The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Las Vegas Raiders 48-9 on Sunday. There were many takeaways from the game, but in simplest terms, the Chiefs dominated the game from start to finish and the Raiders should stay off KC’s logo. The win brought KC’s record to 9-4 which is tied for the best in the AFC. That means that after their early struggles and 2-3 start to the season, the Chiefs now find themselves back amongst the top teams in the AFC.
Early in the season, it looked as though the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and Tennessee Titans were all poised to run away from the Chiefs in the AFC. All three teams were off to good starts and all three teams came away with head-to-head wins over the Chiefs that would give them the tiebreaker over Kansas City. The Ravens and Bills now find themselves behind the Chiefs in the standings and while the Titans are still tied with KC, the loss of Derrick Henry has taken away their momentum.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs and New England Patriots have gotten hot and now find themselves at the top of the conference. While it would be tempting to pencil them in as the top two teams, this season has shown us that it only takes a few weeks for things to dramatically shift. There are still 10 teams in the AFC with winning records that are not only in the playoff hunt but are only a couple of games back of the conference leaders.
So this week I thought I would do a Power Rankings of the top 10 teams in the AFC as we head into the last four weeks of the season. These rankings are based on my belief in their ability to win the AFC and clinch the top seed in the playoffs.
Let’s start with the team I have the least amount of faith in and work our way up to number one.