NFL Week 10 Power Rankings: Bills Dethrone 49ers! NFC North Dominates

The NFL trade deadline is in the books, so let's update those power rankings. Starting first with your honorable mentions to the Los Angeles Rams. Injury woes at wide receiver, quiet deadline. We did get a chance to see Miles Garrett next to Big 99. Scary combination, not enough to crack the top 10. The Seattle Seahawks, not a single healthy quarterback on the roster, and that at some point is going to really test their defense. Steelers, impressive season so far. Far past my expectations, but still lacking that wow factor. Then you got the New York Giants here just keep finding ways to win, but Jameis' time is looming with J.J. McCarthy banged up, and I got to knock the Patriots out of my rankings. Good football team, but again, struggling to shake the scheduled merchant reputation. Okay, let's get into the top 10. The Vikings are barely holding on to their spot in my rankings, and there's a very obvious reason why. The offense is a total disaster. The good news, they saw Carson Wentz play and said enough is enough. Kirk Cousins is returning to Minneapolis for a third-round pick. While I've never been a Kirk Cousins believer, this should be an instant boost to their offense. If you're Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, or even TJ Hockenson, your quality of life just improved immensely. Next, at number nine, I got the Cincinnati Bengals. And right now, Joe Burrow is playing football at an absolutely ridiculous level. 16 touchdown passes in his last four games. 16. Now, I'll be the first to acknowledge that the competition hasn't exactly been a murderer's row. But you can only play who's in front of you. And Burrow has essentially dismantled everyone in his path. I feel comfortable saying this is the best version of Joey B we've seen in at least the last three seasons. If Cincinnati gets to the playoffs playing this kind of football, good luck to whoever draws that assignment. The Chiefs hold steady at number 8. They got a much needed win over the Jets after dropping their previous two games. Was impressive? Not really. But speaking of teams making moves at the deadline, that was the case for them as they picked up Josh Downs. Do I fully believe in the game-changing talent of a 5'9 wideout? Not really. But he was better than the other unreliable options they had on the roster and he seems to be happy to be out at Indy. Ultimately, this team will still revolve around Kenneth Walker and as he moves, this team will move, this team will advance. But, Still have to be wary about what happened to Patrick Mahomes this past weekend. We'll see how that elbow injury plays out. At number seven, welcome back to the rankings Green Bay. Back-to-back wins and all of a sudden this Packers passing attack is looking downright unguardable. Jordan Love absolutely dealing and Green Bay just marching to Beantown and made Christian Gonzalez look like he should be behind the counter at a local Dunkin' instead of covering wide receivers. That's how good this Green Bay passing attack has looked. And here's the scary part. The Packers are expecting to get Micah Parsons back very soon, adding an elite playmaker to a defense that has already exceeded my expectations There is, however, one big question mark. That running game, Josh Jacobs heading to injured reserve. Can Green Bay find enough balance to keep defenses honest? At number six, the Detroit Lions giving a little credence to head-to-head. The offense had a little bit of a stumble against a scrappy Miami team, but let's not lose sight of the big picture. Detroit has now won four straight games, and more importantly, that defense is finally starting to look like a unit capable of helping this team make a deep run. After getting absolutely torched by Carolina, the Lions have responded by allowing just 15.5 points per game over the last four contests. We already know what the offense is capable of. When everything is clicking. But if Detroit can pair that firepower with a defense that consistently holds opponents under 20 points, now we're talking about a very dangerous football team. And they'll get an interesting test this week in Munich against a desperate Patriots squad. Number five, the Jacksonville Jaguars cracking the top five for the first time. And I think I finally figured out this team's identity. Bonafide butt kickers. Now, again, not great competition over the last few weeks, but here's what I respect. Jacksonville isn't playing down to anybody. They hammer the Colts, they hammer the Ravens, just out here taking care of business. And even if you think they overpaid with their moves at the deadline, I respect the aggression. Jacksonville believes the AFC is theirs for the taking. I like the mentality. At number four, the Denver Broncos. At the deadline, they acquired Daylon Henley from the Chargers to add to an already elite defense. And I've learned one very important thing about this team. Doubt Denver at your own risk. They keep pulling wins out of thin air. 16 straight one-score victories. We saw something similar to the 2024 Chiefs. They weren't always pretty, but they were battle-tested, and now that appears to be Denver's M.O. for winning. Plus, they found a ground game with Jonah Coleman, and that seemed to be the missing piece for this team. We'll see. Can they make a believer out of me yet? We'll find out. The Chicago Bears hold steady at number three. Here's my position on Chicago. You keep winning. I'm not moving you down, but can't move you up after your quarterback throws four interceptions in prime time. Frustrating part here for Caleb is he's usually so careful with the football, but that carefree approach is why I am hesitant to buy in on this team that still has some growing up to do. On the other side of the ball, though, Jeffrey Simmons continues to be an absolute monster. Chris Collinsworth pointed it out on the broadcast. His impact goes well beyond his own production. He's making everybody around him better. Better. They stay at three. At number two, the San Francisco 49ers. And before anybody gets too worked up here, let's make something clear. The Niners didn't do anything wrong. They won their game. They just didn't do it as impressively as the team that had jumped them for number one. I've taken some heat for not dropping them after the Atlanta loss. But my main reasoning why was they were getting healthier, or at least that's what I'm told. But coming out of the bye week, Mike Evans still dealing with that Achilles injury. Then rookie standout Grayson Holton, he breaks his ankle against the Raiders. Just an absolutely brutal development for this team. There's also a lacking pass rush. You get Nick Bosa back, you get DeForest Buckner back in the lineup, but you can't get home against Kirk Cousins. Now, that's not what I was expecting here. I still believe the Niners have one of the highest ceilings in football, and the addition of Keenan Allen, I think, raises their floor, even if Mike Evans remains out. But this week, somebody else just made a stronger case. Number one, I got the Buffalo Bills. They marched in Minnesota and handled business against a Vikings team with still one of the stingiest defenses in football. James Cook runs very effectively. Josh Allen does exactly what he needs to do, manages the game, and gets them out of there with a win. That's exactly what I expect from a team ready to make that next step, that next leap. Again, I'm just looking for more balance from this Buffalo team moving forward, but for now, they earned the top spot of my rankings. Welcome back. Just another look at my Week 10. Power rankings, and there was some heated disagreements in that commercial break. Some heated disagreements. Okay, John, so some of the big disagreements. You like the Bears a little bit more than I do. I do. You hate the Broncos a little bit more than I do. And you do want Kansas City to get more love, so break those down for me. Kansas City and the Jaguars. I would have the Bears probably at one, Bills two, 49ers three, Jaguars four. Oh! I guess. You've got to give love to the Broncos record. Yeah, I mean, I like the Broncos. I mean, I like their defense for the most part. I would move the Chiefs to about five or six. The Jaguars and Chiefs need to be together. Okay, but I just saw the Chiefs get their head kicked in by the Seahawks a couple weeks ago. A couple weeks ago. And then they followed that up by losing to the Broncos. Yeah, 49ers got beat by the Falcons. And they beat the Broncos. And they beat the Seahawks that the Chiefs struggled with. I'm just saying. So, you know, you got to consider that. I'm just saying. You're talking about teams that you lost to. Point differential in the 70s. Top six defense, top six offense. You got to give love to the stats. No, but your team is falling apart. Y'all got injuries all over the place. We got Keenan Allen, age 40. Keenan Allen about to change our locker room. We're talking about the 49ers. Getting it done. OK, well, another one, the Chiefs. Again, just two out of the last three match-ups for them. They have not looked good. They look good against the Jets, so I kept them where they were. You come back, you get a quality win. Listen, they're going against who they got this week, the Falcons. The Falcons are actually considered a scrappy team. I'll give them that. The team that beat the 49ers. Yeah, if they can beat the Falcons, then clearly the Chiefs are better than the Niners right now. I will say, hey, they picked up Josh Downs. That is going to improve their offense. So that is something to consider. Jacksonville, okay, so as far as not having them a little bit further up, Okay, I feel like they just found their identity. They're getting it together. I did like how aggressive they were. I did like how they seemed to find something. But the Bears, okay, let's talk about the Bears. The four interceptions from Caleb on Sunday night, did that not dissuade you? Did that not give you a little pause? No, they're still one of the best teams. I mean, I used to have your 49ers up there, but, yeah, the Bears, the Bills, and the 49ers, those are some really good teams. But I still think you throw... The Chiefs and the Jaguars, like, right behind that mix. Okay, so, I mean, just the Bears-Niners comparison. Let's talk that out. Okay, do you like the Bears' offense more than the Niners' offense? Is that the consideration? Or do you like the Bears' defense more than you like the Niners' defense? I like the Niners' defense probably better than, but the Bears, the Bears just are a good overall team. Y'all were for a while, but then folks started dropping like flies. Okay, but they literally just. Mike Evans has been out. But they got Bosa back. DeForest Buckner, they just traded for him. Mike Evans might be back soon, hopefully. Hopefully for my fantasy team. And Christian McCaffrey still has two working Achilles at this very moment. Not gone, I don't have anything there, so we'll just see. We'll wait and see that the substation doesn't claim another victim. But at this moment, I still think the Niners, they haven't done anything necessarily wrong to move. Further down in my rankings, I did knock it from one to two just because I thought the Bills had the more impressive win of the weekend. You had a week where you didn't move teams because they were on bye weeks, and we talked about that during the break. You're not the NCAA selection committee because they moved Indiana out on a bye four spots. I'm not going to penalize you if you're on the couch just watching the games. That's kind of where I'm at. I'll try and give that credence, that consideration as well. So that's kind of like where I... And with my ranks as of today, again, some honorable mentions. I'm not mad at the Buffalo pick. I'll tell you this. Honorable mentions were very tough this week because I was like, Pittsburgh, should I move them in? They got a big game against Cincinnati. The Rams, if it wasn't for their depleted wide receiving core, because, I mean, Tutu Atwell and suddenly their wide receiver one That's a scary position if you're Matthew Stafford and you're in that team trying to figure things out. So talk about injuries, but that's kind of where I'm at.