Thanksgiving loss sends Chiefs plummeting. A mid-tier team now, playoff hopes dwindle with inconsistency plaguing Mahomes and the offense.
Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t have much to be thankful for during this year's Thanksgiving, as they watched their team fall to a 6-6 record after a 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday. With the loss, the Chiefs have become the biggest fallers in Bleacher Report’s latest power rankings heading into Week 14.
Kansas City now ranks in the middle of the league at the No. 16 spot.
“Just when it looked like the Kansas City Chiefs might be back on track, they put together a dud against the Dallas Cowboys,” the B/R NFL Staff wrote alongside the ranking. “The Chiefs have just been too inconsistent offensively and too inefficient defensively to look like a legitimate threat in the AFC this season. Opposing teams still won't want to see Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, but there's a very real chance they won't.”
With just five games remaining on the schedule for the Chiefs, being a mid-tier team was not expected by anybody heading into the season. After a 2024 season that saw games fall the Chiefs’ way seemingly every time, there has been no such grace for the franchise this season.
Their Week 13 loss in Dallas was a demoralizer for the Chiefs. As a result of the loss, the Chiefs need to win out to ensure a playoff appearance. According to NFL.com, Kansas City has just a 33% chance of making the playoffs.
They sit four games behind the Denver Broncos in the AFC West. In the Wild Card race, they sit two games behind the Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo Bills, and Indianapolis Colts. Even on the outside looking in, the Chiefs have competition in the Houston Texans and whoever ends up second in the AFC North between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Being this far into the year and still being on the outskirts of the playoff picture is new to Chiefs fans, at least in the past decade. Fans are used to seeing nothing but dominance out of Kansas City, expecting nothing less than a Super Bowl run year after year. Clearly, that is not the case this year. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Chiefs' run?