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The Kansas City Chiefs 31-13 victory over the Washington Football Team should have given them a little boost in NFL Power rankings across the country — and largely, it did.
Here’s this week’s sampling:
NFL.com: 9
(up from 10)
For two quarters on Sunday, the Chiefs looked as lost as ever. The turnover epidemic was only intensifying, with three in the first half — including perhaps the ugliest single play in Patrick Mahomes’ career. They were clearly pressing, but they didn’t panic. Kansas City came out of the tunnel and dominated, shutting out Washington on defense, while Mahomes authored the cleanest half of the season, completing 19 of his 24 attempts for 175 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover, ultimately producing a 31-13 win. A comfortable blowout was just what this team needed, but the Chiefs know they must put together complete games to truly turn their season around.
— Dan Hanzus
ESPN: 9
(up from 10)
Week 1 confidence rating: 7.5
How it’s going now: 6.0
If the Chiefs can play defense like they did in Sunday’s win over Washington instead of how they did in the first five games, the AFC West title is within reach. If they can do that and limit turnovers — they have a league-high 14 giveaways — then they will win it. But those are two big ifs. The problem with the Chiefs is not their 3-3 record but the way they’ve played for much of the first six weeks.
— Adam Teicher
Sports Illustrated: 3
(up from 13 )
Sunday in Washington felt like it will ultimately be a microcosm of the Chiefs’ season: A first half in which they repeatedly shot themselves in the butt with sloppy turnovers, then a second half where they cleaned that up and basically did whatever they wanted. The defense is a bit of a question mark—though it does take time to adjust to Steve Spagnuolo’s system. But the offense should get better play from the offensive line as the year goes on, and the turnover issues aren’t the result of players that can’t play or a system that doesn’t work. The self-inflicted mistakes should dry up, and they’ll be close to unbeatable again once they’re not giving it away three or four times every week.
— Gary Gramling
CBSSports.com: 10
(up from 12)
Against Washington, they finally looked closer to the Super Bowl team from the past two years. The defense wasn’t a disaster, which is progress.
— Pete Prisco
Yahoo! Sports: 8
(up from 10)
Darrel Williams filled in OK, but got just 62 yards on 21 carries without a run longer than 11 yards against a bad Washington defense (in fairness, most of WFT’s problems are against the pass). Not that Clyde Edwards-Helaire was great, but his injury makes the Chiefs’ group of playmakers even thinner around Patrick Mahomes.
— Frank Schwab
The Sporting News: 9
(up from 10)
The Chiefs looked like they were headed to another mistake-filled mess in Washington, but then the light went on for Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill again to turn a frustrating winnable game to a total rout. The defense was a nice surprise in protecting the lead well.
— Vinnie Iyer
USA Today: 10
(unchanged from 10)
They’ve had a lot of great backs and tight ends here over the years. But Tyreek Hill is staking claim as best wideout in team history, his 63 TDs most in Kansas City history among receivers and one behind RB Jamaal Charles for third place overall.
— Nate Davis
The Washington Post: 11
(up from 13)
They’re not back to being the mighty Chiefs. Not yet. Patrick Mahomes threw two more interceptions Sunday at FedEx Field, one of them on the kind of ill-advised throw that he’d vowed to avoid as part of a reevaluation of his on-field decision-making. But it was a very good second half in the triumph over Washington and the Chiefs, at least, are back to .500.
— Mark Maske
Mile High Report: 13
(up from 14)
The AFC West is now a muddy race at the top with the Los Angeles Chargers looking uninspiring this week and the Raiders now tied at for the division lead. Given that, I would expect Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to ultimately figure things out and take back control of the division.
— Tim Lynch
Bleeding Green Nation: 9
(up from 10)
The Chiefs are playing some real sloppy football. It didn’t cost them in Landover, Maryland because they faced a bad opponent. But it’s going to prevent them from beating better teams.
— Brandon Lee Gowton
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