NFL power rankings, Week 15: KC Chiefs gain steam among voters

The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t the same team that was once ranked in the bottom half of NFL teams in various Power Rankings columns. At that point, the Chiefs had been destroyed by the Tennessee Titans that unveiled offensive questions, defensive holes, and organizational concerns about where the Chiefs went in 2021.

Six games later, the Chiefs look like the team everyone expected to see coming into the season. They’ve won their last six contests behind a dominant defense and they’ve poured on the offensive firepower with the opponents they hate the most. They’ve taken control in the AFC West and have the chance to lock down a division title for all intents and purposes with a Thursday night win over the Chargers.

While the Chiefs still have some questions, as does every team in the NFL these days, they are playing their most complete football of the season and look relatively healthy for the stretch run. They also just put up 48 points on the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

With six wins in a row, the Chiefs are gaining steam with NFL Power Rankings voters.

The Chiefs’ win streak is certainly making believers out of some columnists these days tasked forming a weekly NFL Power Rankings column. Matt Verderame of FanSided (and our good friend) has the Chiefs at No. 3 overall this week with only the Packers and Buccaneers in front of them.

Over at ESPN, the Chiefs moved up from No. 5 to No. 4 with their win over the Raiders. The same can be said of their position at NFL.com. It’s possible they fail to climb much higher given the weight of their early-season woes. Other teams simply do not come with that same baggage and already have 10 wins (compared to 9 for the Chiefs).

The Ringer’s Danny Kelly also has the Chiefs at No. 4 overall and ranks them squarely in the middle of their “top shelf” category signifying the best bets to make and win the Super Bowl in February.

Over at Pro Football Network, they have the Chiefs as high as others—at No. 3—but they also state their remaining questions about the team going forward as Dalton Miller writes, “There will be defenses that have better schematic answers. We can’t proclaim the Chiefs’ offense back until they answer against those teams.”

It’s the New York Post who are the biggest believers in the Chiefs as they’ve crowned them at No. 1 overall in this week’s Power Rankings. The Chiefs’ absolute thrashing of the Raiders made Ryan Dunleavy place K.C. over anyone else, including the Cardinals, Bucs, and Packers—his next three teams.