Andy Reid is still on the sideline, and Patrick Mahomes is under center. Yet the Kansas City Chiefs ranked embarrassingly low in the league's top half in a Yahoo Sports power ranking published days before the analyst furiously weighed in.

On July 23, Colin Cowherd's The Herd had Jason McIntyre as a guest, and he was upset with the rankings that he kept on repeating the position.

"The Yahoos at Yahoo Sports are doing a countdown, and their power rankings have the Kansas City Chiefs at 12. 12!" McIntyre sounded furious while speaking on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on July 23.  "Andy Reid is still breathing, coaching on the sideline. Patrick Mahomes is back. And they're 12th?"

It is a lot of movement for a consistently top-tier team. Why the skepticism? Kansas City went from winning all one-score games played, at 11-0, to winning only 1 out of 9. This is certainly a historical sign of decline, not of the team getting worse.

"Suddenly there are questions," YahooSports highlighted reasons behind them pushing the Chiefs even beyond No. 10. "There's no bankable player in the Chiefs' offense aside from Mahomes. KC's defense has to be much better and is relying on rookies to fill key roles."

There might be a lot of weaknesses in the Chiefs' roster. Even after adding reinforcements at cornerback, Kansas City still has a major concern at tackle, where the team finished 31st in run block win rate at 70.8% last season. But McIntyre is furious at the fact they have Mahomes back.

NFL analyst Albert Breer gave a more reasonable opinion. Breer had concerns extending to offensive line, wide receiver injuries, and the need to fill cornerback Trent McDuffie's position, but gave a 10+ win floor for any roster with Mahomes at QB.

"12th in the power rankings is a little bit disrespectful. It's almost like the pendulum has swung from 'the Chiefs are unstoppable, nobody can touch them' to 'they're 12th,'" McIntyre added furiously in the same video.

The analyst is upset since this time last year, Yahoo ranked Kansas City at No.4 in their NFL 2025 offseason power rankings countdown. So the drop from No.4 to No.12 is embarrassing for the team.

All of this is happening while Mahomes is just getting back from injury.

Patrick Mahomes returns as ranking debate heats up

Mahomes was approved by the Chiefs’ medical staff and Dr. Dan Cooper of the Cowboys, who repaired Mahomes’ ACL and LCL two days before camp opened at Missouri Western State.

Mahomes expressed the feeling to Nate Taylor of ESPN on the 25th of July.

"I feel stronger than I've ever felt, as far as strength and lifting [weights], I feel amazing. I'm excited just to be able to play football... Now, to be on that practice field with my teammates, it's going to be a lot of fun."  Mahomes said per ESPN's Nate Taylor.

According to Nate Taylor, Mahomes reuniting with first-team offensive players is the first time Mahomes has been with Kenneth Walker, Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Tyquan Thornton since his injury in late December.

Do you think the Mahomes factor will be enough to prove Yahoo Sports' ranking wrong? Let us know in the comments.

Read more at Quarter Back Central.

Written by

Abhay Bharti

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar