The New Orleans Saints laid an egg against the Dallas Cowboys last week, but voters still think they’re better than the Kansas City Chiefs.
NFL power rankings voters are a finicky bunch. All season long, they’ve hailed the Kansas City Chiefs as one of the best overall teams in the NFL, ranking them somewhere between first and third depending on what else is happening in the NFC with the New Orleans Saints and L.A. Rams. Yet with the latest week, despite another win, the Chiefs are beginning to slip.
The New England Patriots are the newest entry in the top three for various power rankings in Week 14 in the NFL. The Pats keep winning right alongside the Chiefs, keeping pace at only a game behind. Tom Brady also owns a win over the Chiefs, which makes that one game difference so important for the Chiefs to maintain. At 10-2, only the Pats and Rams have defeated the Chiefs and those games were by a combined six points.
What makes the power rankings so finicky this week is that the Chiefs slipped after putting up 40 points on the road against the Oakland Raiders. Patrick Mahomes played better than any other quarterback in football this week despite being clearly off if you watched the game. The Chiefs were also dealing with as much drama as they’re going to face all year with the surprise release of Kareem Hunt less than 48 hours before the game started.
However, voters were clearly concerned about the Raiders’ ability to stay in the game and the Chiefs defense showing continual holes even after the bye week against a hapless franchise. But if that’s the case, why do voters care so little about a loss by the New Orleans Saints? They laid an egg against the Dallas Cowboys and are given a mulligan by everyone.
Over at NFL.com, Elliot Harrison not only docked the Chiefs for their win but he kept the Saints at No. 1 overall despite the loss. He writes, “Small move down for Kansas City, despite the win in Oakland … Allowing 442 yards and 6.4 yards per play to that Raiders offense defies explanation.”
Even when there are multiple voters in place rather than a single person who is able to project his or her votes on an entire organization, the same thing happens. The voters at Sports Illustrated have the Rams and Saints tied at No. 1, the Pats at 3 and the Chiefs slid to 4. Over at SB Nation, the Chiefs slid an insane three spots to No. 6 overall—bested by the L.A. Chargers, who they’ve beaten already, and the Houston Texans, who are rolling over the NFL’s most mediocre franchises.
At least there are some outlets with common sense. The Chiefs remain at No. 3 overall at ESPN, as they should with their tenth win of the season, while CBS Sports actually moved the Chiefs to No. 2 to replace the Saints who, y’know, actually lost a game.
None of this matters of course, but it’s a Wednesday and some things feel more unfair than others. Here’s hoping the Chiefs show themselves stronger against a better team on Sunday when they host the Baltimore Ravens and shake whatever concerns so many voters still seem to have about them.