AFC West power rankings entering Wild Card Weekend

Welcome back for our final regular-season AFC West power rankings. With Wild Card Weekend here, we’ll return after the postseason. Week 18 closed with two divisional matchups, giving us one last look at how the division stacks up entering the playoffs. Let’s get started.

4. Kansas City Chiefs

Trending: Down

You can argue the Chiefs had more incentive to lose than the Raiders, with draft position still in play. You can point to “Chief-killer” Aidan O’Connell. Either way, there’s no clean excuse for dropping a game to the league’s worst team over the last two months.

Kansas City now heads into the offseason with real questions—and most of them have nothing to do with when Patrick Mahomes returns.

3. Las Vegas Raiders

Trending: Up

The Las Vegas Raiders managed to finish with a win and still lock up the No. 1 overall pick. They move up this week by default after beating the Chiefs. It also raises an obvious question: where would they be if Aidan O’Connell had played the last six weeks?

Either way, the outlook is improving in Las Vegas. Pete Carroll is out, and his replacement inherits the top pick, significant cap space, and a core that already includes several young building blocks. If the next hire is competent, better days could be ahead.

2. Los Angeles Chargers

Trending: Steady

The Los Angeles Chargers dropped a mostly meaningless game to the Broncos after resting most of their starters. Still, you’d prefer not to carry a two-game losing streak into the postseason. Now they head to New England for a tougher-than-expected matchup with the Patriots, and they’ll need a clean, focused performance to survive.

Getting that far despite the injuries is a credit to Los Angeles. But a loss this weekend would feel painfully familiar.

1. Denver Broncos

Trending: Steady

The Denver Broncos actually had something to play for in Week 18, and they handled it. With a win over the Chargers—and help elsewhere—Denver secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC, which brings a first-round bye and home-field advantage.

Both matter for a team that has lived on the edge most weeks. How far that can carry them is the postseason question. But across the full season, the conclusion is hard to dodge: Denver has been the division’s best team this year.