NFL Power Rankings and the KC Chiefs schedule
Super Bowl Contenders
While the Chiefs and Bucs are the two clear favorites, these four teams are all waiting in the wings hoping they stumble. If they do, any of these teams are capable of winning it all this season.
Buffalo vs Kansas City: Week 5 – Sunday Night Football – 10/10/21
The Bills probably deserve a tier of their own. In my opinion they are the clear number three team in the NFL right now. They don’t deserve to be on the same level as the Chiefs and Bucs yet, but I see them as a bigger threat than the other teams in this tier. Basically, the only thing the Bills haven’t done is prove they can beat the Chiefs. They have a championship-caliber roster as long as Josh Allen can prove that last season wasn’t a fluke.
The Chiefs face the Bills in Week 5 at Arrowhead on Sunday Night Football. It may be K.C.’s biggest regular season game this season. If the Bills were to beat the Chiefs in primetime on their own home field, it would send the message that they are a real threat to K.C.’s dominance in the AFC. However, if the Chiefs can beat them again it would both give them a leg up for the number one seed in the AFC and send the message that the Bills still aren’t on their level.
Cleveland vs Kansas City: Week 1 – 9/12/21
This may be a few spots higher than some rankings have the Browns, but I believe it is warranted. I would probably have the Green Bay Packers in this spot if there wasn’t all the drama with Aaron Rodgers, but because of that there isn’t a single other team that I have more confidence in this season than the Browns. While I don’t think that Baker Mayfield is a proven big time quarterback, I think the team around him is good enough that he just has to be solid. They have a good running game, weapons for Baker to throw to, and I expect their defense to be even better this season.
The good news for the Chiefs is that they get to face the Browns in Week 1 of the season. We all know how good Andy Reid is with time to prepare, and Patrick Mahomes has still never lost a game in the month of September. Getting to face the Browns at home early in the season should help them to get an early head start on them in the AFC. The Chiefs can’t afford to take them for granted after they gave them all they could handle in the playoffs last year (granted they were without Mahomes for part of the game), but I’m glad the Chiefs are playing them early rather than later in the season.
I’m expecting big things from the Rams this season. They have one of the best defenses in the league and a great offensive mind at head coach. While I’m not Matthew Stafford’s biggest fan, I do think he is light years ahead of Jared Goff, and now Sean McVay can really take the training wheels off his offense. Stafford doesn’t have to be a MVP candidate for this team to be Super Bowl caliber; he just needs to stay healthy and not be Jared Goff. If that happens, watch out for the Rams.
Green Bay vs Kansas City: Week 9 – 11/7/21
The Packers were one of the hardest teams to slot in these rankings. If everything was happy and good with Aaron Rodgers, I would have put them at number four in these rankings. Since I still believe the most likely scenario is that he’ll still be with the Packers this season, I am still putting them as a legit Super Bowl contender on this list. However, if Rodgers is traded or sits out the season, the Packers would tumble a good 15 spots (or more) on this list.
While I’m glad that the Chiefs get to face the Packers at home, I wish they got them earlier in the season like several of the other top teams on their schedule. If Rodgers does play this season he will likely be back in MVP form by Week 9, even if he sits out training camp in protest. If Rodgers doesn’t play, then this game should be a comfortable win for the Chiefs.
Assuming he does play in this game, Rodgers is one of those guys that is just wired differently and getting to go head-to-head with Mahomes could be the kind of thing that brings out the best in him. If you were asking me to pick the top three potential losses on KC’s schedule, this game would be one of them if Rodgers plays.
The next tier is made up of teams that could make a Super Bowl run if they can overcome their biggest question marks.