Football historians still cite the Pittsburgh Steelers going into Buffalo on the final day of the 2004 season and beating the Bills in a game the home team needed to earn a playoff slot while the Steelers were already locked into their playoff seed.
They talk about it because it's so rare that a team that is already in the playoffs upsets a team needing a win to join the postseason party. I have another fact for teams that do win when they don’t have to on the final day of the season, they don’t play well when they need to in the playoffs. In 2004, the Steelers followed their triumph in Buffalo with a narrow victory over the New York Jets, winning by three points while favored by nine, and then got blown out on their home field by two touchdowns to complete Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie season.
When a team wins an “extra” game, against a team that needed it and didn’t get it, there is a confidence in the victors that is overblown and they become common victims of that motivational trap.
So, here we are, the final day of the 2024 regular season, and we have a game where one side needs it to clinch a playoff berth, and the other side is locked into their playoff slot. In this case, it is the Denver Broncos, who behind rookie quarterback Bo Nix are on the cusp of cracking the playoff field in Sean Payton’s second season coaching the team in the Mile High City. The Broncos opponent this Sunday is the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that with their victory in Pittsburgh on Christmas Day locked up the American Football Conference top seed.
Do the Chiefs have anything to play for?
Well, that depends on who you are asking that question.