NFL power rankings, Week 17: Chiefs, Packers named NFL’s best

The Chiefs and Packers are the favorite teams sitting atop NFL power rankings in Week 17.

Could we be headed for a State Farm Super Bowl? Both the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers are coming in as the top two teams in the league by the latest round of NFL Power Rankings for Week 17 which presents a very exciting potential matchup in the NFL’s championship game. Not only are both quarterbacks two of the NFL’s most popular players but they’re also considered the two favorites for NFL MVP in 2020. Oh yeah, they also share similar sponsorship deals.

The latest round of NFL power rankings are out from media outlets and NFL writers are clear that the pecking order goes from the Chiefs at No. 1 to the Packers at No. 2. Beyond that is a list of teams hoping to crash the respective parties of the best team in each conference.

The Chiefs have already locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so it will be interesting to see how much playing time Patrick Mahomes and company get next week against the L.A. Chargers. If they lose, it might tip the scales toward the Packers in the final week, but the Chiefs have already won 14 games and have bigger fish to fry than worrying where they stand in power rankings or even showing up strong against the Chargers in a completely meaningless game. For this week, however, let’s take a look at what experts are saying.

Matt Williamson over at Pro Football Network has the Chiefs at No. 1 (and Packers at No. 2) but acknowledges there are some concerns in Kansas City. He writes, “…they have been playing an awful lot of really close games, and there are holes in this Chiefs team. But heading into Week 17, they are the best team in the NFL.”

Over at ESPN, the Chiefs reign supreme for another week despite a close win over the Falcons, but the Packers and Bills switched place to keep the conference powers stacked. Sports Illustrated follows suit with Chiefs/Packers at the top, and Gary Gramling has the week’s best quote:

"I’ve seen a lot of Harlem Globetrotters games over my lifetime, and Kansas City Chiefs games have taken on a similar vibe minus buckets of confetti—no matter what happens in the first 58 minutes, victory seems like a foregone conclusion."

Over at Sporting News, Vinnie Iyer credits the Chiefs defense with their win on Sunday and still has them ranked No. 1. He writes, “…they got the job done with defense and special teams to remind everyone they are complete contender in trying to win Super Bowl 55, too.” Meanwhile, FanSided’s own Russell Baxter actually put the Packers at No. 3 behind the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in his rankings.

Over at NBC Sports, Justin Leger has the Chiefs at No. 1 for the third consecutive week. Pete Prisco of CBS Sports agrees with everyone here with the Chiefs at No. 1, but he’s also asking the question that many of us are also wondering

"They have locked up the top seed in the AFC, but they haven’t looked dominant for much of the second half of the season. Can they pick it up come playoff time?"

Therein lies the tension, but that’s a good problem to have: when your team is dominant but are they really that dominant? Yeah, we’ll take it.