NFL Rankings - 11 Oct

The season is heating up, and already one team has taken a two-game lead in its division, while several other divisions feature ties atop the standings. Green Bay has now won 11 straight contests, and their division rivals over in Detroit have won 9 in a row, which is more than they had won in the previous three seasons combined. The Eagles, Jets, Bears, Falcons, and Colts all finished the week with losing records, even though all five entered the season with playoff aspirations. Here are the current team rankings, with this week's ranking followed by team name, overall record, this week's result, previous opponents' weekly record, and previous ranking.

TW. Team (Record) Result (PrevOppRec) (LW)
1. Baltimore (3-1) Bye(1-2) (2)
2. San Francisco (4-1) W (2-1) (14)
3. New England (4-1) W (3-0) (4)
4. Green Bay (5-0) W (1-3) (1)
5. Detroit (5-0) W (1-2) (6)

6. Buffalo (4-1) W (4-0) (7)
7. Oakland (3-2) W (2-2) (10)
8. New Orleans (4-1) W (1-3) (3)
9. NY Jets (2-3) L (1-1) (9)
10. Dallas (2-2) Bye (2-1) (12)
11. Pittsburgh (3-2) W (1-2) (19)
12. Houston (3-2) L (3-0) (8)
13. Cincinnati (3-2) W (2-1) (13)

14. Chicago (2-3) L (2-2) (11)
15. San Diego (4-1) W (3-0) (23)
16. Philadelphia (1-4) L (1-2) (21)
17. Tennessee (3-2) L (0-2) (5)
18. Minnesota (1-4) W (3-1) (28)
19. Washington (3-1) Bye (0-2) (16)
20. Carolina (1-4) L (1-3) (17)
21. Seattle (2-3) W (2-2) (29)
22. Denver (1-4) L (3-1) (18)
23. Atlanta (2-3) L (1-3) (25)

24. NY Giants (3-2) L (0-2) (15)
25. Miami (0-4) Bye (2-1) (26)
26. Jacksonville (1-4) L (1-3) (22)

27. Arizona (1-4) L (1-2) (20)
28. Tampa Bay (3-2) L (2-2) (24)

29. Kansas City (2-3) W (4-0) (32)
30. Cleveland (2-2) Bye (1-2) (27)

31. Saint Louis (0-4) Bye (0-2) (31)
32. Indianapolis (0-5) L (1-2) (30)

The hottest team of the fifth weekend was the San Francisco 49ers, which welcomed Tampa Bay into town pretty rudely by beating up on them 48-3, which makes it seem quite obvious that they will be the team representing the NFC West in the playoffs this season. They face their toughest test of the season so far this week when they go to Detroit to face the undefeated Lions in the best game of the week.

The Minnesota Vikings also turned up the heat this week, scoring 28 points in the first quarter against Arizona, which included 3 touchdowns by Adrian Peterson. They ended up holding the Cardinals to only 10 points in the entire game, and the winning may not be over, with a visit to struggling Chicago this weekend.

Before I award the NFC West to San Francisco prematurely, the Seattle Seahawks may have something to say about it also. They have won two of three games and they have two straight games against the Ohio teams coming up, which gives them a good chance to keep pace with the Niners and keep the playoff race going.

Prediction Results

NFL: 7-6 (.538) 48-29 overall (.623)
Upsets: 0-2 (.000) 16-33 overall (.327)