Buffalo Bills

Bills playoff seeding scenarios: Buffalo can clinch No. 2 seed Sunday

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Buffalo Bills fans hold up letters while watching warmups between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots before an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)AP

Orchard Park, N.Y. — The Bills can clinch the AFC’s No. 2 seed Sunday with a win against the New York Jets at Highmark Stadium.

Buffalo’s slim chances at chasing down the Chiefs for the AFC’s top seed ended Christmas Day after Kansas City toyed with the Steelers on Netflix.

With the win, the Chiefs earned a first-round bye in the playoffs, meaning Buffalo will host a playoff game on Wild Card Weekend in two weeks, likely against the Denver Broncos or, perhaps, the Los Angeles Chargers.

Buffalo (12-3) can’t fall lower than the No. 3 seed in the AFC. The Ravens can only snatch a potential home-field playoff game from the Bills with a win against the Browns and back-to-back losses by the Bills to the Jets and Patriots to close out the regular season.

It’s an unlikely scenario, but one that’s still mathematically on the table heading into Sunday’s 1 p.m. kick against the lowly Jets.

For the Bills, a win against the Jets would pave the way for coach Sean McDermott to strategically rest key players in the Week 18 matchup against the Patriots.

If they slip up against the Jets, the Bills can still lock up the No. 2 seed with a win next weekend at the Patriots.

One more win ensures the Bills host at least two playoff games, should it advance to the divisional round of the postseason.

The Chiefs’ win means KC won’t have to leave Arrowhead Stadium as it chases history and a third consecutive Super Bowl.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid donned a Santa Claus suit in a giddy Kansas City locker room on Christmas Day, then handed his team a present it increasingly looks like it deserves: home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

How Reid managed to slide into the costume so quickly after Kansas City’s clinical 29-10 victory over the reeling Pittsburgh Steelers to lock up the top seed in the AFC for the fourth time in seven years is a mystery (though he hinted there’s an elf involved).

How Reid’s team manages to pull away from the pack year after year is not.

A lot of Patrick Mahomes. A dash of Travis Kelce. A splash of speed. A defense that quietly goes about its business, even when its leader is standing on the sideline in sweatpants.

Yes, it has been ugly — by Kansas City’s lofty standards — at times while the Chiefs have chased a third straight championship. Yet as the playoffs loom, the group that looked so vulnerable for most of the season suddenly seems to be rounding into form.

And the road to the Super Bowl will once again go through Arrowhead Stadium. Just the way the Chiefs like it.

“Getting the No. 1 seed is important,” Mahomes said after throwing for 320 yards and three touchdowns. “It’s like winning a playoff game.”

Even if how the Chiefs locked it up didn’t exactly feel like one.

Kansas City (15-1) spent three hours toying with the Steelers (10-6) like a cat batting around shreds of leftover wrapping paper. The Chiefs raced to an early 13-point lead and were never really threatened by Pittsburgh, which has dropped three straight to see its chances of capturing the AFC North take another hit.

“That sucked, to be blunt,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.

It often does when Pittsburgh is on one side of the line of scrimmage and Mahomes is on the other. Mahomes is now 4-0 against the Steelers with 17 touchdowns against just one interception. He connected on first-half scoring tosses to Xavier Worthy and Justin Watson and added a history-making 12-yard touchdown flip to Kelce to seal it in the fourth quarter.

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