The Kansas City Chiefs picked up their eighth win of the season on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, finding the end zone on five of their first six possessions courtesy of big games from tailback Kareem Hunt and tight end Travis Kelce, who both grew up in the Cleveland area.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for a career-high 375 yards in the game while the defense tallied a pair of sacks and an interception late in the contest to seal the victory.
It marked Kansas City's eighth game with at least 30 points this season - tying the franchise record with seven games still left to play - and, once again, the performance left the experts impressed.
NFL.com analyst Elliot Harrison has the Chiefs at No. 3 in his latest "NFL power rankings," behind only the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots. The Saints moved up three spots after knocking off the previously undefeated Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
The folks at ESPN have Kansas City at No. 2, trailing only the Saints. ESPN analyst Adam Teicher cited Mahomes' sizzling start to the season, unsurprisingly, in his explanation of the Chiefs' high ranking.
Patrick Mahomes has been better than expected. The Chiefs were confident he would eventually play this well, but not right out of the chute. Through nine games, Mahomes has 29 touchdown passes, one away from the team record.
Yahoo! Sports, meanwhile, bumped the Chiefs up to the No. 1 spot in their rankings this week. Here's a portion of what analyst Frank Schwab had to say about Kansas City:
I thought the Saints' win over the Rams would vault New Orleans to the top spot, but when you review the totality of the resumes, the Chiefs earned this ranking.
Here's a look at where the Chiefs ended up in a couple of other power rankings from around the web:
Bleacher Report: No. 4
The Kansas City Chiefs make it look so easy sometimes. Against a Cleveland Browns defense that's actually been pretty good this year, the Chiefs were surgically impressive in Week 9.
Total yards? Try a hair under 500. Passing yards? Patrick Mahomes had 375 and three touchdowns. Rushing yards? As a whole, the team had 139, averaging almost six yards a pop. Tailback Kareem Hunt amassed 141 total yards and found the end zone three times.
Sports Illustrated: No. 4
The Chiefs took care of business against Cleveland and they've got one more game against Arizona before the big showdown with the Rams on Monday, November 19 in Mexico City. It may be a little unfair that they lost ground here, but there's a clear top four and they'll have their shot to gain those spots back.
The Chiefs will look to protect their AFC-best record this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals at Arrowhead Stadium. Click here for tickets to the game.
