NFL Playoff Picture: Chiefs, Lions ahead in race to get the No. 1 seeds, and NFC West leader is … whoa

A little less than halfway into the season, some teams are separating themselves in the playoff race. And there are a few surprises.

Here is how the playoff picture looks heading into Week 9 of the NFL season, with some observations about the current playoff bracket afterward:

Chiefs, Bills lead the race

Getting the No. 1 seed is huge, and there are two leaders in each conference. The Chiefs are 7-0 as they chase a third straight Super Bowl championship, and the Lions are 6-1. We’ve seen the atmosphere in Detroit for playoff football; it would be hard to win there if the Lions have home-field advantage through January.

Broncos comfortably in

Not much was expected of Denver this season, but the Broncos are 5-3 with rookie quarterback Bo Nix having some solid performances. Not only are they in the playoff field right now, they’re the No. 5 seed as the top wild-card team. We’ll see if they can keep up that pace, starting with a tough game this week at the Baltimore Ravens.

It’s also noteworthy that two of the three AFC wild-card teams right now are from the AFC West, with the Los Angeles Chargers in the No. 7 spot.

NFC West-leading Cardinals

You’ll notice there are no San Francisco 49ers in the current playoff bracket. That’s because the Cardinals technically lead the logjam atop the NFC West and the 49ers aren’t one of the wild-card teams. The Cardinals beat the 49ers earlier this season.

There are three NFC West teams at 4-4 and the last-place Rams are 3-4, setting up what should be a great race to the finish.