NFL Playoff Picture 2019: Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints In After Week 14

Three teams that enter Week 15 in the NFL playoff picture are guaranteed to remain there for the rest of the 2019 season. The Kansas City Chiefs (9-4), Baltimore Ravens (11-2) and New Orleans Saints (10-3) have all punched their respective tickets to the postseason.

Kansas City clinched the AFC West title Sunday afternoon with a win over the New England Patriots and a loss by the Oakland Raiders. The Chiefs have a three-game lead over the Raiders in the division with three weeks left. Kansas City owns the tiebreaker with a pair of head-to-head victories over Oakland.

After beating the defending Super Bowl champs, Kansas City has its eyes on earning a first-round bye. The Chiefs need to be one-game better than the Patriots in Weeks 15-17 in order to land a top-two seed.

New Orleans won the NFC South a week ago. The Saints were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers 48-46 Sunday in a Game of the Year candidate. San Francisco replaced New Orleans as the conference’s No.1 seed. The Saints fell to the No.3 seed.

Four NFC teams are separated by a game in the race to earn a first-round bye.

Baltimore has yet to officially clinch the AFC North title, despite being tied for the NFL’s best record. The Ravens made sure the Buffalo Bills wouldn’t catch them in the standings by beating New York’s third team 24-17 in Week 14. Baltimore has a magic number of one to clinch the division with a three-game lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Ravens are in the driver’s seat to earn home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Baltimore essentially has a 1.5-game lead over New England because they beat the Patriots in Week 9.

The Chiefs have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Ravens. With upcoming games against the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns before hosting Pittsburgh in the season finale, Baltimore is highly unlikely to lose the No.1 seed.