Kansas City Chiefs
NFL power rankings: Chiefs moving down
Kansas City Chiefs

NFL power rankings: Chiefs moving down

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

The Week 11 NFL power rankings are here, and there are some real thoughts that the Kansas City Chiefs are getting passed over.

Yes, the Chiefs have won five straight games and yes, they have engineered two 17-point comebacks through their first nine contests. Still, some believe Kansas City is falling off the pace when it comes to teams truly in contention.

In all of the power rankings sans FanSided and CBS Sports, the Chiefs moved down one or two spots (or in the case of ESPN, just stayed lower than they should be). Kansas City is getting docked because of the poor play of Alex Smith, something that frankly, isn’t unfair. Smith needs to play better if this team is going to beat the elites in January and February.

On the flip side, no team has a better defense. The Chiefs give up some yardage, but they stiffen when need be and clobber teams with turnovers. It’s a fluke when it happens once or twice. When you do it every week? It’s a downright weapon.

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Here’s what the world is saying about Kansas City:

NFL.com – 4

Eric Berry won the day in Carolina. What a play. The Chiefs blitzed Cam Newton right up the gut, and when the Panthers quarterback decided to shoot the ball up the seam, Berry read it beautifully from his center field spot. After catching the ball in mid-flight, he weaved and spun his way to the game’s most important score. Now, while we hate to levy a tax on the #ChiefsKingdom, this dink-and-dunk stuff from Alex Smith isn’t going to get Kansas City very far. He missed Chris Conley and Travis Kelce — both wide open — on vertical throws that would have been certain touchdowns.

Yahoo – 4

It’s hard to ignore 18 wins in 21 games, which is the streak the Chiefs are on counting playoffs. However, I have them a step behind the top three, especially now that Seattle has actually shown what its upside is this season. But, 18 of 21. That’s not easy to do. This is a quality team.

CBS Sports – 3

That was a telling victory at Carolina, coming back from down 17-0. They are as hot as any team in the league.

Washington Post – 5

No one is paying much attention to the Chiefs, as usual. But they’ve won five straight games. They’re on an 18-3 run of success going back to last season, including the playoffs. Someone will have to contend with them in the postseason.

FanSided – 3

Reid’s offense couldn’t find the end zone at Carolina and still the Chiefs found a way to come up with a fifth straight win. Once again, this is a team playing solid and efficient football and one very much in the AFC West title chase. They play four of the final seven games within the division and have their first meeting of the year with the Denver Broncos in Week 12. A very intriguing team indeed.

ESPN – 5

The Chiefs are now 17-2 in their past 19 games dating back to last season, with 15 giveaways to 45 takeaways over that span. The next best turnover differential in that time is plus-14 by the Vikings. The Chiefs take on the turnover-prone Buccaneers in Week 11.

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