The Chiefs are locked into the No. 5 seed in the AFC and, as he'd hinted about previously, Andy Reid is resting his starters.
Among the inactives for Kansas City are Alex Smith, Jamaal Charles, Derrick Johnson, Branden Albert, Dwayne Bowe, Tamba Hali and Dontari Poe.
But Reid isn't just making his starters inactive. He's benching everyone. From the flip card for the Chiefs starters against the Chargers on Sunday:
#97 Allen Bailey is expected to start at LDE for #94 Tyson Jackson
#99 Jerrell Powe is expected to start at NT for #92 Dontari Poe
#77 Mike Catapano is expected to start at RDE for #70 Mike DeVito
#51 Frank Zombo is expected to start at LOLB for #50 Justin Houston
#57 Nico Johnson is expected to start at LILB for #55 Akeem Jordan
#52 James-Michael Johnson is expected to start at RILB for #56 Derrick Johnson
#54 Dezman Moses is expected to start at ROLB for #91 Tamba Hali
#31 Marcus Cooper is expected to start at LCB for #24 Branden Flowers
#38 Ron Parker is expected to start at RCB for #27 Sean Smith
#39 Husain Abdullah is expected to start at SS for #29 Eric Berry
#35 Quintin Demps is expected to start at FS for #23 Kendrick Lewis
#15 A.J. Jenkins is expected to start at WR for #17 Donnie Avery
#79 Donald Stephenson is expected to start at LT for #76 Branden Albert
#69 Rokevious Watkins is expected to start at LG for #71 Jeff Allen
#64 Eric Kush is expected to start at C for #61 Rodney Hudson
#75 Rishaw Johnson is expected to start at RG for #73 Jon Asamoah
#84 Sean McGrath is expected to start at TE for #80 Anthony Fasano
#88 Junior Hemingway is expected to start at WR for #82 Dwayne Bowe
#10 Chase Daniel is expected to start at QB for #11 Alex Smith
#34 Knile Davis is expected to start at RB for #25 Jamaal Charles
What makes this so important is the Chiefs are playing the Chargers. If the Bengals and Jets hold on against the Ravens and Dolphins, respectively, all the Chargers have to do is win and they're in the postseason.
A Chargers loss -- coupled with a Ravens loss AND a Dolphins loss -- would put the Steelers in the playoffs.
This matters for the Ravens too. They needed San Diego to lose -- although they have to win as well -- to get in the postseason since Miami holds the three-way tiebreaker over Baltimore.
It doesn't look likely that the Chargers will lose (although they still could). Philip Rivers and company should be able to take down the Chiefs. Which means Andy Reid's decision could ultimately end up having a major impact on the AFC Wild Card race.
