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NFL Power Rankings, Week 3: Confidence in Bears beginning to fade

The Chicago Bears are in an all-too-familiar place entering Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season.
Pete Martuneac

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1 year ago

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Studs and Duds from Bears' Week 2 loss to Texans (News)
Eric Gay/AP

The big picture of the 2024 NFL landscape is beginning to fall into place now that we’ve had two weeks of action. A handful of teams remain unbeaten, while others are now facing the 0-2 NFL curse.

Some big questions still remain, which make these power rankings harder than last week’s. Questions like “Are the Saints really this good?” or ‘Did the Panthers make a mistake in

1. Kansas City Chiefs (Last week: 1)

Until someone beats Kansas City, they keep the top spot.

2. Buffalo Bills (Last week: 7)

Any concerns about a regression year for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills are all but gone, thanks to their dominant win over Miami last Thursday. Despite losing some big names in the offseason, they appear as dangerous as ever.

3. Houston Texans (Last week: 8)

The Texans survived a scare against the underdog Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football, hanging on for a low-scoring 19-13 win. Fortunately for Houston, Chicago will likely be the toughest defense they face for a while.

4. Atlanta Falcons (Last week: 10)

Now that’s more like it. After an underwhelming Week 1 performance, the Falcons marched into Philly’s house and beat the Eagles on primetime, with Kirk Cousins engineering a masterful go-ahead drive in the game’s final seconds.

7. New York Jets (Last week: 5)

Despite the win, the Jets fall slightly in the rankings thanks to a season-ending injury to defensive end Jermaine Johnson. They are now dangerously thin along the defensive line, and it’s becoming paramount that they get a deal done with Haasan Reddick if they want to keep pace with the Bills in the AFC East.

8. San Francisco 49ers (Last week: 2)

The injury bug has bitten the Niners hard so far. Not only was Christian McCaffrey placed on IR this week, but Deebo Samuel is now expected to miss some time. After dropping a very winnable game against Minnesota, they’ll have to make that up somewhere in the schedule.

9. Baltimore Ravens (Last week: 3)

Don’t look now, but the Ravens are still winless. After a razor-thin loss to the reigning champs in Week 1, the Ravens followed this up with a bad loss to a mediocre Raiders team and are in danger of starting the season 0-3. Next up is a trip to Dallas to face off against a humiliated Cowboys team looking for redemption.

10. Cincinnati Bengals (Last week: 14)

Sure, they’re 0-2, but they rebounded nicely from a bizarre Week 1 loss to New England by nearly taking down the Chiefs. That’s good enough to get them back in the Top 10.

11. Dallas Cowboys (Last week: 6)

Speaking of the Cowboys, they went from handing out a beatdown in Week 1 to taking a 44-19 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Once again, the Cowboys are making it difficult to understand who they really are: contender or pretender.

12. New Orleans Saints (Last week: 22)

One of the most surprising teams so far this season, the Saints are 2-0 and are averaging an insane 45.5 points per game through two weeks. In Week 1 you could wave away that performance as a fluke win over a terrible Panthers team. But doing that against a strong Dallas Cowboys defense? We can no longer ignore what the Saints are doing.

13. LA Chargers (Last week: 13)

While they haven’t exactly blown anyone away, the Chargers are still 2-0 in the Jim Harbaugh era and continue to handle their business. Their offense will face a tough test against the Steelers this week, and we should get more answers on who they are.

14. Minnesota Vikings (Last week: 18)

Before the season started, most analysts picked the Vikings to be the worst team in the NFC North, yet here they are after Week 2, leading the division at 2-0, including an impressive win over San Francisco. If they can take down the Texans in Week 3, we might have to have some interesting conversations about Sam Darnold.

15. Philadelphia Eagles (Last week: 12)

They’re 1-1, but I don’t trust the Eagles this year. They make everything look harder than it needs to be on offense, and I think it won’t be long before head coach Nick Sirianni’s seat heats up.

16. Miami Dolphins (Last week: 11)

With Tua likely headed to IR following another scary concussion, the Dolphins are in big trouble. The offense is loaded, but can Skyler Thompson distribute the ball well enough against a tough stretch of defenses? We’ll see.

17. Arizona Cardinals (Last week: 25)

Welcome to the NFL, Marvin Harrison Jr! After a forgettable debut in Week 1, Harrison pulled in four catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals dismantled the LA Rams. Kyler Murray finally looked like his old self again, too. Watch out for the Cards.

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