Despite the difficulties this year, the Chiefs once again control the path to the Super Bowl

With Wednesday’s Christmas Day win, the Chiefs improved to 15-1 and secured the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, giving the Chiefs the only bye in the AFC and home-field advantage.

That’s a key advantage for a team that already has the best coach, the best quarterback and arguably the best home crowd in the NFL.

The sound you heard Wednesday night was a collective gasp from across Western New York at the thought of the Bills having to play in Kansas City in January.

With the Bills likely to get the No. 2 seed and the Ravens now on track to secure the No. 3 seed, the Chiefs can also avoid the AFC’s top two contenders in the divisional round.

“It’s important to get No. 1 — it’s like winning a playoff game,” Patrick Mahomes said after throwing for 320 yards and three touchdowns.

While winning the No. 1 seed isn’t a guarantee of a trip to the Super Bowl – since the playoff field was changed in 2021, only four of eight have made it to the big game – but it certainly offers the Chiefs the best path to New Orleans to reach all kinds of history. History that not even the Patriots could achieve from 2001 to 2019.

The Chiefs are looking to become the first NFL team ever to win three straight Super Bowls and the first team to reach the Super Bowl in five of six seasons.

The Chiefs are also seeking their seventh consecutive appearance in the AFC Championship Game (the Patriots made eight from 2011-18). The Chiefs just won their ninth straight division title, two fewer than the Patriots’ 11. And Andy Reid could win his fourth Super Bowl, putting it closer to Bill Belichick’s six.

The home-field advantage could be huge for the Chiefs, who are 8-0 at Arrowhead Stadium this year, while Mahomes is 54-13 overall at home, including 10-2 in the playoffs. The Chiefs had been ranked No. 1 three times under Mahomes, with one Super Bowl win (2022), one Super Bowl loss (2020) and one loss in the AFC Championship Game (2018).

The Chiefs will be able to rest their starters in Week 18 against the Broncos and through Wild Card weekend. That should be a big advantage for a team that has Marquise Brown (shoulder) back in the lineup and is dealing with bumps and bruises on Mahomes (ankle) and Chris Jones (calf), among others.

“We’ll get healthy at the right time,” Mahomes said.

The Chiefs have been an interesting opponent this season, as this may be their least dominant team in seven seasons under Mahomes’ leadership.

The Chiefs rank 13th in total offense, the worst in the Mahomes era. Mahomes has consistently posted the lowest numbers of his career. The Chiefs don’t overwhelm their teams, with 11 wins by one point, the most wins in NFL history. With a point difference of over 97, the Chiefs are only seventh in the NFL. They don’t have much explosiveness on offense, with Travis Kelce’s 739 yards entering Wednesday’s game ranking 36th in the league. And they can’t run the ball, ranking 27th with 4.0 yards per carry.

Still, this year’s team could be the toughest version of the Mahomes-era Chiefs. They win every close game. Mahomes has seven game-winning drives. The defense is No. 3 in the NFL in points and yards allowed. And the Chiefs won in every way – they are 4-0 on short rest and 4-0 on long rest. Their 15 wins are a franchise record, and they just completed the most demanding test of their schedule by defeating the Browns, Texans and Steelers in just 10 days, with the final two games resting briefly.

“It shows the strength of the team and I think we got better as the games went on,” Mahomes said.

Home field advantage could also be the Chiefs’ only way to reach the Super Bowl. When the Chiefs traveled to Buffalo in November, the Bills handed them their only loss, 30-21. Josh Allen and the Bills appear to be the best team in the AFC, and they won in Kansas City in the 2022 and 2023 regular seasons. But the Bills have lost to the Chiefs in the playoffs in three of the last four years, and erasing the ghosts of the past will be a much bigger challenge at Arrowhead Stadium.

Additionally, the Chiefs will be a different team in January than they were in November.

“Obviously at the end of the year, especially on offense, we’re playing our best football,” Mahomes said. “This is not the end, this is just the beginning. We will continue to work and improve as we head into the playoffs.”

This is bad news for the rest of the AFC and anyone tired of watching the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl.

Ben Volin can be reached at [email protected].