NFL Power Rankings: Dead Last Lions

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (81) walks off the field after the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Ford Field. The Cardinals won 42-17. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

This week’s NFL power rankings keep the same six teams at the top, in the same order as last week. Arizona stays ahead of the undefeated Carolina Panthers, who jump the 2-3 Seattle Seahawks after the Hawks dropped their road contest with Cincinnati in overtime. That puts the six undefeated teams and the Cardinals in a top ten that’s rounded out with two New York teams and those same Seahawks previously mentioned. They lost in overtime on the road against an undefeated team so I’m not holding that one against them.

The rest of the power rankings shake out with some preseason picks for contenders falling farther and preseason fodder climbing the polls a bit. This week’s biggest riser is the Chicago Bears, who move up seven spots to number 21 on the back of two consecutive wins with a healthy Jay Cutler.

There’s a three-way tie for the biggest drop this week. Dallas, Baltimore and New Orleans all fell four spots as Dallas is letting the wheels come off a bit with their third consecutive loss under Brandon Weeden. Baltimore and New Orleans both followed up their first win of the season with disappointing losses. The Ravens dropped an overtime matchup against the Browns and Josh McCown’s record performance while the Saints got smoked by an Eagles team that just couldn’t get it figured out (until Sunday), giving up 39 points.

While not the biggest drop of the week, we have a new team in dead last and it’s of course, your Detroit Lions. Caldwell’s squad just didn’t have their heads screwed on right for their matchup with Bruce Arians’ Cardinals. The Lions took themselves out of the contest well before Arizona had any chance to. The Lions had four first half turnovers including two Matthew Stafford interceptions (one that set up the Cards with 1st-and-goal), Golden Tate tossed a fumble to an Arizona defensive back, Ameer Abdullah fumbled twice (losing one) and that was all before halftime. Before the turnovers started falling from the sky, Detroit was in this game too. The Lions jumped out to an early lead, their first since Week 1, and then decided to flush the season down the drain. Two more second half interceptions brought the Lions’ game total to six and their season total to fifteen. They’re on pace for nearly fifty turnovers this season. Additionally, DeAndre Levy re-injured his hip and may end up getting shut down for the season. Looks like everyone in Allen Park is folding up shop for the year and it’s barely October.

That about does it for the big movers and shakers in this week’s NFL power rankings, so without further ado:

“Which will happen first, an Aaron Rodgers interception or a Green Bay loss? This team is unbeatable with Rodgers playing lights out.” That was last week’s synopsis. Rodgers threw two picks, answering that question, and the Packers are still unbeatable. They may never ever lose again. Ever. The Packers are evil.. (5-0). Previous: . Green Bay Packers. 1. team. 49

New England Patriots. 2. team. 47. The Patriots have scored 149 points in just four games. That’s more than everyone except Arizona and Atlanta (who’ve both played five games). They’ve only given up 76 points. They’re red hot right now.. (4-0). Previous:

(5-0). Previous: . Atlanta Falcons. 3. team. 44. The Falcons and Panthers don’t play each other until Week 14 and when they do finally meet, Carolina is bound to have 3 or 4 losses. Atlanta may or may not have a loss or two by then. If Carolina can keep winning, those are going to to be two of the best matchups of the entire season.

Remember when we all thought the Broncos were toast because Peyton had lost a step? Boy, were we dumb and stupid and dumb. We could witness a head-to-head between two undefeated teams when the Packers travel to Denver to play the Broncos in Week 7.. (5-0). Previous: . Denver Broncos. 4. team. 45

56. After complimenting Dalton and the Bengals’ play last week, I’m glad they didn’t make me look like an idiot by losing at home to the Seahawks. At 2-3, Seattle’s still pretty good, but the Bengals are better.. (5-0). Previous: . Cincinnati Bengals. 5. team

The Cardinals are so good. Offensively, they can’t really be stopped. Although the Lions essentially gave them a bye this week, they may end up right back where they were last year at 11-5. Then again, they may end up better than that too.. (4-1). Previous: . Arizona Cardinals. 6. team. 32

(4-0). Previous: . Carolina Panthers. 7. team. 87. See: Atlanta.

New York Jets. 8. team. 30. Are the Jets good or do they just beat bad teams?. (3-1). Previous:

31. Are the Giants good or do they just beat bad teams? Close losses to a healthy Cowboys squad and the Falcons probably mean the Giants are the real deal.. (3-2). Previous: . New York Giants. 9. team

36. I’m starting to wonder if the Seahawks are still the cream of the crop in the NFC. Sure, they got off to a slow start and they’ve got some tough teams on their schedule, but their only wins so far are against the Jimmy Clausen led Bears and the winless Lions. They host the undefeated Panthers this week.. (2-3). Previous: . Seattle Seahawks. 10. team

16. The Bills’ offense has slowed down the last two weeks but the defense is still going strong. If they can both play well this week against the Bengals, they could be handing them their first loss of the season. The Bills have been an exciting surprise this year, but in the AFC East, they’re still destined to finish between 7-9 and 9-7.. (3-2). Previous: . Buffalo Bills. 11. team

Indianapolis Colts. 12. team. 46. Andrew Luck was so bad to start the season that his injury may actually be a blessing for the Colts, who’ve somehow managed to be more productive on offense with the 40 year old Matt Hasselbeck givin’ her another go. They may be the luckiest team in the league and at 3-2 they’ve got a two game lead in a division that’s bad. Lucky for them.. (3-2). Previous:

51. The Rams gave the Packers a run for their money, intercepting Rodgers twice, but the Packers were just too good. If the Rams could just figure out their offense (their averaging just 12 points per game since the Week 1 upset of Seattle), they could win the division. Hurley has looked good so far in limited action, but the Rams offense needs more playmakers.. (2-3). Previous: . St. Louis Rams. 13. team

55. The Steelers get the win on Monday Night Football, but they’ll probably be losing two or three coming up. They could be hitting their stride come November though. The Bengals will have to keep an eye on the rear-view.. (2-3). Previous: . Pittsburgh Steelers. 14. team

Minnesota Vikings. 15. team. 60. So the Vikings could be 7-2 by the time they play Green Bay at home in Week 11. Seriously. They play the Chiefs, Lions, Bears, Rams and Raiders. It gets pretty rough after that though. If they make it to 7-2, they just might make it to .500. Seriously.. (2-2). Previous:

Previous: . San Diego Chargers. 16. team. 13. The Chargers couldn’t stop Bell on a last second touchdown. Crushing loss. San Diego’s only wins have come against the Lions and the Browns. After the Packers next week, they get the Raiders, Ravens, Bears, Chiefs and Jaguars. Still plenty of season left for the Bolts.. (3-2)

Dallas Cowboys. 17. team. 123. It’s a saying you’ve probably already heard more than once: “The Cowboys just have to tread water” until Romo returns. They’re drowning. They’re 0-3 without Romo with the Giants, Seahawks and Eagles up next. The margin for error may be all but erased when Romo’s healthy.. (2-3). Previous:

18. team. 54. The Eagles were supposed to be in the running for the Super Bowl. They responded by starting 1-3. People wrote them off and left them for dead. They responded by putting up 39 points in a rout of the Saints. I don’t know who this team is, but the NFC East will be up for grabs until Week 17.. (2-3). Previous: . Philadelphia Eagles

Oakland Raiders. 19. team. 28. Two of the Raiders’ three losses are to undefeated teams. Their wins are against a couple of teams that are more bad than good. There’s about six games left on their schedule against teams that are more bad than good. 8-8 is within reach.. (2-3). Previous:

53. The Browns have a good offense. An actually good one. Since their Week 1 loss to the Jets, the Browns have averaged 27 points per game. Their defense isn’t good enough to win them any games though, which they’ll have to be to get anywhere near .500 with the Broncos, Cardinals, Ravens (again), Bengals (2x) and Steelers(2x) still left on the schedule.. (2-3). Previous: . Cleveland Browns. 20. team

57. The Bears are going to finish with a better record than the Lions, aren’t they? Oh god, please no. Hopefully the Lions can beat Chicago on Sunday to keep the Bears fans from gloating just yet.. (2-3). Previous: . Chicago Bears. 21. team

(1-3). Previous: . Tennessee Titans. 22. team. 35. Tennessee has their quarterback of the future. They could win 5 games this year and their fans would be happy. They’ll probably win more than that though.

26. The Ravens had the perfect opportunity to build on their victory last week by beating the Browns. They failed.. (1-4). Previous: . Baltimore Ravens. 24. team

The Saints really failed to show out against the Eagles. I may not have had it on the books as a lock, but losing by three scores to an Eagles team that’s been struggling is not a recipe for success. The Saints could realistically lose their next three games which would put them at 1-7 and square in the running for the first overall pick.. (1-4). Previous: . New Orleans Saints. 25. team. 15

Kansas City Chiefs. 26. team. 124. The Chiefs looked good in a Week 1 win against Houston and have followed that up with <del>three</del> four straight losses to teams that are all currently undefeated except the Bears. <del>It’s tough to make anything out of the Chiefs’ season so far</del>. The Chiefs are bad, maybe? The four game stretch that lies ahead should show us who the Chiefs are. Fixed it.. (1-4). Previous:

(2-3). Previous: . Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 27. team. 48. Don’t look now, but the Bucs have two wins and travel to D.C. this week. What’s that? They’ve only beaten the Saints and the Jaguars? Big whoop, you’re a Lions fan and they haven’t beaten anyone. Honestly though, Tampa Bay has maybe three winnable games on the roster after this matchup.

42. San Francisco has lost four straight after their surprising upset victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1. That’s it. That’s all I got. The 49ers are bad, just as everyone thought.. (1-4). Previous: . San Francisco 49ers. 28. team

The Dolphins will come out of the bye week with a mostly new coaching staff and a couple winnable games. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Miami get to six wins. There’s too much talent on this team to fail so miserably. The next head coach will be inheriting a talented roster with a high draft pick. That’s a pretty choice scenario.. (1-3). Previous: . Miami Dolphins. 29. team. 59

team. 10. With the Jaguars, Dolphins and Titans coming up on the schedule, Houston will get some wins soon. After that stretch though, there’s only about one other winnable game on the schedule until mid-December.. (1-4). Previous: . Houston Texans. 30

52. Jacksonville moves up one spot despite losing to Tampa because Detroit just quit one quarter into their game with the Cardinals. Jacksonville is bad, but they aren’t quitters.. (1-4). Previous: . Jacksonville Jaguars. 31. team

The Lions have officially given up with 12 weeks still to go. Do they try to save a little face and win some division games, or do they shoot for the first overall pick? It’s time to start thinking about who Detroit will draft with their top 5 pick in April.. (0-5). Previous: . Detroit Lions. 32. team. 50

Next: End Of An Era In Motown?

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