NFL power rankings, Week 4: KC Chiefs win over Eagles fails to impress

If you felt a bit off after watching the K.C. Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, you weren’t alone. Instead of celebrating a road win, one in which Patrick Mahomes proved masterful again with five touchdown passes, the game still felt a bit too uneven, with a defensive performance that kept Chiefs Kingdom from feeling good about the state of the team,.

That’s the pervasive feeling around the NFL as well as analysts failed to move the Chiefs up their respective list of NFL Power Rankings after Week 4. Each week, we conduct a survey of some of the league’s power rankings and we typically see the team rise or fall based on the previous week’s results. This time around, however, most are being bullish on the Chiefs issues rather than focusing on their most recent victory.

That makes sense, considering the Chiefs are next to last in the NFL in total points allowed. Jalen Hurts threw for almost 400 yards against the Chiefs defense on Sunday, setting career marks. He’s not the only quarterback to do so, as it looks like most opposing offenses are going to have a field day when suiting up to play against Kansas City.

The Chiefs might have won in Week 4, but it still failed to impress voters in NFL power rankings.

Over at Pro Football Network, Dalton Miller says that having Patrick Mahomes might not be enough anymore if the defense is going to look this bad. He placed the Chiefs at No. 9 overall, just outside the top tier of contenders, as he writes, “They’ve struggled to rush the passer so far in 2021, and unless there is a drastic change, it doesn’t look like they’ll find be able to stop anyone.”

At ESPN, voters even docked the Chiefs one spot in the overall rankings, from No. 10 last week to No. 11 this week, after another frustrating defensive performance. The Chiefs shifted down a spot to make way for the Dallas Cowboys, who crept into the top 10 at No. 8.

Nate Davis at USA Today bumped the Chiefs up a single spot, which puts them at No. 9 overall, still a far cry from the preseason rankings that had them favored to win the Super Bowl.

Over at The Ringer, the Chiefs are ranked No. 9 as well, the only team with two losses in the top 10 overall. Danny Kelly has the Buffalo Bills at No. 1 overall, just ahead of the Cardinals, and the Chiefs are at the bottom of his top contending tier of teams.

The Chiefs do have a couple firm defenders around, however. Frank Schwab at Yahoo! Sports says, “It’s not a good time for them to be facing a hot Buffalo offense in Week 5.” Then again, he has the Chiefs at No. 6 overall which is a nice find after seeing K.C. sitting so far from their perch up top.

Jenny Vrentas of Sports Illustrated is also on board with the Chiefs even with two losses. She has them at No. 4 overall while admitting their defensive issues.

Finally, here at FanSided, the Chiefs are somewhere in the middle between these two packs as Russell Baxter has them at No. 7 overall—that’s up two spots from last week at No. 9.