KC Chiefs take a tumble in NFL Power Rankings

After an embarrassing loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs take a tumble in the power rankings. But how far do they fall?

The Kansas City Chiefs deserve this one. I had hoped that they would be able to vanquish the Cincinnati ghosts from Decembers past in Week 13, but that didn’t happen—once again.

And so because of that, the Chiefs rightly fell from the top of NFL Power Rankings at every major media outlet, and rightly so. For some, it was a farther fall from grace than others.

In almost every NFL Power Rankings list, the Chiefs are still a top 5 team, but barely. I think that’s being too harsh for a 3-point loss against a solid Cincinnati Bengals team. Sure, it doesn’t look good that the Chiefs can’t beat them, but I have a hard time believing there are 4-5 better team than the Chiefs right now.

Yahoo! Sports gave the most generous Power Ranking by slotting the Chiefs in at #3 behind the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys (newcomers to the top 3). Frank Schwab acknowledged that the loss was bad, but pointed to the Chiefs upcoming easy schedule as a clear path to the #1 seed.

CBS Sports has the Chiefs at #4 but they aren’t too concerned about Kansas City either, “as long as they don’t play the Bengals.” That’s not too encouraging, considering the Chiefs would almost certainly have to play the Bengals again to get to the Super Bowl. Here’s to hoping the Ravens stay healthy and the Browns beat Cincy.

If you’ve kept up with my column you know how frustrated I’ve gotten with Dan Hanzus over at NFL.com. He’s only considered the Chiefs the #1 team once this year, far fewer than all the other media outlets. This week I was unsurprised to learn that Dan dropped the Chiefs in his rankings, but he dropped them to #5. He placed the Bengals at #3, and his effusive praise of them seemed unnecessary. Sure they seem to have the Chiefs number, but they are still an 8-4 team fighting for their division.

In contrast, the Chiefs have all but run away with theirs—they can clinch on Sunday against Denver. And Hanzus seemingly ranking Joe Burrow above Patrick Mahomes just grinds my gears. I suppose the Chiefs deserve this, like I said at the beginning. Three-point losses are still losses.

Here’s to washing that terrible loss out of our mouths by crushing the Denver Broncos for a 14th straight time.