NFL Week 8 Power Rankings: 49ers Still No. 1 After Loss?

It is power rankings time on the Sports Office with seven weeks of the NFL in the books. Let's start with the honorable mentions. Green Bay, smacking you right out of my rankings. You refuse to address the kicking position, and that's your problem. That's not bad luck. That's bad business. Pittsburgh, still knocking down the door, but I am waiting to see that wow factor. Record respectable. This team is competitive, but still no wow for me. The Detroit Lions, I'll give the defense some credit. Much better showing in week seven, but let's not act like Green Bay didn't practically gift wrap that game for them. The Cleveland Browns, love the story, love what they're building, but you can't keep getting dragged into dogfights with some of the league's bottom feeders. And finally, the Atlanta Falcons, hey, you beat the top team in the league, you deserve at least a mention. Let's start off at number 10. I got the Cincinnati Bengals. Welcome to the party. I have been waiting for someone to separate themselves in the AFC North Pack. And coming out of the bye, that team is Cincinnati. They answered the call. Joe Burrow, he is playing like a top five quarterback. Now, if they could just find a ground game, Because on behalf of fantasy managers everywhere, Chase Brown has been an absolute disappointment. At number 9, the Seattle Seahawks. Just when I'm ready to throw this team out of my rankings, they go out and do that. Big time win, prime time win, Sunday night against Patrick freaking Mahomes. I don't know if I've ever seen Mahomes look that bad in an NFL game. The defense made his life miserable. That was a team watching the NFC West crown start to slip through its fingers. And they responded with a big time war daddy win. Again, number nine, the Seattle Seahawks. Number eight, Denver Broncos, up one spot for Denver. They beat Arizona, exactly what they're supposed to do. The record says elite, the defense says elite. They win ugly, they win close, but the key word is they win. I'm just not ready to join the believers out there because, again, this offense, to me, looking better, but still very much pedestrian. At number seven, the Jacksonville Jaguars, keeping them right there. Before the bye, I said this team was in an identity crisis. Their London showing, not their best trip across the pond, but the one bright spot, Bishal Tudu. I'd like to see more of him, and I'd like to see him get a lot more run against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8. At number 6, New England Patriots. The Patriots dropped to 6 after losing a toss-up game on Thursday night. I'm not going to bury them for it. Drake Maye, when this guy plays clean football and New England wins, it's that simple. The talent is there. The team is good. Just stop putting the football in harm's way. Still, I'm not killing New England for losing this one, because who'd they lose to? Oh, the number five team on my list, the Chicago Bears. Big win on Thursday night over a past team I had ranked ahead of them going in, and since Caleb has returned, this offense has looked exactly like what was promised. Explosive, versatile, dangerous. They can beat you in a dozen different ways. The problem is they can also beat themselves in a dozen different ways. That play at the end of the second quarter, I mean, what happened? The ceiling is high in Chicago, but so is the potential for self-inflicted damage. At number four, NFC North rival, I'm going with the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. They had a bye week, extra rest, extra preparation, extra time to get ready in their offense. That's the best they could come up with against the Indianapolis Colts team that made them work for every bit. And yes, the defense is still elite. I'm not questioning that unit, but this offense, something isn't adding up. I'm still waiting for them to break out. Number three, the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo is on bye, so I'm leaving them exactly where I had them this team is still entirely way too dependent on one player that one guy though Josh Allen and this week they get Baltimore we'll learn a lot about the Bills especially if Lamar is healthy in that game at number two I got the Kansas City Chiefs horrible look for Mahomes and not just because the Chiefs lost but also because it seemed as though he was all too dependent on his running back Kenneth Walker III came in revenge game on the line and he laid an absolute egg. Worst possible time for that level of performance. But when we look back on it, should we have seen this one coming? I mean, Seattle, they have been struggling, but the defense still is absolutely loaded. And let's not ignore the circumstances. 10 days rest, home game for them. The Chiefs walked into Seattle and had to deal with that crowd, that environment. It makes a lot of sense why the Chiefs lost this one. So I'm going to cut them some slack because you know what? I still have faith in the voodoo magic that is Patrick Mahomes and this Kansas City team. At number one, the San Francisco 49ers, yeah, they lost, undefeated season is over, but I'm not moving them because if you were paying attention last week, I told you this was coming. Atlanta was a trap game. The injuries, the travel, the rest advantage, everything was swinging Atlanta's way, but when this team is healthy, I believe they are the best team in the NFL, period, and that's going into a bye week where they have a chance to get healthy. When they come out of a bye, I expect them to be 90 to 95% full strength, but let me put this out there into the universe. this is not a lifetime appointment if they come out sluggish out of that bye then i'm going to start sounding alarms then i might start making some moves that is my 10 through one john you had some thoughts during commercial break lay it on me where are you at with them we all had some thoughts san francisco and kansas city should should not be one and two right now coming off coming off the losses i like seattle you talked about you know with with their new addition uh the lineman nelson uh you probably would have moved them up i don't like i don't like Seattle at nine. I think they're better than nine. So here's my thoughts on it. Again, going into that Kansas City game, they were trending in the wrong direction. Sam Darnold was throwing the ball, throwing interceptions way too much, and their running game was just not very effective. So they had some obvious flaws, right? Correct. They corrected a lot of those flaws with that Quinton Nelson trade. So again, if I had to redo this, because I did this before the Quinton Nelson news broke, I would probably move them up maybe above the Broncos. Well, we talked about what they did the defense what the defense did to my homies in company yes and then i guess there's my opportunity again explain the two teams i have at the top okay so neither of those teams are the 72 dolphins right teams are going to lose games for both of those teams i have justifiable reasons for why they lost those specific games, the Niners again trap game on the road early start time and they lost the rest advantage, same things I can literally say for the Chiefs, they lost the rest advantage They were going against a team on the road that had 10 days of rest in between their games. So I'm not going to completely discount everything I saw through the first six weeks off of one bad week. And then for the Niners specifically, they're going to get healthier. They're going to go into bye this week. They're going to get most of their guys back after they're back off of bye. And I didn't feel it right to move them up the power rankings when they're on bye week because if they're all healthy, they're going to be the number one team. That's the thing. You're just assuming a bunch of stuff, saying they're going to come off the bye. Somebody might get hurt during the bye. You don't know what's going to happen. But I do know they're coming off of losses. I do know that. So I think they shouldn't be wanting to. We have some in here arguing that the Vikings, who are undefeated, should be one. Okay, let me talk to the Vikings then. That offense. So they come off bye, and that's the best offense you could put on the table against the Indianapolis Colts, who aren't exactly a juggernaut? Well, they won. The Colts that are selling pieces left and right, that Colts team? They won. I think you have to do some kind of shifting. You can't keep two teams that lost in the top spots. I think you just got to move them somewhere. If you move them to three or four, and then when the bye week is over, like you said, they'll be all healthy and 100% and back to their winning ways, and then you move them back. But there has to be some kind of – I can't move them off of their – again, I'm just trying to be as consistent as far as what I think these teams are on any given week. And I would say every team, they get a pass. They at least get a one-week pass, right? Especially your 49ers. Hey, hey. There is no bias in these. I went with the 49ers this week. There is no bias. I went with the Falcons. What does that say? Oh, yeah, because you called it. But just because you called it doesn't mean that they get to stay there because you knew they were going to lose this game. But I didn't think it was because Atlanta was the better team. I thought it was just because of the circumstances around it, which I think ultimately is my point in making these rankings, is who do I think is the better team right now at this given point? I mean, that's why you can look at the Bengals. The Bengals technically, you sack them against the Steelers and the Browns. They have all very similar records. But I just think the Bengals are just the better team at this point in time. What happened to the Longhorns when they lost to OU? Oh. I mean, they were number one. I'm just saying. Didn't they move? Did they move away? Did they stay at one? I don't think they stayed at one. George, you bring it up to Auburn. But, again, here is where I bring up that what you do in the season prior to that, they marched, speaking of, you know, losing in Seattle, the Niners marched into Seattle and beat that team on their home field. They did. I think that still matters compared to traveling hundreds of miles to the East Coast and losing a game with wide receiver seven starting in place of wide receiver one. I'm just saying. I'm kind of with you. I just think that when you lose, there's got to be some kind of something. Some sort of penalty, demerit. Yeah, there's got to be something. It's not just for one and two. You kept one and two this time. Again, I looked at the teams at three and four. I looked at the Bills who were on bye week. I wasn't moving a team on bye week up. And I looked at the Vikings, who, again, if we stack these teams up today with either the Chiefs or the Niners, I don't think the Vikings are better than either of those teams just because I think their offense is such a hindrance to them. I mean, their defense is great. Everybody has their little strengths and weaknesses. All those teams, you can point out all that stuff. I think San Fran, KC, should have moved.