The Kansas City Chiefs' 20-10 loss to the Houston Texans, for most, was the final dagger in the heart of the franchise's playoff hopes for 2025.
While officially not out of playoff contention, the Chiefs are now in the unfortunate position of having to win all their remaining games and get help from other teams just to sneak into a wildcard spot.
That seems unlikely, with the Texans occupying the seventh seed and now having the tiebreaker over the Chiefs, so Andy Reid's team is a long way back, and most have put a line through the 2025 season after Sunday night's loss.
But for Reid, even though his team needs help to make it to the postseason, he's not ruling out something special happening.
"You hate for it to come down to that, but I have learned over the years that anything's possible," Reid said. "I communicated that to the guys. They were down in the dumps after the game. They put their heart and soul into that thing, and we came up short.
"But at the same time, you've got to pick yourself up, get yourself going again, and hope is always a good motivator."
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Can Chiefs make the playoffs?
Yes, they can, but goodness me, the football gods would have to shine down on Reid's team in a way that we haven't seen before.
At 6-7, the Chiefs are in serious trouble.
Teams in the fifth, sixth, and seventh seed spots, the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers, and Texans, all have the tiebreaker over the Chiefs, having beaten them this season, plus, they are all at least two games clear of Kansas City.
And we have four games left in the year, so those teams would need to lose all of their remaining games, and the Chiefs would need to win all of theirs for this to come to fruition.
Which we don't think is very likely at all.
So yes, the Chiefs still have hope, and a lot can happen in four games, but there aren't many people who believe Kansas City will be in the postseason in 2025.
More Chiefs news:
- Patrick Mahomes states the painfully obvious regarding Chiefs' playoff hopes
- Patrick Mahomes remains confident in Chiefs' offense despite disastrous Week 14 loss to Texans
- Travis Kelce made a tough decision after drop-turned-INT cost Chiefs game vs. Texans
- The only 2 kickers as bad this season as Chiefs' Harrison Butker have both been released