The Kansas City Chiefs enter their Week 11 showdown with the Buffalo Bills undefeated, 9-0. So why does it feel like the Chiefs are so vulnerable? Well, Kansas City has spent less time leading games than the 3-7 New Orleans Saints.

The Chiefs have essentially mastered the last-second comeback, barely eking out victories in increasingly lucky fashion. We know Kansas City is a good team — the two-time reigning champs deserve a certain benefit of the doubt — but this has been the least dominant nine-game win streak in recent memory. The Chiefs’ offense has been a shell of itself all season, carried to the finish line by a stalwart defense and the occasional Patrick Mahomes heroics.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but the Chiefs would sure love to put together a classically dominant performance on Sunday. The 8-2 Bills present their toughest challenge of the campaign and a potential postseason preview. If the Chiefs can handle business in Buffalo, it’s a good indicator of what the Chiefs can accomplish when rubber meets the road in a couple of months.

That said, there is more incentive for Kansas City to perform this Sunday, beyond the potential good vibes and reassurances to the fanbase. A win all but guarantees home-field advantage in the playoffs, as illuminated by ESPN’s Field Yates.

“Week 11 musing: the Chiefs might all but clinch the #1 seed with a win over Buffalo,” he writes on Blue Sky. “KC would hold a 3-game lead and head-to-head tiebreaker with Buffalo and Baltimore, while Pittsburgh’s schedule has some heavy hitters down the stretch. I think the Bills win, but if the Chiefs do…Round 1 bye 🔐.”

Nothing is ever truly clinched in Week 11, but the Chiefs would hold a three-game lead over the Bills, Baltimore Ravens, and Pittsburgh Steelers with a victory on Sunday. Factor in the ensuring tiebreakers and schedule factors in Kansas City’s favor, and it’s hard to imagine the Chiefs not claiming the No. 1 overall seed with a win. The Chiefs would be 10-0, after all. There’s nothing more convincing than cold, hard W’s.

The Chiefs would essentially need to lose four of their last seven games to really be at risk of whiffing on the No. 1 seed. Kansas City’s remaining schedule after Week 11 — Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, Browns, Texans, Steelers, Broncos — doesn’t exactly read as impossible. There are a couple tough challenges in there, most notably their Week 17 showdown with Pittsburgh, but the Chiefs’ schedule is loaded with softballs on the back end. Thus, the immense benefits of beating Buffalo this upcoming week.

Kansas City proved in 2023 that the regular season is just a mirage to hold us over until the playoffs. We all had concerns about the Chiefs’ WR room and the general efficiency of that offense last season, but the playoffs arrived and suddenly Mahomes was dazzling and the Chiefs were beating supposedly superior competition. If the Chiefs can’t even struggle their way to actual losses this time around, the postseason may be a wrap.

Expect a lot of perspectives to be forged on Sunday. A win makes the Chiefs feel inevitable. A loss at least opens the door for skepticism, however misguided it may be.