:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65965613/1195635479.jpg.0.jpg)
After their dominating 26-3 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs continued to rise in (most of) the Week 17 NFL power rankings published on Tuesday.
Here’s a sampling:
NFL.com: 4
(up from 5)
Kansas City looks like a team ready to win multiple games in January. And while the 2019 Chiefs might not wow you, given the amount of fireworks we got from the 2018 Chiefs during Patrick Mahomes’ incredible MVP season, the current team feel like a deeper, more balanced unit. A lot of this goes back to the defense, which easily shut down the Bears in a 26-3 win at Soldier Field on Sunday night and appears to be peaking as the regular season nears its end. To wit: The Chiefs have allowed 9.6 points per game since Week 11, the lowest average in football. At 11-4, the Chiefs can still grab a first-round bye with a win over the Chargers and a loss by the Patriots to the Dolphins in Week 17. With or without a bye, a Chiefs-Patriots playoffs rematch feels destined — Dan Hanzus
ESPN: 4
(unchanged from 4)
Team MVP: Patrick Mahomes, QB
Mahomes isn’t winning this award by as wide a margin as last year, but he’s still the one who makes the Chiefs’ offense work. Mahomes, along with a greatly improved defense, is the reason the Chiefs can feel confident in a deep playoff run. — Adam Teicher
Sports Illustrated MMQB: T-3
(up from 4)
Solid day at the office as the Chiefs brushed aside the Bears to claim the AFC West crown. An outstanding defensive game is always a good omen for this bunch (234 total yards for the Bears), as is Patrick Mahomes going 23-of-33 for 251 yards and two TDs. And Chicago fans didn’t let their team forget that they could have had Mahomes.
CBSSports.com: 3
(unchanged from 3)
The way the defense has played the past month, they are a real threat again to win it all. We know the offense is good. — Pete Prisco
Yahoo! Sports: 4
(unchanged from 4)
In four games since the bye, the Chiefs have allowed 9, 16, 3 and 3 points. They haven’t allowed 20 first downs in any of those games, and only more than 278 yards once (332 to the Raiders). The competition hasn’t been that great, but the Chiefs defense is showing it might be good enough to make a deep playoff run. — Frank Schawb
The Sporting News: 3
(down from 5)
The Chiefs also look like they want to finish unfinished business from their conference championship game from a season ago. Patrick Mahomes and the offense is making plenty of plays while the defense is starting to get in a swarming groove. — Vinnie Iyer
USA Today: 4
(up from 5)
They’re allowing fewer than 10 points per game during five-game win streak. Who needs Pat Mahomes when you have defense suddenly this good? — Nate Davis
The Washington Post: 3
(up from 4)
The defense is playing very well lately. Patrick Mahomes is doing Patrick Mahomes things. The Chiefs are 7-1 on the road. This will be a very dangerous team during the AFC playoffs. — Mark Maske
Mile High Report: 3
(up from 4)
It’ll probably go down as Patrick Mahomes’ best roster with Sammy Watkins’ cap number ballooning and Chris Jones’ contract expiring. With the way Steve Spagnuolo has turned around this defense with Juan Thornhill and Tyrann Mathieu, he deserves assistant of the year — Just_JoRo
Bleeding Green Nation: 2
(unchanged from 2)
Andy Reid’s team could be riding a six-game win streak heading into the playoffs. — Brandon Lee Gowton