The Buffalo Bills' Christmas wish list includes the top seed in the playoffs. A loss by the Kansas City Chiefs would bring holiday cheer.
Buffalo will be one step closer to unwrapping its postseason seed on Wednesday.
There are three teams of interest for the Bills in the AFC playoff picture: the Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. They all play on Christmas Day. The games will give Buffalo clarity on its seeding possibilities and whether to rest starters in the final two regular season games.
Buffalo will either still be in contention for the No. 1 seed, lock up the No. 2 seed, or have one less team to worry about in obtaining the No. 2 seed following the Christmas games.
Buffalo is home for the holidays, hosting the New York Jets at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Bills would be home for all of January if they're the top seed. The No. 1 seed gets a first-round bye and home-field advantage through the conference postseason.
Assuming Buffalo covets a chance at the No. 1 seed over clinching the No. 2 seed and the flexibility to rest starters to gear up for the postseason, a Steelers win gifts the Bills a chance at the top spot in the AFC.
If the Chiefs lose and the Bills win against the Jets on Sunday, the No. 1 seed would come down to Week 18.
The Bills can overtake the Chiefs for the No. 1 seed if Kansas City loses its final two games and Buffalo wins its last two games. Buffalo owns the head-to-head tiebreaker by handing Kansas City its only of the season with a 30-21 win in Week 11.
Kansas City clinches the top seed in AFC with a win.
Who to root for: Texans.
Baltimore could catch Buffalo for the No. 2 seed if the Ravens win out and the Bills lose their final two games.
Houston is no longer a threat to Buffalo's seeding. The Bills can't finish any worse than the No. 3 seed.
There are four possible outcomes in the two games on Wednesday. Here's how they'd impact Buffalo.
The Chiefs clinch the No. 1 seed with a win.
The Bills clinch the No. 2 seed with a Steelers loss and Ravens loss.
Eliminated: New York Jets (4-11), Cleveland Browns (3-12), Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12), Tennessee Titans (3-12), Las Vegas Raiders (3-12), New England Patriots (3-12)
Here are the tiebreaking procedures if two teams from different divisions finish with the same won-loss-tied record.