KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In their perfect world, the Kansas City Chiefs planned for Patrick Mahomes II to sit and learn for his entire rookie season before taking over as their starting quarterback in 2018.

Their new plan is even better. The Chiefs were presented with the opportunity to play him in a low-pressure situation in Sunday's regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos and were smart enough to take it.

The situation is such that Mahomes could play poorly and it won't matter. The 9-6 Chiefs have clinched the AFC West championship and are locked into the fourth seed in the playoffs regardless of what happens against the Broncos, so it's a glorified preseason game. That's why the Chiefs are giving Alex Smith the week off.

"Every snap that he gets is a valuable snap for him for whenever he has that chance of getting in there [as the full-time starter]," coach Andy Reid said. "Fortunately, we're in a situation where we can do that.

"The fact he goes in and plays and has that experience [is important]. I'm not going to set expectations or any of that. That's not where I'm at. I just want him to go play, learn the game plan, play it and lead the team, the offense, and most of all have an opportunity."

But the Chiefs expect Mahomes to play well. He's had 15 games worth of the original plan and now gets a full week of practice snaps to prepare.

"He just has a great ability to kind of play the game and not get locked in on scheme and too many fundamentals and things like that," Smith said. "Those things are all important -- don't get me wrong. But he has a great ability to go play, which is really important as well.

"I think he invests a lot, has worked really hard since Day 1, since he's been here. He's put in a lot of time and been really diligent, so I think that stuff is going to pay off."

The Chiefs were impressed enough with Mahomes in the preseason and training camp that they jumped him over Tyler Bray and made him their No. 2 quarterback. Since then his experience has been limited to watching video, getting the scout-team snaps in practice and, most importantly, watching how Smith prepares each week as the starter.

Reid said that's been enough for Mahomes to improve even though he hasn't played since the preseason.

"Just the fact he's been here and gone over everything. ... From where he started to where he's at now, I think it's been tremendous," Reid said. "To have the opportunity to be in that room that he's in is priceless, not only with the coaches but with the players. You'd have a hard time finding a guy that comes to work every day like Alex does. To be able to learn from that is priceless.

"I would tell you he's come a long way."

Mahomes indicated after Sunday's win over the Miami Dolphins he was a better player for his experiences over the 15 games. He'll have the chance to prove that Sunday in Denver.

But even if he doesn't play well, this is still beneficial for Mahomes. He'll have some experience to draw on next season, when he's likely to be the full-time starter.

"It definitely helps to be able to prepare for a defense the full week and get all the reps you can against all the looks but there's not necessarily a best way," Mahomes said. "Just being able to play is going to be awesome.

"The biggest thing for me is just to expect to go out there and win any way possible, if that's 300 yards or 100 yards or whatever it is. Whatever it takes to get a win is the biggest thing."