Following the Kansas City Chiefs' gameplay last season, a lot of experts believe that they are no longer the top team in the AFC. Instead, they are hyping up other teams like the Cincinnati Bengals to take the throne. However, another analyst points fingers at Joe Burrow and his team.

Jared Dubin from CBS Sports ranked the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive trio of Joe Burrow, Chase Brown, and Ja'Marr Chase as the best in the NFL. He ranked the Chiefs five spots lower.  

"The Bengals are on top once again. They reclaimed the top spot in the rankings last year and received seven of the nine first-place votes this season,” defending his choice, Dubin wrote. “Burrow's injury absence wasn't enough to knock them off their perch."

Dubin's ranking on CBS Sports is based on how the team looks on paper. However, despite making big roster changes this offseason, KC Kingdom analyst Ernesto Cova noted that football games are won on the field, not in rankings. The Bengals still have a lot to prove. 

"Football is won on the gridiron, not on paper or rankings," the analyst wrote. "And even if they didn't make the playoffs last season, no one has won more than the Kansas City Chiefs in the past decade. It feels like pundits and fans give the Bengals way too much credit."

Burrow is one of the few quarterbacks to ever beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. However, the Bengals are yet to win a Super Bowl. In fact, if Cincinnati starts the season poorly, reports suggest head coach Zac Taylor could be fired. 

The Chiefs may have missed the top spot in this poll, but no team has won more than them over the last ten years, which made Cova drop the uncomfortable message.

"They're the true definition of pretender, not contender," he wrote.

The two rivals will face off in a massive Week 14 game. However, the regular season does not matter as much as the playoffs. The Bengals have to meet expectations while the Kansas City takes notes on reclaiming their throne.

Other than Cova, an analyst is also not satisfied with another CBS ranking.

Experts are dissatisfied with the CBS Top 100 players ranking

When CBS Sports released its new list of the top 100 NFL players, sports analyst Nick Wright was very upset. He was unsatisfied because Burrow was ranked higher than Mahomes. 

On the list, Burrow was number 5, and Mahomes was number 7, mostly because both players dealt with injuries the previous season. Wright strongly disagreed with this order. He argued that Mahomes has a much better career, including more MVP awards and Super Bowl rings.

"Having Joe Burrow ranked over Patrick Mahomes on any quarterback list is an unacceptable opinion. (Matthew) Stafford, he just won MVP, so be it. Josh Allen, there is no injury concerns because he never misses games," Wright added. "Patrick's overall historical numbers far outstripped Joe Burrow's, and the recent numbers when Burrow had this statistical explosion have not coincided with the team winning."

Wright also believed that if the two quarterbacks had switched teams over the last few years, Mahomes would have even better stats.

What do you think of the uncomfortable message that Cincinnati received? Let us know in the comments.

Read more at Cincinnati Bengals Community.

Written by

Aaindri Thakuri

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar