Despite a season replete with close calls, the Kansas City Chiefs ensured that the AFC playoffs will run through Arrowhead Stadium.
With a 29-10 win Wednesday over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Chiefs (15-1) clinched the No. 1 seed in the conference and home-field advantage. It marks the fourth time under coach Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes that the team has secured the AFC’s top seed.
Now, as the Chiefs pursue a historic Super Bowl three-peat, the team can extend its record by hosting a sixth consecutive AFC championship game if it can prevail in its divisional-round matchup.
‘I told my wife, my pregnant wife, I was gonna get her the No. 1 seed so we can go have that baby,’ Mahomes said in a postgame interview. ‘So we got the 1 seed.’
Kansas City scored touchdowns on its two opening drives and then put the game away in the fourth quarter with two additional touchdown marches. Mahomes finished with 320 yards and three touchdown strikes on 29-of-38 passing, and the defense kept the pressure on Russell Wilson with five sacks.
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The 19-point deficit was the Chiefs’ greatest margin of victory this season, which has featured 11 of their wins coming in one-score games.
With the top seed in hand, the Chiefs now can sit their starters in the regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos if they choose, potentially providing an extended break for the likes of Mahomes, who has been dealing with a high ankle sprain, and defensive tackle Chris Jones, who missed Wednesday’s game with a hamstring injury. A win in Week 18, however, would place Kansas City alongside the 2007 New England Patriots, who went 16-0, as the only 16-team wins in NFL history.
The Steelers (10-6), meanwhile, ceded the AFC North division lead to the Baltimore Ravens, who beat the Houston Texans 31-2 later in the day.