In Week 16 NFL action, both the Steelers and the Chiefs have the potential to clinch playoff spots. (0:37)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs like to say they don’t build their team to specifically combat the strengths of their AFC West rivals, but their actions deliver a different message.

Confronted early this year with divisional opponents from Denver (Von Miller), Oakland (Khalil Mack) and San Diego (Melvin Ingram) with top pass rushers who often come from the left side of the defense, the Chiefs set out to find the best pass-blocking right tackle they could find.

They signed Mitchell Schwartz as a free agent from the Cleveland Browns. The addition of Schwartz isn’t the only reason the Chiefs have won each of their four games so far this season against AFC West rivals, heading into Sunday night’s game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium.

But it has been a factor. Schwartz played well, particularly as a pass blocker, against Mack and the Raiders in this year’s two games. Mack had a sack in each game but not much of an impact otherwise, and the Chiefs won both games.

The most recent of those wins, by a 21-13 score on Dec. 8, extended Kansas City’s winning streak to nine in games against their AFC West rivals. That’s not an NFL record for divisional games -- the Colts won 16 straight AFC South games from 2012 to 2015 -- or even a club mark -- the Chiefs won 12 straight against AFC West opponents from 1994 through 1996.

Still, their division winning streak is a big reason the Chiefs made the playoffs last year and why in 2016 they are 10-4 and contending for the AFC West title.

“I wish I knew what the one thing was or anything like that," quarterback Alex Smith said. “These are huge games. The division is extremely competitive with a ton of big rivalries, none bigger than this (one against the Broncos).

“So it’s hard. These are physical games, and almost all of them come down to the wire. Very few aren’t, so you don’t know which play is going to make the difference. That attention to detail and all of that stuff end up making a big difference in games like these.”

The addition of offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz has been a big factor in the Chiefs' success against their AFC West rivals this season. AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

Another Chiefs acquisition that seemed as if it were aimed specifically at winning in the AFC West happened in 2013 when they signed cornerback Sean Smith. The Chiefs finished the previous season with two cornerbacks less than 6 feet tall and felt they needed a taller, more physical player to help match up with bigger receivers like Demaryius Thomas of Denver and Keenan Allen of San Diego.

The 6-foot-3 Smith was the perfect fit for the Chiefs. He played three seasons in Kansas City before leaving this spring as a free agent for the Raiders.

The Chiefs were 0-6 in division games in 2012, the year before the arrival of John Dorsey as general manager and Andy Reid as head coach. The Chiefs were miserable against many of their opponents that season, finishing 2-14. They couldn’t come within eight points of winning against any of their AFC West games.

It took a while after Dorsey and Reid arrived for the Chiefs to emerge in the AFC West. The Chiefs were 2-4 against divisional opponents in 2013 and 3-3 the next year.

But the Chiefs haven’t lost to any of their AFC West rivals since losing to the Broncos at Arrowhead last September.

“I’d like to have 53 of the best possible players in the National Football League if I possibly could," Dorsey said last spring when asked whether the Chiefs build their roster with an eye on the strengths and weaknesses of the other three AFC West teams. “I think what you have to do is try to spread your depth around to every position you can. I think you have to fortify the foundations of both the defense and offensive line, and then you have to address the skill sets on the outside part of it to move forward here.”

During the nine-game AFC West winning streak, the Chiefs have beaten the Raiders four times. Their defense, with pass rushers in Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Dee Ford and Pro Bowlers in the secondary in cornerback Marcus Peters and safety Eric Berry, has consistently found a way to frustrate Derek Carr, the Oakland quarterback. He’s played some of his worst games over the past couple of seasons against the Chiefs.

The Chiefs have defeated the Chargers three straight times. The Chiefs, with their defense again leading the way, allowed only a field goal in two of those games.

The Broncos have frustrated the Chiefs for years. The Chiefs haven’t swept the season series from Denver since 2000 and have been in position to sweep just twice since then, in 2003 and 2008, by winning the first of the two annual games between the teams. The Chiefs with Reid as their coach and Smith as their quarterback lost in their first five tries against Denver.

But Kansas City has a modest two-game winning streak against the Broncos. That streak includes a five-interception game in 2015 in its last meeting ever with Peyton Manning and an overtime win in Denver last month in which the winning field goal slammed off an upright before going through.

“Every time we play (against the Broncos), it’s quite a show," Reid said. “Every time we play them, it’s different. Every one of these things has been different and wild."

That can also be said for many of the Chiefs’ recent AFC West wins. They had to intercept Carr three times in the fourth quarter of a game in Oakland last season to overcome a deficit. They had to break up a pass in the end zone on the game’s final play last year against the Chargers at Arrowhead. They had to score 30 points in the final 23 minutes to beat San Diego in overtime this year in Kansas City.

“That’s the nature of having played against a lot of these guys a bunch over the years," Smith said. “It’s a lot of the same faces and people.

“We all know what it’s going to be like. You still have to take care of business by preparing and doing the little things.”