NFL power rankings: KC Chiefs remain fringe contenders on most lists

The K.C. Chiefs have been pulling off these sorts of shadowy wins and losses for some time now.

In Week 6, the Chiefs were able to pull off their biggest victory yet of the season, at least deficit-wise, to the tune of an 18-point road win over the Washington Football Team. It moved their record back to .500 at 3-3 overall, yet the Chiefs remain in the divisional basement of the AFC West.

As fans, it’s hard to tell what to make of the Chiefs at this point—that is to say that it’s impossible to get a read on just how good or bad they really are. They could easily be 5-1 by now, but they could also be 2-4. Their recent wins against scheduled NFC East opponents like the Philadelphia Eagles or WFT really don’t reveal much about their capabilities given the talent differential, especially at quarterback.

Even the losses make it hard to read the Chiefs. How much should the Chiefs be docked for losing a close game to the Chargers when they coughed up the ball so much that it became laughable? Or how about the insane way they lost to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2, when Clyde Edwards-Helaire coughed up the ball when well within striking range of a game-winning field goal for Harrison Butker?

The Chiefs are sitting just outside the top contenders in the latest round of NFL Power Rankings.

Right now the Chiefs are 3-3 and those losses have to stand for something. At the same time, the Chiefs are as dangerous as they’ve ever been and no team will want to face them when it counts in the postseason. Perhaps that’s why the Chiefs remain listed among the contenders, even if it’s lower than anyone would have expected at this point in the latest round of NFL Power Rankings.

Over at the Ringer, it’s a bit startling to see it listed, but the Chiefs are now rated in the second-tier of teams. Danny Kelly has listed teams into “top shelf” and “the contenders” and it’s hard to argue with him given the current landscape in the standings. The Chiefs sit at No. 9 overall among teams, one behind the Chargers. The Bills and Ravens are the only AFC teams in the top 7 at all.

At ESPN, the Chiefs are listed in the exact same position—at No. 9—which is starting to give us a good sense of where they will likely land in other places. The moved up a single spot from No. 10 last week after they defeated WFT on Sunday, but most of the NFL’s best teams took the same sort of step forward in Week 6 as well.

Glancing over at the Sporting News and we see the same thing again, as Vinnie Iyer has the Chiefs at No. 9 overall. The glut of 5-win teams simply won’t allow room for someone bullish on a team like the Chiefs ·or even some other stumbling contender. Meanwhile, Frank Schwab has the same top seven teams at Yahoo! Sports as anyone else (even if they’re not in the same order) but he does list the Chiefs at No. 8 overall, ahead of the Chargers.

The pattern continues at the New York Post where Ryan Dunleavy has the Chiefs at—you guessed it—No. 9 overall and said it best when he wrote, “The Chiefs’ mediocre start is surprising as is, but a loss to Washington would have set off a five-alarm fire.” Pro Football Network’s Dalton Miller follows suit with the Chiefs in the exact same position. It’s starting to feel a bit eerie.

As for right here at FanSided, Russell Baxter drops the Chiefs into double digits in his latest power rankings, so at least there’s a bit of a shift, albeit one we’d like to see in the other direction, as he has them at No. 10.

If the Chiefs can string together two wins in a row and make it a victory over the Tennessee Titans in Week 7, the real contender feeling will start to creep back into the room, especially since Tennessee is lingering as another AFC team with title hopes. The Chiefs simply have to be able to beat these teams at some point if they want any real hope this season, which makes Sunday very important for all parties involved.