NFL STANDINGS AFTER WEEK 16

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FALL TO SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, REMAIN ATOP AFC

Week 16 is in the books and, despite losing to the Seattle Seahawks; the K.C. Chiefs remain atop the AFC. Let’s look at the rest of the NFL standings.

After the Baltimore Ravens beat the Los Angeles Chargers and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Houston Texans, the Kansas City Chiefs had a golden opportunity to clinch the AFC West and the #1 playoff seed. They were unable to capitalize on this opportunity, however, and left Seattle with a loss to the Seahawks.

Elsewhere in the AFC West, the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders were in the spotlight of Monday Night Football on Christmas Eve. While the game did not have any playoff implications, it was for divisional bragging rights and the Raiders ultimately came out on top.

Prior to this week, the Chiefs had not lost two games in a row with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, but the Seahawks changed this. Mahomes started slowly but picked up the pace later in the game to finish by completing 23/40 pass attempts for 273 yards and 3 touchdowns, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill racked up the most yardage from Mahomes’ passes, catching 4 for 74 yards.

Running back Damien Williams caught the most passes from Mahomes, for 37 yards and 1 touchdown. On the ground, Williams saw a lot of success and rushed for 103 yards on only 13 carries. The second place rusher was Patrick Mahomes with 3 rushes for 33 yards.

While the Chiefs offense performed admirably after a slow start, but there were plenty of slip ups that need to be cleaned up. One such was a fumble by Damien Williams that set up a short field which led to a Seahawks touchdown. Another slip up was when wide receiver Chris Conley caught a pass in Seahawks territory and coughed the ball up with under a minute remaining in the 2nd quarter. The costly mistakes and slow start ultimately led to a Chiefs loss, 38-31.

The Chargers hosted the Ravens in hopes of winning and putting pressure on the Chiefs but were unable to produce offensively against a solid Ravens defense. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers completed 23/37 passes for 181 yards and 2 interceptions, one of which went the other way for six. Despite having running back Melvin Gordon back from an MCL injury, the Chargers were unable to get the run game going. Gordon rushed 12 times for only 41 yards but did manage to find the end zone once. It was not a very pretty performance of the Chargers, who fell to the Ravens 22-10.

After losing to the Cleveland Browns last week, the Broncos stooped even farther and lost to the Raiders. Broncos quarterback Case Keenum completed 23/37 passes for 202 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. Wide receiver Courtland Sutton was the top receiver for the Broncos, catching 6 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown. Running back Phillip Lindsay carried the ball 10 times for only 46 yards before he was forced out with a hand injury. The Broncos were unable to score until the second half and ultimately lost 27-14.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr only threw 26 passes and completed 19 of them for 167 yards. Wide receiver Jordy Nelson accounted for 75 of these yards, as he caught 7 of Carr’s passes. While the passing game was unimpressive, the Raiders’ run game was not. Running back Doug Martin rushed 21 times for 107 yards and 1 touchdown. Running back Jalen Richard got the ball 4 times and only rushed for 11 yards, but was able to find the end zone. The Raiders ultimately came out on top 27-14.

Here are the rest of the NFL Standings

AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE

AFC EAST

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
New England Patriots	10	5	0	0.67	7-0-0	3-5-0	4-1-0	7-4-0	398	322	+76
Miami Dolphins	7	8	0	0.47	6-2-0	1-6-0	4-1-0	6-5-0	302	391	-89
Buffalo Bills	5	10	0	0.33	3-4-0	2-6-0	1-4-0	3-8-0	227	357	-130
New York Jets	4	11	0	0.27	2-6-0	2-5-0	1-4-0	3-8-0	330	403	-73

AFC NORTH

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
Baltimore Ravens	9	6	0	0.60	5-2-0	4-4-0	2-3-0	7-4-0	363	263	+100
Pittsburgh Steelers	8	6	1	0.57	4-3-0	4-3-1	3-1-1	5-5-1	412	347	+65
Cleveland Browns	7	7	1	0.50	5-2-1	2-5-0	3-1-1	5-5-1	335	366	-31
Cincinnati Bengals	6	9	0	0.40	4-4-0	2-5-0	1-4-0	4-7-0	355	439	-84

AFC SOUTH

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
Houston Texans	10	5	0	0.67	5-2-0	5-3-0	3-2-0	8-3-0	382	313	+69
Indianapolis Colts	9	6	0	0.60	6-2-0	3-4-0	3-2-0	6-5-0	400	327	+73
Tennessee Titans	9	6	0	0.60	6-1-0	3-5-0	3-2-0	5-6-0	293	270	+23
Jacksonville Jaguars	5	10	0	0.33	3-5-0	2-5-0	1-4-0	4-7-0	242	296	-54

AFC WEST

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
Kansas City Chiefs	11	4	0	0.73	6-1-0	5-3-0	4-1-0	9-2-0	530	418	+112
Los Angeles Chargers	11	4	0	0.73	5-3-0	6-1-0	3-2-0	8-3-0	405	320	+85
Denver Broncos	6	9	0	0.40	3-4-0	3-5-0	2-3-0	4-7-0	320	326	-6
Oakland Raiders	4	11	0	0.27	3-5-0	1-6-0	1-4-0	3-8-0	287	432	-145

NATIONAL FOOTBALL CONFERENCE

NFC EAST

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
Dallas Cowboys	9	6	0	0.60	7-1-0	2-5-0	4-1-0	8-3-0	303	289	+14
Philadelphia Eagles	8	7	0	0.53	5-3-0	3-4-0	3-2-0	5-6-0	343	348	-5
Washington Redskins	7	8	0	0.47	3-4-0	4-4-0	2-3-0	6-5-0	281	335	-54
New York Giants	5	10	0	0.33	2-5-0	3-5-0	1-4-0	4-7-0	334	376	-42

NFC NORTH

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
Chicago Bears	11	4	0	0.73	7-1-0	4-3-0	4-1-0	9-2-0	397	273	+124
Minnesota Vikings	8	6	1	0.57	5-2-0	3-4-1	3-1-1	6-4-1	350	317	+33
Green Bay Packers	6	8	1	0.43	5-1-1	1-7-0	1-3-1	3-7-1	376	369	+7
Detroit Lions	5	10	0	0.33	3-5-0	2-5-0	1-4-0	3-8-0	293	360	-67

NFC SOUTH

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
New Orleans Saints	13	2	0	0.87	6-1-0	7-1-0	4-1-0	9-2-0	490	320	+170
Atlanta Falcons	6	9	0	0.40	4-4-0	2-5-0	3-2-0	6-5-0	380	391	-11
Carolina Panthers	6	9	0	0.40	5-3-0	1-6-0	1-4-0	4-7-0	343	368	-25
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	5	10	0	0.33	4-3-0	1-7-0	2-3-0	4-7-0	364	430	-66

NFC WEST

TEAM	W	L	T	PCT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF
Los Angeles Rams	12	3	0	0.80	6-1-0	6-2-0	5-0-0	8-3-0	479	352	+127
Seattle Seahawks	9	6	0	0.60	5-2-0	4-4-0	2-3-0	7-4-0	401	323	+78
San Francisco 49ers	4	11	0	0.27	4-4-0	0-7-0	1-4-0	2-9-0	310	387	-77
Arizona Cardinals	3	12	0	0.20	1-7-0	2-5-0	2-3-0	3-8-0	201	398	-197