The Chiefs took their first hit of the season in Seattle, but the AFC West still runs through Kansas City for now.
After entering Week 7 at 5-0, the Chiefs were sent home with their first loss of the 2026 campaign, a rough one at the hands of the Seahawks. Still, one loss doesn’t erase what Kansas City has built through six games, and in the division race the Chiefs remain on top at 5-1. The Broncos sit just behind at 5-2, though they’ve played one more game, while the Raiders are 3-4 and the Chargers are stuck at 0-6.
That’s the standings picture. The power ranking picture tells a similar story, starting at the bottom with a Chargers team that has yet to win a game this season.
There’s been no shortage of frustration in Los Angeles, and it isn’t just the kind that comes from bad breaks. Kansas City saw enough in Week 6 to know how shaky things are, as the Chiefs beat the Chargers by double digits despite not playing their sharpest football.
Mike McDaniel was supposed to turn the offense into one of the league’s scariest units, but instead Chargers fans have been left watching a group that keeps underperforming. Justin Herbert looks awful, and Jim Harbaugh was left searching for answers after the team fell to 0-6.
For a coach who is usually never at a loss for words, that says plenty about how ugly this has become. If the season ended now, Los Angeles would own the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft.
The Raiders land third, and their slide has been just as fast as their early surge was surprising. After opening 3-0 and drawing real belief, they’ve now dropped four straight.
The buzz around Fernando Mendoza at No. 1 is only getting louder. The next stretch was always going to tell the story on Las Vegas, and the answer so far is pretty clear: not very for real.
That’s especially true when you remember the Raiders are being run by first-year head coach Klint Kubiak and are likely headed toward a future with a rookie quarterback taking over the offense. That kind of reset can bring growing pains, for better or worse.
Denver checks in second, though that spot could easily be tested next week when the Chiefs and Broncos meet again in Week 8. Right now, the Broncos have more losses than Kansas City and have looked lost more often.
Their record says one thing; the play on the field says another. Bo Nix has not been good, and Denver has been winning in spite of him rather than because of him.
That won’t hold forever. If Nix sharpens up, the Broncos can make a real push in the AFC West.
If not, Kansas City should be able to keep them in the mirror.
Some around Denver might argue the Broncos should be ahead after Week 7, but the comparison doesn’t favor them. Losing to the Seahawks is one thing.
Beating a bad Cardinals team is another. And the Broncos have already lost to Kansas City.
At the top, the Chiefs still get the No. 1 spot. The Seattle loss stings, but it came against a strong Seahawks team that needed the win.
Kansas City already handled Denver once, and did it in blowout fashion. The Chiefs were rolling through their first five games with Kenneth Walker leading the way for the most part, Patrick Mahomes making key throws when needed, and the defense doing enough to keep the start rolling to 5-0.
Some may think Denver’s roster is better overall, but Kansas City has the bigger stars, and those are the players this team will be leaning on again next weekend as it tries to move to 2-0 against the Broncos and 4-0 in the division.
In Other News...
Chiefs Fans Have One Big Question After Mahomes' Ugly Night
Sunday night in Seattle gave the Chiefs something they had not dealt with in a while: a flat, frustrating offensive dud in a 20-3 loss that handed Kansas City its first defeat of the season. The result alone was jarring, but the way it unfolded made it feel even more out of character for a Patrick Mahomes-led team, with the offense never finding a rhythm and the scoreboard staying stuck in place.
For Kansas City, the immediate concern is less about one loss than what it exposed. The Chiefs had no explosive plays, struggled to push the ball, and left points on the table in a game where every possession mattered, a combination that made the night feel like more than just an off performance. After a showing this empty, the bigger question around the team is how quickly the offense can shake it off and whether this was an outlier or a warning sign. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Just Had The Kind Of Offensive Night Fans Dread
Sunday night in Seattle delivered the kind of offensive slog Chiefs fans know all too well when things are going sideways. The Seahawks controlled the game at Lumen Field, winning 20-3 behind a defense that kept Kansas City off balance and a passing night from Sam Darnold that included 257 yards and a touchdown.
For Kansas City, the frustration went beyond the final score, because the offense never found a rhythm and the ground game did little to change the tone. Kenneth Walker III, in his return to Seattle, was held in check on 14 carries, leaving the Chiefs looking for answers after a trip that produced far less than they needed. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Split Over Cris Collinsworths Latest Mahomes Praise
Patrick Mahomes has long been the kind of player who invites over-the-top praise, and Cris Collinsworth added another chapter to that familiar routine during the Chiefs matchup with the Seahawks. After a chaotic sequence in which Mahomes put the ball on the ground and still managed to keep the play alive, the NBC analyst highlighted the quarterbacks hustle, another reminder of how even routine broadcasts around Kansas City can turn into a referendum on how much admiration is too much.
The reaction online split quickly, with some fans rolling their eyes at Collinsworths commentary and others pointing to Mahomes competitiveness as exactly why the praise keeps coming. For the Chiefs, the bigger takeaway is less about the broadcast booth than the familiar sight of their quarterback refusing to stay out of a play, even when the whole thing briefly looks lost. [Read more 🡒]