NFL Power Rankings: Media Edition

Good evening everyone and welcome to another installment of the NFL Power Rankings: Media Edition. As the Chiefs continue to win, it gets more exciting to see where some of the so-called "experts" rank us in comparison to the other teams. This week we definitely see improvement in our rankings across the board, though still not everyone is impressed with our victories, citing the two winless teams we have defeated. Understandable. But after the jump you can find a stat like that about one of our AFC West comrades as well. I'll leave you in suspense for now.

Overall though, an encouraging week on and off the field. The computer and stat-based Football Outsiders have us ranked the lowest this week, but I wonder what objective/subjective human had us the lowest. Hmmm. I don't believe we did a guessing game last week so let's have some fun again. Take the poll, click to read more and let's see what these rankings have to say!

Trivia question: What 4-1 team has not beaten a team with a winning record and can boast that their best win (by win-loss record) was against our own Kansas City Chiefs?

If you said the San Diego Chargers you are correct!!! All I keep hearing about from the media talking heads are that the Chiefs beat winless teams and let's see them against a good team. San Diego defeated Denver, Miami, Minnesota and the Chiefs (who as we know were driving in for the win). A theme of this weekly piece has consistently been that I am not sold on the Chargers and I could tell from that first game against Minnesota. I will go on record as saying I would be surprised if they win the division this year.

THE "STATS DON'T LIE" GROUP

Football Outsiders: I told you from day one that I love this site. Very informative and helpful in predicting future matchups in my opinion. It is all numerically generated, and this site has us coming in at #27 this week. This is the highest we have been since week 1 so it's a good start. What I also like to see is that they are on the same page as me in that they have Oakland ranked 13 and San Diego 16, the only site to have that order. They are also the only site to have us behind the Broncos, who come in at 25th. Want another cool stat? Guess who is #4 in the WR rankings for what they call "value per play"? None other than Steve Breaston. Yeah, I knew him getting the ball was a good thing.

THE "JAMAAL CHARLES ALLIANCE" aka "The 25ers"

ESPN: The worldwide leader in sports and product placement, ESPN, has our Chiefs up three spots to 25th this week. ESPN writer Paul Kuharsky says, "After a bye, two big division games -- at Oakland and home vs. San Diego -- await the Chiefs". You don't say? Well I guess we ought to get working on that. Who knew? San Diego cons its way into keeping the number 7 ranking, while the Raiders jump four spots to number 11. Bringing up the rear are the Broncos who are at 27. Non AFC-West tidbit I found intriguing, "Little-known fact: New England's offense is sixth in the NFL in rushing."

CBS Sports: CBS is allowing us to creep up as well. I personally think their bias against the Chiefs stems from our preference of Gus Johnson, who is persona non grata at CBS. But that's just my conspiracy theory opinion. This week the Chiefs move up two spots to number 25, four spots ahead of the Tebows who dropped one to 29. Atop the AFC West, the Chargers kept their hold on the 5th spot and the Raiders leapfrogged to 14th. Can't leave CBS without offering their opinion on the Broncos. It seems like their on the fence here: "It's Tim Tebow time. And you know what: It should be. Give him his chance. But he isn't the answer." Sounds more like, "Don't quote us on this, but yeah Denver should kinda try it. Just don't get mad at us when it blows up."

Pro Football Talk: Mike Florio destroyed us for the first few weeks. Had our obituary written in stone. Now we are rekindling fond memories of yesteryear for him. In rising three spots to 25th, Florio says of the Chiefs, "By bouncing back after two horrendous losses to open the season, the Chiefs remind me a little of the ’89 Steelers." Wow. Speechless. Pretty sure he was ready to insult not just the players, but their mothers also a few weeks ago. Ok I made the mothers thing up, but nice to see some love. The Chargers move down one spot to 8th, while the Raiders move up one to 10th. Dropping one spot to 27th are the Broncos, and as I posted earlier today in a fanshot, "The decision to start Tim Tebow could be the first tangible evidence of a "Suck of (sic) Luck" campaign." Makes you wonder just a little.

THE KENDRICK LEWIS BROTHERHOOD aka Grupo Veintitres

Walter Football: Bizarro Walter strikes again. I say so because this clearly is not the same Walter of old who took much pleasure in belittling the Chiefs at every chance. He has us moving up four spots to number 23 this week, just two spots ahead of the Donkeys who stood pat at 25. He does have two AFC West squads in his top ten though, with the Chargers up four spots to 7th and the Raiders up four spots as well to 9th. Nothing really noteworthy in his comments about the AFC West, but I must share with you his take on the 26th ranked Seahawks: "Poop Salad (his affectionate name for Tarvaris Jackson) and Clipboard Jesus (Pete Carroll) just beat a Top-Five NFL Quarterback. Unreal." Glad it's about someone else, that's all I have to say.

SB Nation: Joel Thorman, brother of New York fashion icon Chris Thorman, penned yet another solid list of rankings this week. The Chiefs move up four spots in this week's rankings to number 23 and pointed out something that would have been unthinkable about ten days ago: "A win against Oakland after the bye, and that Halloween game against San Diego is all of a sudden a big one." Sounds good to me! Let's win them both! Speaking of those devilish franchises, SB Nation keeps the Chargers at 6th and Joel is painfully beginning to give the Raiders some love as they finally reach the top 15 this week. Meanwhile, Denver is at 28th this week, and Joel reminds us once more because ESPN hasn't killed it completely yet, "It's Tebow Time."

National Football Post: NFP gets a gold star for actually naming one of our players in their rankings! In putting us up four spots to 23rd, they say "Matt Cassel is starting to produce and the Chiefs are getting the wins because of it." I know, I know. Considering some won't even vote for Matty for the FedEx player of the week I understand you wanted it to be someone else. But hey, at least they don't know he stinks at the beanbag toss game in the locker room. The Chargers are up one to 6th, the Raiders get another top-ten endorsement at 8th, and the Broncos are at 27th. All in all, one of the better performances by NFP

THE "SERIOUSLY, WHAT DID WE DO TO BRIAN BILLICK?" GROUP

Fox Sports: If you guessed Fox Sports and Brian Billick in our poll, you win! Week after week though it's as if he's got money going against the Chiefs and then is ticked off because we covered (well, the last three weeks). It's not the criticism, I just think he doesn't hide his distaste for the Chiefs very well. Almost every team got a little positive twist from him. In being placed 26th we got, "The Chiefs are on a two-game winning streak. Those two wins came against opponents that are a combined 1-9 on the season." I guess he should consider such things when he has San Diego ranked 6th but has Oakland 15th (Football Outsiders has Oakland having the most difficult schedule so far). The good news is even he knew he couldn't put us below Denver this week as they slip to number 27. Come on Coach. I feel like even if we beat Oakland on the road he will say, "The Chiefs are 3-3. Bet they can't win 10 in a row."

Well, the word count is higher than usual so I apologize. I do hope you enjoyed another stroll down rankings lane and I look forward to next week's edition of the NFL Power Rankings: Media Edition. If you don't already, MAKE SURE to check out the Arrowhead Pride edition of the rankings that comes out on Thursdays. That group works very hard on them and your readership is appreciated. Have a good one!