NFL Power Rankings: KC Chiefs maintain status amid murky week

After a difficult week in the NFL, the Power Rankings finally reveal that the Kansas City Chiefs are still at the top of the league for some.

The NFL Power Rankings are a bit late this week because it’s been a weird one. Plenty of articles have been written about the tragic Damar Hamlin situation, so I won’t rehash it here. Thankfully, as of writing, there have been very positive updates to his situation. Let’s hope it continues that way.

Because the Buffalo vs. Cincinnati game was canceled Monday night by the event, most media outlets had an unofficial ‘day of mourning and didn’t put out their regular content on Tuesday. By Wednesday some had begun getting back to ‘normal’. That included the Power Rankings.

The Kansas City Chiefs continue to find themselves in the top five of most rankings. ESPN has them as their #1 team, with Adam Teicher giving a brief ‘year in review’ that includes an interesting tidbit about this Chiefs team: they may be 5-0 against the division this season, but they won all of those games by less than six points.

Still, as Teicher points out, the Chiefs’ season can be summed up in five words: “Top of AFC West again”, which is totally not what most people (outside of Chiefs Kingdom) expected heading into week 1.

ESPN has quite a high view of the Chiefs because other Power Rankings didn’t even put the Chiefs in their top 3. Yahoo! Sports has Kansas City at #4. Like ESPN, they also note that the Chiefs aren’t blowing out opponents, but in the end, they are still winning and that’s all that matters.

Dan Hanzus at NFL.com also ranked the Chiefs at #4 and called attention to the Chiefs’ underappreciated (?) running back Jerrick McKinnon. According to Hanzus, McKinnon has been the unlikely replacement for Tyreek Hill.

I wouldn’t go quite that far, but McKinnon is having a Damien Williams-esque type ending to his season, with lots of touchdowns heading into the postseason—particularly receiving. I hope that like Williams, McKinnon can write his own storybook and Super Bowl ending. Or as Mitch Holthus once said, “Run into immortality.”