Chiefs Rooting Rankings: Week 2
20 repliesArrowhead Guys tells you who to root for this week!
The NFL has returned, and not only will we be rooting for the Chiefs, but we will be rooting against those teams that stand in between us and another Super Bowl championship. This is the weekly piece where I rank exactly which teams we should be rooting against that maximize the Chiefs’ odds of reaching the final game of the season.
But first the rules.
Rules
- The rankings and interests are based solely on which outcomes benefit the Chiefs the most. So while some may root for the Bills to beat the Raiders because we hate the Raiders, from the Chiefs perspective it’s best for the Raiders to win and make it easier for the Chiefs to get the top seed.
- NFC vs. NFC matchups won’t be ranked. The only way they impact the Chiefs is if we get down to the 4th tiebreaker for playoff seeding (meaning head-to-head, win-loss record in conference games, and win-loss record in common games are all tied) in which case they factor into strength of victory and strength of schedule. Not only is this unlikely to be relevant, but even if it is, we already know to root for NFC North teams (since that’s who we play this year).
- The Chiefs game won’t be ranked because, duh, we root for the Chiefs to win, and it will always be our most important game.
- I will continue to include AFC teams that are within 3 games of the Chiefs. If a team is more than 3 games back, we’ll assume they’re no longer a threat.
Rankings
1: Titans over Chargers
I’m going to continue to rank the Chargers at 1 until the Chiefs get a firmer grip on the division. I’m not nervous about winning the division, I’m just a little nervous.
2: Raiders over Bills
3: Patriots over Dolphins
4: Ravens over Bengals
The 3 nondivisional games we care about, Ravens and Bengals are the lowest simply because it’s hard to pick between them. The Bengals have our number, which is why I’m rooting against them, but if the Ravens win they’re perfectly capable of getting the top seed.
5: Commanders over Broncos
6: Cowboys over Jets
7: Steelers over Browns
8: Texans over Colts
Yes I had the Broncos 2nd last week, but that was just to make sure they weren’t actually good anymore. Now that it looks like they’re still bad we don’t have to be so nervous about them.
In other news it sucks to be the Jets. 4 plays into the season they went from a potential serious contender to a laughingstock.
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Here’s something – I know it has little bearing on our matchup nor for where we are at in the standings (yet), but the Rams-49ers game will be the first time in NFL history that a Mr. Irrelevant and a QB taken #1 overall have faced one another in a regular-season game.
And Mr. Irrelevant is favored!
I’m not sure what the problem is with the Rams… Is it Stafford, or just a string of bad luck?
Seems like they’ve been regressing since the Goff trade with the Lions.
Stafford played really well last weekend. He was injured much of last year.
I guess I hadn’t noticed that he was out last year. Just that the Rams went to the Super Bowl the year before, then seemingly fell off the radar last year.
They traded all their draft picks for vets. Then gave their super star DT a ridiculous contract (not that he didn’t deserve it). Not a sustainable way to build a team.
That title hasn’t aged well.
I know that Raiders over Bills line is smaller than the rest. I tried to make it the same size as the others but failed. I have no idea why but WordPress really wanted that line to be tiny.
I thought you were trying to minimize rooting for the raiders. Very understandable.
I get that the Bills are more threatening than the raiders, but I won’t cry if the raiders lose.
I get what you’re saying about the Raiders-Bills, but if we don’t win the division, we have no chance at the #1 seed. For that reason, I think it best for the Bills to beat the Raiders as a Raiders loss is more important to the Chiefs, not just because they’re the Raiders, but because we need to come out on top of the Raiders after 17 games. I’d prefer not to see a scenario in which the Raiders beat the Bills and Chiefs lose to the Jags. After seeing our first miserable home game, I can see us losing on the road to this Jax team. Don’t count your eggs before they’re laid, or something like that.
I find it unreasonable that you fear the Raiders. I know you are naturally apprehensive, but that is one team not to fear.
Me? I hope the Raiders win their first 7 games and don’t win again until the last one when they drag the Broncos out of the playoffs too.
The angst of those two teams’ fan bases is almost as good as a Chiefs win.
To clarify, I fear the Chiefs at this point, not the Raiders.
Touche
The jets weren’t a laughing stock last year. They’re not a threat with willy wilson at qb but that’s still a good team.
I have heard some unsubstantiated rumors that the Jets may try to resurrect the career of Colin Kaepernick. But he’s been out of the league since, what, 2016? I’m not sure that’s a good idea…
For better or worse I kind of thought we were done talking about him.
Where there’s smoke there’s dollars
The Jets not having a thought-out contingency plan for what they would do at QB 1&2 should Rodgers go down has left them open to this type of stupid rumor. Any wonder who is the source of this rumor? I can’t imagine it being the Jets.
I heard some friends of mine saying it, so it’s at least third-hand information.
Could be nothing, or it could be one of those moronic talking-head commentators trying to drive up their own clickrate through “flaming hawt taeks.”
I saw the headline “the Jets have made a decision on Kaepernick” or similar on a click bait plug. I didn’t click.