22. Kansas City Chiefs
Somehow, the Kansas City Chiefs will be down to their third QB in a matter of two games, as both Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew went down with torn ACLs in back-to-back games, and the Chiefs dropped to 6-9 on the season with a blowout loss against the Tennessee Titans.
It’s truly been a season to forget for the Chiefs, as they never really got things going this year and always seemed to struggle with something. The years of bad drafting and poor free agency hauls have kind of come to a boil here in 2025.
The Chiefs aren’t just one strong offseason away, either, as they are currently over the cap, have a lot of holes, and might not see Patrick Mahomes return to 100% strength until 2026 is well underway.
Kansas City now returns home on a short week and hosts the Denver Broncos on Christmas. The NFL surely did not think Kansas City was going to have nine losses by the time Christmas came around.
I would be shocked if the Chiefs didn’t hold notable starters out of the lineup at this point - the time is now to ‘rest’ some veterans and see what you have in younger players.
21. Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals blew out the Miami Dolphins in Week 16. If nothing else, Joe Burrow got to pad his statistics a bit in a lost season, and that is kind of the only thing teams like this can do at this point. The Bengals lost Burrow for weeks earlier this year to a turf toe injury.
But even if Burrow was in the lineup, the Bengals would still not likely be very good, as the defense has been horrendous all season. Until Cincinnati gets serious in the front office, overhauls the coaching staff, and rebuilds the defense, they will not get anywhere.
Cincy will now miss the playoffs for the third year in a row in the Joe Burrow era, having not been to the postseason since 2022, which is flat-out inexcusable. The Bengals get a garbage-time win and at least put some nice football on tape going forward.
The Bengals being able to rebound in 2026 honestly feels a bit unlikely unless major changes are made.