NFL power rankings: KC Chiefs slip slightly after Week 3

The Kansas City Chiefs slipped from the #2 team in the league to one of the top 5 teams, and outside the top 5 for some media outlets in this week’s Power Rankings.

I still can’t believe the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Indianapolis Colts. Very little seemed to go right on Sunday, especially on special teams, but somehow the Chiefs have remained in the top five of most NFL Power Rankings this week.

Last week, I (wrongly) predicted that the Chiefs and Bills would remain the top 2 teams for the foreseeable future until one of the teams lost – possibly after their matchup in just a few weeks. But ‘any given Sunday’ prevailed, and both the Chiefs and Bills lost. Unfortunately, the Bills lost to a much stronger opponent than the Chiefs did. The result: The Bills are still number one in several Power Rankings (and mostly above the Dolphins too).

I can’t speak for Dolphin fans, but I’d be a little miffed to see their division rivals still ranked higher after taking the L. As a Chiefs fan, I’m also annoyed that the Bills are still ranked relatively high, but at least they have a loss too, which doesn’t set the Chiefs back too far in the race for the #1 seed.

Since not everyone is giving them their respect, I salute the undefeated Eagles and Dolphins, who for the sake of tortured fanbases (especially Miami) should be ranked much higher than they are this week. As for the Chiefs, after that loss, they are lucky to be anywhere near the top 5.

Frank Schwab has them the highest at number 3, behind only the Eagles and Bills over at Yahoo Sports. He made the astute observation that it’s not the special teams fans should be worried about, but the offense:

"It will still be good because Patrick Mahomes is one of the best quarterbacks we’ve ever seen, but over the last couple weeks there have been more challenges than we’re used to seeing."

Beyond Yahoo, most media have pinned the Chiefs in at No. 5 on their Power Rankings. CBS Sports and NFL.com both have the team at No. 5 but have opposite predictions of what to expect going forward (and in particular this week against Tampa Bay).

Pete Prisco with CBS thinks the offense will continue to struggle against the Bucs, while Dan Hanzus at NFL.com had much more optimism and sees the loss against the Colts as an outlier.

"By the time Patrick Mahomes threw his lone interception in the final seconds, the Chiefs had already made enough errors to deserve their fate. Expect to see a much cleaner version of Andy Reid’s team on Sunday night against the Bucs."

For some observers, like PFT, the Chiefs actually fell outside the top five, which isn’t all that surprising to me.

All in all, the Chiefs are still a pretty good team, better than most (I think?). But they have some serious issues that need to get figured out soon. They just blew what would have been a 2-game lead in the division against the only real threat, the Chargers, and what could have been a one-game lead to the Bills. They won’t come out even too many more times after a loss.