The Kansas City Chiefs are mostly in the same spot in this week's NFL power rankings. The Chiefs only play the Browns and Raiders to end the season so even those two wins - which would be their ninth and 10th straight - wouldn't move them up in the power rankings too much.
Here's what the Chiefs are looking at this week:
So are the Chiefs, who blew out the hapless Ravens to win their eighth straight game and become the first team in NFL history to win eight in a row immediately following a five-game losing streak. It's been a tale of two teams this season for Kansas City, but the important thing is that they're playing great ball late in the year. I'm guessing no one's going to want to face these guys once the wild card round rolls around.
Sunday's win over the Ravens was the eighth time this season the Chiefs didn't commit a turnover, tied for the most such games this season. The Chiefs are 7-1 in those games.
Wouldn't it be something else if the Chiefs caught the Broncos in the AFC West? It's possible. Since the two division rivals split their games this season, the next tiebreaker is divisional record. Kansas City is 4-1 in the West, a game better than Denver, with one more divisional contest to play (against the Raiders in Week 17). If Andy Reid's guys win out, all they would need is for the Broncos to falter versus either the Bengals or the Chargers, and a postseason home game is theirs. If that were to happen, the most likely opponent would be ... you guessed it: Denver.
Suddenly, a division title isn’t out of the question.
Don't count Kansas City out of the AFC West race yet. The defense scored as many TDs (2) as it allowed Sunday.
If the Chiefs win the division title, winning 11 in a row after losing their first five, it would be one of the weirder NFL stories. And it's quite possible. All they need to do is beat the Browns and Raiders at home and have the Broncos lose once. The ratings for next Monday's Bengals-Broncos game will be enormous in Kansas City.