Week 12 is almost in the wind, faithful friends… so what did we learn in the wild AFC West? Bye weeks in Denver and Los Angeles, the Chiefs squared off against a heavyweight in a must win, and the Raiders hosted a rookie QB and an NFL sack monster. More detail, you say? FINE. Here are my AFC West takeaways for Week 12 – sunny- side always up.
Kansas City Chiefs
Oct 19, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first quarter of the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Chiefs Rally Late And Remind The AFC They’re Not Dead Yet
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Down 20-9 to an 8-2 Colts team in the fourth quarter, Kansas City finally played like a desperate contender, ripping off 14 unanswered points between Hunt’s goal-line plunge, the two-point dart to Rice, and back-to-back marathon drives capped by Butker field goals to steal a 23–20 overtime win. They absolutely suffocated the clock and the game script, running 91 plays to Indy’s 50 and owning more than 42 minutes of possession while outgaining the “it” offense in the AFC 494-255. Mahomes dropped a season-high 352 passing yards, and Butker went 5-for-5, including the 25-yard buzzer-beater to force OT and the 27-yard walk-off on a 12-play, 81-yard drive when everybody in the building knew who had the ball and still couldn’t stop it. For a team that was 0-5 in one-score games and riding a two-game skid, grinding out a must-have conference win against a top AFC seed to move to 6-5 with Dallas up next was equal parts survival, statement, and reminder that the Chiefs are still very much in the playoff fight.
Sloppy, Off-Schedule Football Nearly Turned Arrowhead Into A Funeral
Nov 2, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) throws the ball in the second half against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
For three quarters, this looked like the same broken script: Mahomes forcing throws off platform into tight windows, a tipped-ball interception on his second snap, and Kareem Hunt coughing it up in the red zone to spot the Colts short fields and a 14-3 cushion. The Chiefs moved the ball at will but played small in big moments, going just 1-for-6 in the red zone and asking Butker to clean up drive after drive with field goals instead of spiking the ball in the paint. Even in a game where Indy racked up 11 flags for 83 yards, Kansas City’s own penalties (7 for 57 yards) included a brutal Jawaan Taylor facemask that erased a Kelce wildcat touchdown and forced them to settle for three, the kind of self-inflicted wound that loses you games. Mahomes’ 29-of-46, 352-yard line with four sacks and one interception is the perfect snapshot: still the baddest gun in the conference when it matters, but this offense is living dangerously off schedule and out of rhythm, and they will not keep getting bailed out by their kicker and their defense in January.
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Defense Quietly Choked Out A Powerhouse Without Ever Touching The Quarterback
On paper, holding the league’s No. 1 offense to 255 yards, 10 first downs, and its worst statistical outing of the season is exactly what a contender’s defense is supposed to do, and Spagnuolo’s group delivered that while their own offense stumbled around for three quarters. They never got a sack and generated only a handful of hits on Daniel Jones, yet they erased Jonathan Taylor to 58 yards on 16 carries and forced the Colts into a dink-and-dunk shell that produced just 3.9 yards per rush and 5.8 per pass. When the game tightened, this unit absolutely slammed the door, forcing Indy into four straight three-and-outs to close regulation and overtime, with the Colts failing to record a single first down after the third quarter while Arrowhead got louder and Jones got smaller. It was not a pass-rush masterpiece, but it was a big-boy defensive performance against a juggernaut that let Mahomes and the offense hang around long enough to remember who they are.
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Las Vegas Raiders
Nov 17, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith (7) looks to pass downfield against the Dallas Cowboys during the second half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
It Might Be Time To Sit Geno… But This Offensive Line Would Ruin Anybody
At 2-9 and losing 24-10 at home to a Browns team starting a rookie quarterback in his first NFL start, it’s natural for the fan base and local media to start sharpening the knives for Geno. He wasn’t exactly the problem on the stat sheet, going 30-of-44 for 285 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, but he also took a ridiculous 10 sacks for 77 yards and put the ball on the ground twice, losing one, as the pass game crawled to 3.9 yards per dropback once you bake in the hits. Behind him, the Raiders committed 13 penalties for 109 yards, went 4-of-17 on third down, punted six times in the first half, and watched Myles Garrett and friends run the sack total up to double digits while Browns outlets literally ran highlight packages titled about upping the sack count on Geno. So yeah, you can talk about sitting him, but when your “offense” is a holding call, a blown protection, and a prayer on third-and-forever, any quarterback you put back there is just the next guy to get fed into the wood chipper.
Ashton Jeanty’s Usage Is Finally Right – Now The Efficiency Has To Catch Up
Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) evades a tackle from Los Angeles Chargers safety Alohi Gilman (32) during the first quarter at Allegiant Stadium.
Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) evades a tackle from Los Angeles Chargers safety Alohi Gilman (32) during the first quarter at Allegiant Stadium – Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
From a usage standpoint, this is exactly what Raiders fans have been screaming for: 17 carries and 8 catches for Ashton Jeanty, 25 total touches and 108 yards with the only Las Vegas touchdown, basically making him the sun the offense orbits around on 75 offensive snaps. The problem is that usage came with stone-age efficiency on the ground, as he slogged to 50 rushing yards at 2.9 a pop behind a line that couldn’t move Cleveland’s front and saw negative or zero-yard runs pile up while Browns beat writers noted the Raiders being tackled for a loss 12 times. The good news is the route tree is where it should be: checkdowns, choice routes and that 5-yard fourth-down TD in the red zone, plus a 25-yard catch-and-run that was one of the few times this offense actually looked like it had a plan. The bad news is if he is going to be the focal point for the stretch run against a brutal AFC West schedule, the staff has to give him something other than inside zone into a brick wall every early down or he is just eating volume touches in a broken structure.
Maxx Crosby Shines Again, And The Defense Wasn’t As Bad As 24–10 Makes It Look
Look past the scoreline, and you see a defense that did more than enough to give a functional offense a chance: 270 total yards allowed, only 11 Cleveland first downs, 3-of-12 on third down, and just 48 snaps faced while the offense bumbled its way through 75 plays of self-harm. Maxx Crosby was everywhere again, leading the unit with eight tackles, five tackles for loss and multiple quarterback hits. Meanwhile, the Raiders’ front stacked up 11 tackles for loss as a group. Malcolm Koonce added the lone sack of Shedeur Sanders, plus Charles Snowden hauled in an interception. The 24 points were more about disasters in other phases than a defensive collapse: a huge punt return plus a tripping penalty gifted the Browns the first short-field touchdown, a deep shot set up the second early score, and a perfectly timed 66-yard screen to Dylan Sampson and a 53-yard field goal were basically Cleveland’s only real body blows in the second half. When your offense and special teams keep lighting the house on fire, holding a desperate team with a not-so-hyped rookie QB to 270 yards and two real sustained scoring drives is actually a quietly professional day.
Denver Broncos
Nov 16, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) prepares to pass in the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
The Division Accidentally Did Denver Some Favors
While Denver was on the couch, Kansas City gutted out a 23-20 overtime win over the Colts, a result that kept Indy a step behind in the race for AFC seeding and nudged the Chiefs back to 6-5 instead of full meltdown mode. The Raiders, meanwhile, got worked 24-10 at home by the Browns, extending their skid and turning the AFC West into a three-team neighborhood with Vegas locked in the basement. Big picture, the Patriots pushed to 10–2 while the Colts dropped to 8-3, leaving Denver clearly in that top tier of AFC contenders with the runway to chase the one-seed if they handle their own business. The net effect of the bye-week chaos is simple: nobody in the division closed the gap in a meaningful way, and the Broncos still look like the only consistently adult operation in the AFC West.
Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) throws the ball against the Tennessee Titans during the third quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025.
Division Pace Says “Good Job, Now Grow Up”
The Broncos are 9-2 on an eight-game heater, the clear pace-setters in the West, and the Chiefs just dragged themselves back with that overtime escape against the Colts, which means nobody at the top is slowing down for Los Angeles. The Raiders, sitting at 2-9 after getting punched around by Cleveland, are the one obvious soft spot left on the Chargers’ slate, which is why the team’s own site is calling that Week 13 home game a “must-have” tone-setter coming out of the bye. After that, it’s nothing but landmines, and everyone knows this roster’s inconsistency, blowout losses, and reliance on Herbert to play superhero behind a battered offensive line are exactly the habits that get you bounced before Wild Card weekend even starts. If the Chargers actually want to be more than Denver’s loud little brother in this division, the bye has to be the line in the sand where they stop playing to the level of the opponent and start stacking wins.
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