KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It took the Chiefs three tries, but they finally clinched the AFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs.
They took care of business by beating the Oakland Raiders 35-3 on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs finished the regular season 12-4, which ties them with the Los Angeles Chargers for best record in the division. The Chiefs win the tiebreaker because of a better division record (5-1) than that of the Chargers (4-2).
Every other AFC team has at least five losses, giving the Chiefs a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
"Everybody's happy for each other,'' Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce said as some of his teammates wore division championship hats in the locker room after the game. "We knocked another goal off the list. We checked it off. At the same time, we've got our eyes on something way bigger than this.''
Arrowhead historically has been no advantage for the Chiefs in the playoffs. They have lost their past six home games in the postseason since an overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1993 playoffs.
The Chiefs had home-field advantage in 1995 and 1997 but lost their divisional round playoff game each time, first to the Indianapolis Colts and later to the Denver Broncos.
But the Chiefs will happily accept the path they'll need to take in order to reach the Super Bowl. The Chiefs finished the regular season 7-1 at Arrowhead, the sole loss being by one point to the Chargers.
"Just getting back to playing good football,'' coach Andy Reid said after the Chiefs ended their two-game losing streak. "We just felt like we had kind of let off the accelerator there. We didn't take care of opportunities we had. I think the guys just beared down on it. It wasn't going to happen again in their mind.
"It was fun to be around that part of it and feel that energy. That's how they came out and played.''
The Chiefs could have clinched the AFC West championship by winning either of their prior two contests, but they lost to the Chargers and then the Seattle Seahawks.
That put pressure on the Chiefs to beat the Raiders on Sunday. Otherwise, the Chiefs would have made the postseason as a wild card and had to play a road game next weekend.
Instead, the Chiefs won a third straight AFC West title.
"Definitely a three-peat,'' Kansas City defensive lineman Chris Jones said. "You don't see that often.
"It was hard. We faced adversity along the way, but we overcame it.''