NFL power rankings are getting downright disrespectful of KC Chiefs

The famous quote from Rex Ryan or Vince Lombardi or Mike Remmers or some other inspirational figure associated with the game of American football goes something like this: "You are what your record says you are." It's probably a quote from the book of Dungy, chapter four.

No matter where it's from, it's become an oft-quoted maxim around the NFL to point out that there are excuses for every loss, but in the end, a franchise is defined by its record. A coach can point out why his team fell apart—injuries, lack of talent, a tougher schedule—but when it affects tickets sold, merch moved, and fan interest, wins and losses are what matter most.

What does any of this have to do with the Kansas CIty Chiefs? Because, for some reason, the saying no longer applies to them.

The Chiefs, at the present moment, are the defending Super Bowl champs. That was true of them last season as well. They also occupy the very top of the standings in the AFC West, the AFC, and the entire NFL (to be clear, they are tied with the Detroit Lions here). They have won 11 of their first 12 games. They were the last unbeaten team remaining in the NFL this season.

If that sounds like several ways to say they are top dog, number one, first place, best in show, without peer, in pole position, or at the head of the class, it is. Somehow we're having to work overtime with an online thesaurus to get the point across because the Chiefs, for the first time, are not what their record says they are.

At least that's what NFL experts are telling us.

While iterations of this can be found everywhere, we're taking exception with The Athletic on this day because The Athletic is good. It's a respectable site with "ball knowers" as they say. The opinions here are (mostly) well-informed. I'm a subscriber and I have been for years, in all honesty. I will always champion quality journalism and the Athletic deserves that much.

So color me surprised when I go to check out their latest NFL Power Rankings (which is really a fruitless exercise but we all do it anyway) only to find the Chiefs staring up at the entire top five.

For all of those facts we stated earlier, the Athletic's Josh Kendall has decided to ignore or make light of most of that to place the Chiefs in No. 6 overall. Here's his order:

1. Detroit Lions

Sure. We get it. Chiefs are boring at No. 1 and the record is the same. No problem.

2. Philadelphia Eagles

Er, okay. Guess there's some NFC fandom here slanting things away from what is clearly the more loaded overall conference top to bottom, but the Eagles have some impressive wins lately and momentum is what power rankings are largely about.

3. Buffalo Bills

This is getting silly to be this low without the Chiefs. Then again, we've seen more love for the Bills than Chiefs for several weeks from several outlets, so if you're leading so NFC-heavy then we could have guessed a doubter would have the Bills coming in here.

4. Green Bay Packers

LOL. Okay, at this point we've got a team with three losses, one sitting in third place in their own division, coming in ahead of the Chiefs. What are we even doing here?! The Chiefs have to be next, right? I mean...

5. Minnesota Vikings

For the love of... okay, this is akin to someone voting for Ben Niemann for the Pro Bowl. I mean, the Vikings are a very well-run organization and all but this is a Sam Darnold-led franchise for crying out loud. Just stop the madness.

6. Kansas City Chiefs

At this point, I'm out of superlatives. Maybe that was the point, to exhaust Chiefs fans by reading such insanity. If so, well done, Josh Kendall. Well done.