No team tends to do well in power rankings when it starts with a 1-2 record in the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs in particular had two very bad games at the start of the year to try and forget when they came back to beat the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome on Sunday. They do have talent, specifically in the form of the free-running Jamaal Charles, but haven't been able to put it together early on.
NFL.com's official power rankings have the Chiefs at 24th overall after Week 3's action, and note that despite the slow start to the season, the Chiefs are still definitely in the race for the AFC West:
Resilient performance on the road by a team that was lambasted in this space last week. The key now is to keep the ground momentum going ... and going ... and going ... When Jamaal Charles explodes, it opens up the field for Matt Cassel and gives the defense a chance to rest (as well as something to play for). From an overall standpoint, this team is still very much in the thick of the AFC West madness, especially with both the Chargers and Broncos falling on Sunday.
Week 4 will see the Chiefs taking on the San Diego Chargers in their first AFC West match of the season. At that point, the Chiefs can really start to show if they're going to not just start in the thick of things in the AFC West, but stay in them as the season rolls along.