NFL team is bruised and battered by Week 17, but it’s still an important mile marker for the Chiefs.
“It's just checking another goal off the list — win the division (and) get the first seed, so we get that first-round bye and every game that we play has to come through Arrowhead,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “We have a lot of pride in doing that year in, year out.”
Of course, being the top seed guarantees nothing. Kansas City lost an AFC Championship Game, lost in a Super Bowl and also won a Super Bowl in previous instances during the Mahomes era, which also includes Super Bowl titles as the second and third seeds.
But the health aspect is perhaps more critical for the Chiefs than past seasons because their bye came in Week 6 this season — much earlier than usual — and they just finished a stretch of three games in 11 days.
“It's gonna be nice getting guys healthy,” Mahomes said. “I think this was the earliest bye I've ever had, just in general, so to kind of have this grind of ... almost 10 weeks of just football and grinding then this short schedule at the very end of the year, we have some guys banged up and can get them back healthy now.”
The Chiefs won’t play a meaningful game again until mid-January, so they have three and a half weeks for players to heal with only three games now standing between Kansas City and an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.
“Obviously, we feel like we can continue to get better and better, but obviously we're playing — especially offensive — our best football at the end of the year and getting guys healthy,” Mahomes said. “We're excited for it. We're going to keep working. This isn't the end. This is just the beginning, and we'll continue to work to get even better as we go into the playoffs.”
With the return of Hollywood Brown from shoulder surgery and Xavier Worthy’s emergence, Kansas City has played its best ball in recent weeks, a good feeling with so much rest on the horizon.
“The chemistry is at an all-time high right now, and I'm excited that we found a way to get the No. 1 seed and we're going into the playoffs playing our best football season,” Travis Kelce said. “... Right now, the entire team is playing lights out. We're playing very complimentary football. We're getting turnovers, Pat's playing his tail off, guys like Xavier are really coming into view here and showing everything that he has ... and every time Hollywood catches the ball, it's just a burst of energy, because we've missed that guy a lot, man.”
Still, Kansas City knows how tenuous home-field can be after taking out Buffalo and Baltimore on the road a season ago en route to a Super Bowl repeat.
“It’s an honor to be the No. 1 seed, but, at the same time, we know from last year, anybody can beat anybody anywhere,” Travis Kelce said.
But they’d still rather have the path to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans go through GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium than anywhere else.
“Man, I love it,” cornerback Trent McDuffie said. “I was just talking to my family about it. My rookie year, we were able to get all home games and you just can't beat Arrowhead in the playoffs. I'm excited to go out there. I know we’ve got the first round off, but man I can't wait to play in Arrowhead in the playoffs.”
The Chiefs snagged the top seed in Mahomes’ first season as the starter — thank you, Fitzmagic! — but lost to New England in overtime in the AFC Championship Game — dang it, Dee Ford.
When the Chiefs finally ended a half-century Super Bowl drought the next season, they did so as the No. 2 seed, though top-seeded Baltimore got upset in the Divisional Round so the AFC title game was still in Kansas City en route to a Super Bowl LIV victory.
The Chiefs were the top seed in 2020 and returned to the Super Bowl, where Tampa Bay battered a Kansas City team with a decimated offensive line in Super Bowl LV.
In 2021, Reid’s squad again entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed, which meant no bye since the NFL expanded to seven postseason teams the season before, but they hosted another AFC Championship Game after Cincinnati upset top-seeded Tennessee.
The Bengals, of course, also toppled second-seeded Kansas City in overtime en route to a Super Bowl loss.
By the 2022 season, the Chiefs were back on top and won Super Bowl LVII after being the top seed, but Kansas City slid all the way to the No. 3 seed after the 2023 regular season.
Of course, despite being the lowest seed of the Mahomes era, the Chiefs still became the first repeat Super Bowl champions in nearly two decades, beating San Francisco in OT in Super Bowl LVIII.
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