Kansas City Chiefs’ Playoff Chances in Doubt After Sunday Night Football Loss to Houston Texans

The Kansas City Chiefs’ postseason era is up in the air.

After losing 20-10 to the Houston Texans on Sunday, Dec. 7 and dropping to 6-7 on the season, the franchise’s chance of making the playoffs has dwindled to about 11%, according to NFL.com.

The team has had trouble finding traction this season, with early injuries and the six-game suspension of wide receiver Rashee Rice hamstringing their offensive efforts.

Travis Kelce — in his 13th and possibly final NFL season — set a franchise record for receptions, but going into Sunday night’s game, had posted 59 receptions for 719 yards on the year.

In the game, Kelce only had one reception for eight yards marking his least-productive game of the season. Late in the fourth, he dropped two key passes, including one which resulted in an interception.

Despite the season-long struggles, Kelce shared that he liked his team’s chances earlier this week.

“What’s real is that we still have a chance, baby, and that’s all that f—ing matters to me, is we got a chance and we keep coming into work with the mentality and the sense of urgency that we need to have to get the ship fixed,” Kelce, 36, told his brother Jason Kelce on their podcast New Heights.

The tight end said he’s “sure everyone is sick of us saying it,” before claiming the Chiefs were “a few plays away from being a one seed in my mind.”

Kelce added that he believed the problem was that the team was “just not scoring enough.”

On Sunday, that was certainly the case.

Facing the NFL’s No. 1 defense, the Chiefs remained scoreless through the first half and missed the opportunity to put points on the board after kicker Harrison Butker missed a 43-yard field goal with about a minute remaining in the second quarter.

The second half got a bit better after the Chiefs settled in and scored a touchdown, bringing the score to 10-7, Texans. But quarterback Patrick Mahomes, limping at times and looking out of sorts, was harassed all night by the Texans’ oppressive defense.

Now the Chiefs will pick up the pieces — and will need not only to win their remaining four games, but also get some help from a few other teams to lose — in order to keep their six-year streak of appearing in the Super Bowl alive.