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NFL Power Rankings Week 5: Are the Bears hitting their stride?

The Bears have a chance to rip off a few wins in a row and keep climbing the 2024 NFL Power Rankings.
Pete Martuneac

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1 year ago

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NFL Power Rankings Week 5: Are the Bears hitting their stride? (News)
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For the first time all season, the Chicago Bears played a complete game in Week 4 and got the win over the Los Angeles Rams. The defense allowed just 18 points, the offense found the endzone three times, and special teams made a couple of special plays, including a big punt late in the game while the Bears nursed a one-score lead.

How far up will this win push the Bears up in this week’s 2024 NFL Power Rankings compared to last week? Let’s take a look, starting with a new No. 1 team for the second week in a row.

1. Baltimore Ravens (Last week: 6)

What should have been the game of the week quickly became a blowout. That 0-2 start for Baltimore already feels like ancient history.

2. Minnesota Vikings (Last week: 3)

Hopefully the Vikings learned their lesson about letting up too early with a big lead. They held on for the win, but it was much closer than it needed to be.

3. Detroit Lions (Last week: 4)

Jared Goff had a historic night, throwing for nearly 300 yards on a perfect 18 for 18 outing as the Lions cruised to another victory, staying within one game of Minnesota.

4. Atlanta Falcons (Last week: 5)

It’s too early for most NFL teams to have a “must-win” game, but that gritty 26-24 win over a division rival certainly felt like one for the Falcons.

5. Buffalo Bills (Last week: 1)

What was that? The Bills looked completely unready for the Ravens this week and got shellacked. They’re going to need a big bounce-back win against the Texans on Sunday.

6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Last week: 11)

After losing to the lowly Broncos, the Bucs answered with an impressive 33-16 win over Philly. They are still in the driver’s seat of the NFC South.

7. Kansas City Chiefs (Last week: 2)

Yes, the Chiefs are 4-0 but the could easily be, and probably should be, 0-4. They have not looked good all year and now they may have lost their best receiver, Rashee Rice, to a season-ending injury.

8. Houston Texans (Last week: 9)

The Texans pulled off a dramatic win over a division rival to get back in the win column. That 34-7 beatdown they took from Minnesota the week before looks more like a blip at this point than a legitimate cause for concern.

9. Seattle Seahawks (Last week: 8)

Seattle’s offense tried to keep up with Detroit, but their defense just had no answers for Jared Goff and the 1-2 punch of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. They have a chance at a get-right game next week against the hapless Giants.

10. San Francisco 49ers (Last week: 12)

The Niners were the only NFC West team to get a win in Week 4. They badly needed that boost to get right back into the division race.

11. New York Jets (Last week: 7)

What do we do with the Jets? Were we much too high on them before the season began? A bizarre 9-10 loss to the Broncos is hard to sweep under the rug, especially with the high-octane Vikings coming to town next week.

12. Green Bay Packers (Last week: 10)

Jordan Love has now thrown 6 interceptions in his last three games, Christian Watson may be headed for IR, and Green Bay’s much-hyped pass rush unit has been M.I.A. all season. They’re 2-2 but carry some real question marks headed into a match with the Rams in LA.

13. Dallas Cowboys (Last week: 13)

A marginal win over a bad Giants team doesn’t move me, therefore the Cowboys stay put this week.

14. Chicago Bears (Last week: 22)

Now that’s what we were promised this offseason: a dominant defense complimented by a reliable offense on the upswing. If Chicago and Caleb Williams in particular keep this up, they’ll keep flying up the board. A win over the Rams, who just beat the Niners and nearly beat Detroit earlier this year, is no joke.

15. New Orleans Saints (Last week: 14)

The Saints have now dropped two in a row, but it’s not time to hit the panic button yet. They’re still very much alive in the playoff race.

16. Washington Commanders (Last week: 23)

After back-to-back dominant wins, the Commanders have to be in the upper half of these rankings, but I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. What they’re doing, and what Jayden Daniels in particular is doing, just isn’t sustainable. Over the next four weeks, they face the Browns, Ravens, and Bears defenses and I promise you that these units won’t allow passing charts that look like this.

17. Indianapolis Colts (Last week: 24)

It seems like the Colts avoided disaster with Anthony Richardson’s injury scare, which is terrific news. They’ve won two in a row now and need to carry that momentum in Jacksonville, where they haven’t won in 9 years.

18. LA Rams (Last week: 16)

I really didn’t want to drop the Rams very far because, despite being 1-3, they’ve played mostly excellent football this year. Injuries will probably hold them back however.

19. Philadelphia Eagles (Last week: 15)

Doug Pederson is the current favorite for first coach to be fired this year, but Nick Sirianni needs to be in that conversation. It’s been downhill ever since that Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs two years ago.

20. Cincinnati Bengals (Last week: 20)

An unimpressive win over a team they should beat ten times out of ten doesn’t help the Bengals in these rankings.

21. Pittsburgh Steelers (Last week: 17)

The Steelers defense finally gave up more than 10 points and the offense couldn’t keep up until it was much too late.

22. Denver Broncos (Last week: 25)

Don’t look now but the Broncos have won two games in a row against quality opponents. Granted, weather played a major factor in this one and Bo Nix made some infamous history, but a win is a win is a win.

23. LA Chargers (Last week: 19)

The Chargers have dropped two in a row and Justin Herbert already looked fed up. I would say next week’s matchup with the Broncos is a get-right opportunity, but the way both teams have been playing, it could be an ugly loss once again for LA.

24. Las Vegas Raiders (Last week: 27)

The Raiders need to be careful with all this winning. If they keep it up, they may not be able to get the promising rookie quarterback that they so desperately need to reset the organization.

25. Tennessee Titans (Last week: 31)

Second-year quarterback Will Levis left the game with a shoulder injury on Monday night and didn’t return, but the Titans cruised to a 31-12 win over Miami anyway. They get a bump in the rankings for finally getting a win, but it likely won’t last long.

26. Arizona Cardinals (Last week: 18)

The Cardinals started the season looking like a fun and frisky .500 team. Now I’m thinking they’re a bad team with just one or two exciting players.

27. Miami Dolphins (Last week: 21)

It’s too early to say that head coach Mike McDaniel’s seat is warm, but the Dolphins should not be this bad even without their starting quarterback. Dropping these last three games may cost them a spot in the playoffs.

28. Carolina Panthers (Last week: 29)

The Panthers are clearly a much better team with Andy Dalton under center, but there’s just not enough talent on the roster to be a major player in the division.

29. New England Patriots (Last week: 28)

After an unexpectedly hot start to the season, the Patriots are settling into about where we expected them to be. This is a bad team that’s in play for the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

30. New York Giants (Last week: 26)

If Malik Nabers can’t clear concussion protocol in time for New York’s trip to Seattle next week, they may not find the endzone even once.

31. Cleveland Browns (Last week: 30)

The good news: DeShaun Watson had his best game of the season on Sunday. The bad news: his best is still not good.

32. Jacksonville Jaguars (Last week: 32)

Like the Packers (and the Eagles, for that matter), it’s starting to look like the Jaguars may have been too quick to crown their young quarterback a franchise quarterback. They paid Trevor Lawrence a lot of money and the returns aren’t there. Obviously there’s still a lot of football left to be played, but once these young QB’s are handed massive contracts, the expectations rise accordingly and Lawrence has simply not held up his end of the bargain.

The Jaguars are 1-9 over their last 10 games. If they lose to the Colts at home this week, a team that hasn’t beat them in their own house since 2014, this franchise will be officially in the midst of a five-alarm fire.

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