The Kansas City Chiefs don’t have much time to celebrate their win over the Houston Texans on Saturday as they will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers on Christmas Day.
Both the Chiefs and Steelers will be playing on just three days rest, after playing on only five days rest on Saturday. It’s going to be a daunting task, and as many players have stated, the scheduling doesn’t exactly line up with the NFL’s stance on player safety.
Pittsburgh is coming off a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The two teams now have identical 10-5 records and split their season series 1-1, but as our friend Harold Kuntz of Fox 4 News Kansas City pointed out on X, the Steelers technically have the tiebreaker since they have a better conference record than Baltimore.
With such a miniscule tiebreaker separating them, Pittsburgh has to keep winning. That means there will be no resting starters or holding back gameplan-wise as it faces the Chiefs on Wednesday. The Ravens also play on Christmas Day in a tough matchup against the Texans.
There could be a silver lining for K.C., but it’s a long shot. If the New England Patriots are able to pull an upset over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, the Chiefs will clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC, including the crucial first-round bye week that comes with it. If that happens, their matchup against the Steelers becomes irrelevant.
Of course, the Patriots are 3-11 and the Bills are 11-3, so you shouldn’t get your hopes up. Buffalo is still within striking distance of getting the No. 1 seed as it owns the tiebreaker over the Chiefs after defeating them back in Week 11. However, stranger things have happened, and it would make for the ultimate Christmas present for K.C. if it were to happen.
If not, the Chiefs will have to dig deep and try to pull out a road win over a good Steelers team, which would secure them the No. 1 seed. That would enable K.C. to rest their starters in the season finale against the Denver Broncos, and get over two full weeks of rest following the first-round bye and heading into the divisional round of the postseason.
