Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Can the Kansas City Chiefs Still Make the Postseason? – Exploring All Potential Chiefs Playoff Qualification Scenarios

The Chiefs are struggling to make the playoffs for the first time in the Mahomes era!

Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Following the Week 11 loss to the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in uncharted territory. For the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs, with a 5-5 record, are struggling to make the playoffs and are currently on the outside looking in.

At the moment, the Chiefs still have a 57% chance of progressing to the postseason, but the key factor coming into play is that they are behind the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Los Angeles Chargers in the event things come down to a tiebreak situation.

Chiefs 2025–26 NFL Season through Week 11

As mentioned earlier, this is the first true time the Chiefs have been in such a precarious situation since Patrick Mahomes took control of the offense under center.

Despite not always playing top-quality football, KC found ways to win games in the previous seasons and was hardly in danger of missing the playoffs. That is not the case this time around, so what has gone wrong for the Chiefs in the 2025-26 NFL season?

The Chiefs are winless in one-score games this season.

Heading into the 2025 season, Kansas City held a streak of 17-straight wins in games decided by 8 PTS or fewer. pic.twitter.com/rBEBhzj81E
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 18, 2025

Kansas City started the first 6 games of the season without Rashee Rice, and lost Xavier Worthy for essentially 3 games at the start of the season due to an injury. After falling to a 0-2 start, they rebounded by winning 5 of their next 6 games, giving a sense that things were finally back on track.

However, dropping the last two games against the Bills and Broncos has hurt their chances massively. While Patrick Mahomes and the pass-catching aspect of the offense have been playing well, the run game is a major concern.

How the Kansas City Chiefs Can Still Make the Playoffs

At 5-5 through 11 weeks of football, the Chiefs are facing a tough road ahead with very little to no margin for error. Kansas City still controls its own destiny, but for that, it will have to buckle up and go on a win streak. Here we take a look at 3 potential Chiefs playoff qualification scenarios.

Scenario 1:

Chiefs make the playoffs by going 7-0

The Kansas City Chiefs can still make the postseason by winning all 7 of their remaining games. If they can achieve a perfect record till the end of the regular season, they will finish with a 12-5 record, which will ensure their season remains alive. This is the only way they can go through with full control in their own hands.

"All we can do is stick together, push ourselves to be even better, and do what we can to win this next week."
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 17, 2025

Scenario 2:

Chiefs make the playoffs by going 6-1 unless the Jaguars go 5-2 and the Chargers go 5-1

In scenario number 2, the Chiefs can still make the playoffs even if they win 6 of their last 7 games. But in this instance, they will give up full control and will need either the Jaguars to drop at least 3 games or the Chargers to drop at least 2 games to progress.

Scenario 3:

Chiefs make the playoffs by going 5-2 unless the Jaguars go 4-3 and the Chargers go 4-2

In scenario number 3, the Chiefs can still progress to the postseason even if they win 5 of their last 7 games. However, progression would also depend on the Jaguars and the Chargers not winning more than 3 of their remaining games.

Chiefs’ Remaining Schedule

Looking ahead, the Chiefs don’t have the easiest schedule to contend with. In fact, the upcoming game this week will be one of their greatest tests for the remainder of the season as they take on the Indianapolis Colts (8-2) at home.

HISTORY‼️

TRAVIS KELCE STANDS ALONE ATOP THE CHIEFS RECORD BOOKS pic.twitter.com/ogmfNjFf4z
— New Heights (@newheightshow) November 17, 2025

Kansas City then travels on the road to take on the Dallas Cowboys, followed by a couple of home games against the Texans and the Chargers. It’s back on the road in Week 16, where they face off against the Titans, followed by their final home and away games against the Broncos and the Raiders, respectively.

Judging by the way this season has gone for the Chiefs, it seems extremely difficult for them to win all the remaining games. However, the important question is, can they still do enough to give themselves an outside chance in case the Jaguars and the Chargers also falter in the upcoming weeks?

Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Kansas City Chiefs

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Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!