NFL Week 9 Power Rankings: 49ers, Chiefs struggles turn top of league upside down; major test awaits new No. 1

Three weeks ago, it looked so simple. The San Francisco 49ers looked like the top team in the NFC with the Kansas City Chiefs the top team in the AFC.

Then things changed in a big way — as they always do in the NFL. The 49ers have lost three straight games and their supposed dominant defense can’t stop anybody, while Brock Purdy has looked like anything but Joe Montana in the clutch. The 49ers are now 5-3 and spiraling downward in a big way.

Then the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes didn’t score a touchdown against the Denver Broncos Sunday, the same Denver team that gave up 70 to the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs are now 6-2 and, aside from a game or two, have looked ordinary on offense, which is not what we expect from Mahomes and gang.

In less than a month, the top of the league has been turned upside down — and the NFL wouldn’t have it any other way. Just when we think the dominant teams are emerging, we get what happened to the 49ers the past three weeks and the Chiefs this past Sunday.

So which of the two should be more concerned? The 49ers. For all the talk about Purdy not playing well in crunch time the past two weeks, turning it over, the bigger concern for San Francisco has to be the defense. In successive weeks, Kirk Cousins and Joe Burrow went a combined 63 of 77 for 653 yards, five touchdowns and one pick. That’s called putting out the cutlery set as they took the knives and carved you to shreds.

The Chiefs just had a bad offensive game against the Broncos this week, but they’ve had some lulls at times on that side of the ball earlier this season. It just hasn’t been as crisp as in year’s past.

The Chiefs are down to sixth in my Power Rankings this week with the 49ers down to 11th. For San Francisco, it’s a really fast drop from all that talk a month ago about going undefeated.

Then again, that’s the NFL — unpredictable, wild, big swings and teams going up and down every week of the season

If you have a handle on this season, let me know. When the 49ers can’t play defense and Patrick Mahomes can’t score a touchdown against a team that gave up 70 earlier this season, I give up.