By Christian Gonzales, Digital Content Producer
The Kansas City Chiefs are back on top of the AFC and officially the No. 1 seed.
With Wednesday’s 29-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City wrapped up the conference’s top seed, first-round bye and home-field advantage on Christmas Day.
Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have secured the No. 1 seed for their third time as a QB-HC duo. The Chiefs clinched their ninth consecutive AFC West title in Week 14 after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers.
“It shows the toughness of the team,” Mahomes said of the team’s last three victories in the span of 11 days to help clinch. “I think we got better, obviously, as the games went on. The guys, they’re mentally tough and physically tough. We played some really good football teams, some hard-fought battles, and the guys came away with three wins. Getting that No. 1 seed is important. It’s like winning a playoff game, so I was happy to get that done.”
Mahomes, as he has often done during Kansas City’s continued run of excellence, helped lead the charge versus Pittsburgh with 320 yards and three touchdowns on 29-of-38 passing.
Eight of those completions went to tight end Travis Kelce, who contributed 84 yards and one touchdown, in the process becoming the third tight end in NFL history with over 1,000 catches and the franchise leader in career TD receptions (77).
Kansas City’s supporting cast of Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt, DeAndre Hopkins and rookie Xavier Worthy have also delivered in crucial moments during the 2024 season to help capture the top seed, plus the Chiefs recently received a significant boost with Marquise Brown making his season debut in Week 16.
The defense, anchored by Chris Jones, George Karlaftis and Trent McDuffie, has been a top unit orchestrated by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
There are some injuries to overcome, such as Jones’ calf issue that held him out on Wednesday and Pacheco’s rib ailment that caused him to leave in the fourth quarter, but now K.C. knows it has some time to mend.
Kansas City (15-1), which has won back-to-back Super Bowls, is on its quest to three-peat with the conference’s top seed in tow for the first time since 2022. The last time the Chiefs were the No. 1 seed, Kansas City won Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“We know that our work isn’t done for sure,” Reid said. “We’re going to celebrate this, but we’re going to get right back on. We’ve got a good Denver team that we’re going up to play, and we’ve got the playoffs coming up. We’ve got to make sure we stay sharp.”
The Chiefs, if they choose to, can now elect to rest their starters in the last game of the season — in Denver against the Broncos in Week 18.