{"id":659192,"date":"2026-01-06T19:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/659192\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T19:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T19:30:23","slug":"nfl-power-rankings-week-18-chiefs-finish-in-bottom-fourth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/659192\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Power Rankings Week 18: Chiefs finish in bottom fourth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 regular season is over, so it\u2019s time for NFL media to finalize this year\u2019s power rankings. After the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u2019 14-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, the writers settled the Chiefs into the bottom fourth of the NFL.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s this week\u2019s sampling:<\/p>\n

Andy Reid will be back, as will Patrick Mahomes, once his rehabilitation from knee surgery is completed, giving the Chiefs a second chance at competing. We still don\u2019t know Travis Kelce\u2019s plans, and it appears as if there could be assistant coaching changes ahead, so there\u2019s only so much we can project for this team\u2019s immediate and long-term futures. But sprinkle dirt over the Chiefs\u2019 graves at your own risk. It might feel like they\u2019ve hit rock bottom, at least by the standards established over the past decade, but they\u2019ll have an avenue toward re-emerging as contenders. To that end, how they go about doing it and how aggressive they are this offseason could be pretty telling.<\/p>\n

What we learned this season: The roster wasn\u2019t as strong as the Chiefs believed in all three facets.<\/p>\n

This was supposed to be the season that the Chiefs\u2019 offense returned to being an elite unit. Instead, the group surrounding quarterback Patrick Mahomes couldn\u2019t properly support him. Kansas City\u2019s rushing attack was historically bad, while the young receivers (Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy) didn\u2019t progress much. On defense, the pass rush lacked production around defensive tackle Chris Jones. Even the special teams unit took a step back with kicker Harrison Butker missing nine total kicks (field goals and extra points).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next: Hitting this draft pick<\/p>\n

Since drafting Patrick Mahomes 10th in 2017, the average position of Kansas City\u2019s first pick has been 38. That\u2019s the downside of being a dynasty. This year, the Chiefs will pick ninth, and they need to make it count. They\u2019ll probably be looking for a skill-position player, considering Travis Kelce\u2019s uncertain future and that Rashee Rice was their only receiver in the top 70 in yards per game.<\/p>\n

Without Patrick Mahomes, they may not have won a single game.<\/p>\n

This season was an abject failure considering the preseason expectations. With Andy Reid coming back, the big question is when Patrick Mahomes (knee) will be healthy enough to play.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs lost to the Raiders in Week 18, a fitting end to a season we\u2019ll remember as either the end of their dynasty or a strange pause in the middle of it. The Chiefs should bounce back if their luck in close games gets better, but everything is cloudy until timetables emerge on Patrick Mahomes\u2019 recovery from knee surgery. It\u2019s hard to project anything for Kansas City with that hanging over the franchise.<\/p>\n

Losing to the Raiders on a 60-yard field goal? What a way to put the final nail in the coffin of their dynasty. The Chiefs may have to look a lot different next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 regular season is over, so it\u2019s time for NFL media to finalize this year\u2019s power rankings.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,61213,922,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-659192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-power-rankings","13":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","14":"tag-kansascity","15":"tag-kansascitychiefs","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115849817253055961","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}