KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC hasn’t resulted in Super Bowl success for the Kansas City Chiefs in the past, but they hope it puts them on the path to a championship this time around.
The Chiefs clinched the AFC’s top seed Sunday by beating the Atlanta Falcons 17-14 at Arrowhead Stadium. The 14-1 Chiefs, who have won 10 straight games, will receive the AFC’s only first-round playoff bye and will play their divisional-round game at Arrowhead.
“It’s one of your goals when you go into the season,” said quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson with 1:55 left to rally the Chiefs to a surprisingly difficult win over the 4-11 Falcons. “If you look at the history of that bye week, usually it’s a good thing for teams trying to make a championship run.”
In the victory, Travis Kelce became the first tight end to have two 100-catch seasons. Kelce caught seven passes, giving him 105 this season.
Kelce also broke the single-season yardage record for a tight end. He had 98 yards, giving him 1,467 for the season. The San Francisco 49ers‘ George Kittle held the previous record with 1,377 yards, set in 2018.
“To get a week of preparation, a week of really locking in and getting the body right that late in the season is so key and it’s much needed if you want to make that playoff push,” Kelce said. “That’s what you work your tail off for all season. I’m just proud to be a part of this team and be able to do it again this year.”
The AFC’s No. 1 seed hasn’t represented the conference in the Super Bowl in either of the last two seasons.
The Chiefs have been the AFC’s top playoff seed three times but failed to reach the Super Bowl in any of those seasons. In 1995 and 1997, they lost their divisional-round playoff game at home. In 2018, they lost the AFC Championship Game at home in overtime to the New England Patriots.
The Chiefs were the No. 2 seed last year on their way to a Super Bowl LIV championship.
The Chiefs finish the regular season next Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead. Since the game will be meaningless with regard to the standings and their playoff seed, they are likely to rest some of their top players, including Mahomes and Kelce.
