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The Kansas City Chiefs stopped their skid, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 42-30 on Sunday to even their record at 2-2. So for Week 5, most power rankings moved the Chiefs up — but a couple of them had Kansas City lower.
Here’s this week’s sampling:
NFL.com: 8
(down from 6)
The Chiefs still have their issues. Their defense was unable to force so much as a single punt against the Eagles. And yet, they have Patrick Mahomes and the brilliant offensive mind of Andy Reid to cover up the blemishes. Kansas City had seven possessions on Sunday; one ended with a Mahomes interception and the rest with the Chiefs celebrating in the end zone. Mahomes threw five touchdown passes, the first a Skee-Ball “Only Mahomes” toss to Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the final a 44-yard bomb to Tyreek Hill, who was straight uncoverable all day. After the game, Reid received a commemorative game ball for becoming the first head coach in NFL history to win 100 games with two different teams. Big Red forever.
— Dan Hanzus
ESPN: 11
(down from 10)
Biggest surprise: Red zone defense
Why it’s a surprise: The Chiefs have put much emphasis and many hours on the practice field to improve their defense inside the 20-yard line — which was worst in the league last season — but things have only gotten worse. The Chiefs have allowed a touchdown in the red zone 79% of the time, which is fifth-worst and two percentage points worse than last season. It’s the biggest reason the Chiefs are 31st in points allowed.
— Adam Teicher
Sports Illustrated: 4
(up from 8)
The Chiefs rebounded from a two-game losing streak with a feel-good win against Andy Reid’s former team. But the defensive struggles persist. The Chiefs rank next-to-last in the league in points allowed, yielding an average of 31.25 per game. That’s a hefty burden, even for an offense that has the ability to score with one flick of Patrick Mahomes’s wrist.
— Jenny Vrentas
CBSSports.com: 9
(up from 12)
That offense we saw in Philadelphia is what we expect to see. But the defense still has major issues and now here comes the Bills for a real test.
— Pete Prisco
Yahoo! Sports: 6
(up from 9)
Nobody on the Chiefs aside from Tyreek Hill had more than 23 yards receiving. Patrick Mahomes still had a big day as the Chiefs rolled up 42 points. You’d like the Chiefs to have more options, but Hill and Travis Kelce are so hard to defend that it usually doesn’t matter. What might matter is a defense that has been bad so far this season. It’s not a good time for them to be facing a hot Buffalo offense in Week 5.
— Frank Schwab
The Sporting News: 9
(up from 10)
The Chiefs were determined to get back to .500 and play up to capacity with Patrick Mahomes. They got the big plays to Tyreek Hill again, and that set up the defense to tee off in key spots with the Eagles in chase mode. The running game is also seeing a good situational revival.
— Vinnie Iyer
USA Today: 9
(up from 10)
QB Patrick Mahomes has won 40 of his 50 regular-season starts, something only previously accomplished by Hall of Famer Kenny “the Snake” Stabler. Good list. Mahomes is also now on pace to throw 60 TD passes this season, which would put him into a class entirely of his own.
— Nate Davis
The Washington Post: 10
(up from 14)
Andy Reid won in Philadelphia to become the first coach to reach 100 victories with two franchises on a good day for homecomings. QB Patrick Mahomes threw five TD passes, and WR Tyreek Hill had a huge day. It was predictable that the Chiefs would bounce back, but it’s still meaningful to see it happen.
— Mark Maske
Mile High Report: 7
(up from 10)
Last week I said it's kind of hard to really know who are the frauds and who are the contenders through the first three games, but by Week 4 you really begin to see which teams are actually for real and which have questions.
The Denver Broncos obviously look like a team with questions as do a slew of other previous Top 10 contenders. However, I will run a few victory laps around all of the Arizona Cardinals haters who gave me all sorts of crap for ranking them above the Los Angeles Rams last week. May I say... BOOM!
— Tim Lynch
Bleeding Green Nation: 9
(up from 10)
KC’s offense is fantastic. Their defense, however, is a real problem. The former matters more but the latter could still be their undoing. They need to get healthier and maybe even make a trade deadline acquisition or two.
— Brandon Lee Gowton
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