There have been zero playoff berths clinched so far this year, but that could soon be changing. With the Miami Dolphins losing to the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving night, that has opened the door for the Kansas City Chiefs to clinch a playoff berth on Friday.
Going into Week 13, the 10-1 Chiefs had multiple scenarios where they could clinch a playoff berth with the easiest one being a two-step process:
- Dolphins lose to Packers
- Chiefs beat Raiders (If the Raiders lose, they'll become the first AFC team to be eliminated from playoff contention).
If the Chiefs beat the Raiders, they'll clinch a non-divisional title playoff berth with five weeks left to play in the season, which is something that almost never happens this early. As a matter of fact, it would mark the first time in 26 years that we've seen that happen. According to NFL playoff guru Joe Ferreria, the last time a team clinched a non-divisional title playoff berth this early came all the way back in 1998 when both the Broncos and Falcons clinched a playoff berth in Week 12 (The season was only 17 weeks long in 1998, so that was also with five weeks left in the season).
The Chiefs can obviously still clinch the division at a later point, but heading into Week 13, they can only clinch a playoff spot, but not the overall division.
That being said, there will be one division up for grabs this weekend. The Bills will clinch the AFC East with a win over the 49ers on Sunday night. If that happens, the Bills will become the first team since the 2009 Colts to clinch a division title with at least five weeks remaining in the season.
The Lions can also clinch a playoff spot this weekend, but their scenarios are slightly more complicated. We covered all of those, plus three other scenarios where the Chiefs could get in, and you can check out each one of those here
