The NFL may relive some history this year.
In 1966, the Chiefs beat the Bills in the AFL title game to go to the first Super Bowl to face Green Bay. Kansas City is top seed in the AFC this year and Buffalo is looking like the second-best team, so they could play in the AFC title game.
And Green Bay at 12-3 looks like it will get the home-field edge in the NFC. Green Bay beat Dallas in the 1966 to get to the Super Bowl, but that is not likely to be repeated even if Dallas wins the NFC East with a losing record. Seattle or New Orleans at 11-4 are more likely to make the NFC title game against Green Bay if the Packers make it.
–The 14-1 Chiefs don’t get many style points but they keep winning. They won another close one – seven in a row by one score – when Atlanta’s Younghoe Koo missed a late field 39-yard goal attempt that would have sent the game into overtime. Of the Chiefs’ last seven wins, three were by three points and one by two. The victory clinched the top seed so if an AFC team is going to keep the defending champion Chiefs out of the Super Bowl, they will have to do it at Arrowhead.
–Buffalo has looked more impressive lately than the Chiefs. They lost to the Chiefs in October but have won eight of nine since then. And they crushed Denver 48-19 a week ago and then routed the Patriots Monday night 38-9. The Bills will have to play a first-round game but it will be at home.
–The Bills’ rout of New England gave them a sweep of the Patriots for the first time in two decades. And showed there is a new king of the hill in the AFC East. The Patriots now face a rebuilding program under Bill Belichick starting with finding a quarterback of the future now that Tom Brady has departed.
–The Jaguars loss to Chicago and the Jets victory over Cleveland handed the Jaguars the top pick in the draft for the first time in their history. So, they get to draft Trevor Lawrence, who is supposed to be a once in a decade quarterback. They have yet to make the Super Bowl but they will be getting a new GM and coach with the goal of building a Super Bowl team around him.
–The NFC East winner will have a losing record after Washington lost to Carolina to drop to 6-9. But they can win the division at 7-9 if they beat the Eagles. If they lose to the Eagles, the winner of the Cowboys-Giants game wins the division. If the Giants win and Washington loses, the three teams would be 6-10 and the Giants would win the division on the tie break.
–The Steelers, the first team to start off 11-0 and then lose three in a row, are now the first team to start off 11-0, lose three in a row and win a game to go 11-4 and win the division. They rallied to beat the Colts, who remain tied with the Titans at 10-5 in the AFC South going into the final week of the season.