NFL Power Rankings after Week 5: Chiefs and Vikings only undefeateds, Ravens win in OT, Texans walk off

Week 5 gave us a Thursday Night shootout in the NFC South, the first London game of the season and an overtime thriller from Cincinnati. Houston won a battle of AFC heavyweights, the Cowboys made it two wins in a row on the final play from Pittsburgh and Patrick Mahomes is back to looking like a two time MVP as the Chiefs head to their BYE week with a perfect 5-0 record.

Things are starting to clear up after a turbulent first month of the season. Here are our Power Rankings after Week 5.

1) Kansas City Chiefs 5-0, last week 1

The two time defending champions are heading into their BYE week with a perfect 5-0 record. It hasn’t always looked perfect through the opening five weeks of the season, but we saw Patrick Mahomes dominate a game for the first time despite the offense dealing with a long list of injury problems. Kareem Hunt has filled into the backfield flawlessly while Juju Smith-Schuster is playing like it’s 2018. The only thing that worries me is the Chiefs week off coming just as the offense starts to get the wheels turning.

2) Minnesota Vikings 5-0, last week 3

I’ll admit, I thought the Vikings days as the only undefeated team in the NFC were numbered after Sam Darnold started getting mentioned in the MVP conversation. They had an overseas game against a team with a four time MVP QB and a top defense. Darnold may have had his worst game of the season, and nearly got knocked out of the game but the defense came to the rescue to the tune of three interceptions, one of those taken to the house by who other than Andrew Van Ginkel. The Vikings are playing the most complete football in the league, but until the Chiefs lose I can’t put them in the top spot.

3) Detroit Lions 3-1, last week 2

BYE

4) Baltimore Ravens 3-2, last week 4

The Ravens weakness has been holding on to big leads late in games, so on Sunday in Cincy they went into the 4th quarter down 10 and showed they can battle back from a double digit deficit themselves. Lamar Jackson had to pull the rabbit out of his hat on multiple occasions just to keep the Ravens in the game, and once the game went to overtime Derrick Henry put the team on his shoulders to set up a game winning field goal with a 51 yard run inside the Bengals 10 yard line. They could have lost to the Bengals on a few different occasions but whenever you walk out of a division game on the road with an overtime win, you take it and don’t look back.

5) Houston Texans 4-1, last week 5

It’s weird seeing CJ Stroud look human. We have come to expect a level of excellence from him that we only expect from one or two other QBs in the league. He had three mistakes that could have cost the Texans the game in the second half. The first was a pick he threw right into the hands of a Buffalo defender which halted a drive and took points off the board. Next was a fumble inside his own 20 yard line that allowed the Bills to tie the game. Finally, he was flagged for intentional grounding which knocked the Texans out of field goal range with 40 seconds to go and the score tied at 20-20. Luckily for Houston, the Bills gifted the ball back to the Texans in the final minute and Ka’imi Fairbairn drilled a game winning field goal. CJ Stroud is usually the one making game winning plays, so it must be nice to know the rest of the team have his back when he makes the rare mistake.

6) Atlanta Falcons 3-2, last week 12

Is Kirk Cousins achilles fully healed? Can Kirk Cousins run the Falcons offense out of the shotgun? Are Kirk Cousins best days behind him? The ATL QB acknowledged the offense was still a work in progress after the first four weeks of the season. I’d say a 500 yard, 4 TD game is exactly the kind of progress Falcons fans were hoping to see. Despite the offensive fireworks, the Falcons needed a game tying FG in the final seconds of regulation to force OT. They have three wins on the season, each coming in the final minute of the fourth quarter or in OT. It hasn’t been easy, it hasn’t been stress free, but it has been fun and the Falcons are at the top of a tough NFC South.

7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-2, last week 7

We have been on these Power Rankings praising the Tampa Bay Bucs defense for the first month of the season. I’m not sure what happened against the Falcons on Thursday night. They gave up 500 yards passing to Kirk Cousins and still had a chance to win the game thanks to a terrific first half from Baker Mayfield who had three first half passing TDs. The Bucs allowed Kirk Cousins one last chance to tie the game up and that was all Cousins needed to pull off another game saving drive late in the 4th quarter. Once they went to overtime and the Falcons won the toss the Bucs were toast. Cousins drove down and ended the game with a deep bomb for the game winning TD to cap off a monster night.

8) Philadelphia Eagles 2-2, last week 10

BYE

9) Buffalo Bills 3-2, last week 6

Things are starting to head south up in Orchard Park. After three wins off the rip, the Bills have lost two games in a row. Sure, those losses came at the hands of two good teams in the Ravens and the Texans, but their loss in Houston could be chalked up to bad clock management as much as anything else. With the ball on their own 3 yard line, with half a minute left in the 4th quarter, Buffalo threw it three times taking just 15 seconds off the clock and allowing the Texans to get the ball back and with time to set up a game winning field goal. The Bills had momentum for the entire second half, and would have gone to OT with the wind in their sails, but Buffalo’s decision to go for the win in regulation from their own 3 yard line cost them their second loss of the season.

10) Washington Commanders 4-1, last week 16

Is there a hotter team in the NFL than the Washington Commanders? They are 4-0 since their opening week loss to the Bucs, and since then they are the top scoring team in the league. All of this with a rookie quarterback under center and a wide receiving corp that no one put any faith in before the season. They have only just cracked our Top 10, and now we are going to find out just how good this team is next week when they go into Baltimore and take on the Ravens.

11) Green Bay Packers 3-2, last week 13

Jordan Love has been far from perfect in the first half of the last two games following his return from injury. Luckily for the Packers, LA isn’t Minnnesota. The Packers struggled against the Rams, which tells you this team isn’t quite ready to be considered in the upper echelon of the NFC, but as Love gets back to full fitness this team is going to get a lot better. Until then, the Packers defense is going to carry Green Bay like they did at the beginning of last season.

12) San Francisco 49ers 2-3, last week 8

If there was ever a doubt of how important field goal kickers are to a team, all you have to do is look at the Niners-Cardinals game. An already banged up team took another hit when Jake Moody was injured trying to tackle an Arizona player after his kick was blocked in the 2nd quarter. Up by 10 late in the third quarter, San Fran could have kicked the field goal to go up 13, but with no kicker they had to go for it on 4th and 23. No question the two Purdy picks and the late fumble by Jordan Mason killed the Niners, but Moody getting hurt was the first crack in the Niners dam on Sunday.

13) Dallas Cowboys 3-2, last week 17

There is no place in the world where winning can do more for a city and teams’ morale than in Dallas. They barely beat the Giants in New York last week and then came in and stole a win on the road in Pittsburgh. It wasn’t easy or pretty against the league’s best defense but the Cowboys did just enough to squeak out a win. This is a lot more convincing of a victory than the one in the Meadowlands, and if the Cowboys can figure out a way to beat the Lions before their BYE week, the entire narrative around Dak and Dallas is going to change, because that’s what we do with the Cowboys.

14) Pittsburgh Steelers 3-2, last week 11

You got the feeling if the offense didn’t turn on soon, this was going to happen to the Steelers, and here we are. They have lost two in a row and all of the sudden there are more than just whispers about Russell Wilson taking Justin Fields’ job in the Steel City. Despite Fields’ rough night passing, the Steelers had the lead in the final few minutes but the defense allowed a 4th down TD after a 15 play, 70 yard drive to concede the lead with 20 seconds to go. It’s hard to blame the defense for giving up the late lead when they have been keeping the Steelers in games for the first five weeks of the season.

15) Seattle Seahawks 3-2, last week 9

The Seahawks looked gassed on Sunday against the Giants. After their Monday night game against the Lions in which Geno Smith went for almost 400 yards, Seattle had the ball for less than 8 minutes in the first half but still went to half tied at 10-10 because of their 101 yard fumble return for a TD. The Seahawks didn’t get into the end zone again until the end of the 4th quarter. They had a chance to win, but a blocked field goal at the buzzer gave them their second loss of the season. Now the previously undefeated Seahawks need to come up with a response after the now warranted doubts of their early 3-0 record.

16) Denver Broncos 3-2, last week 20

That’s three in a row for Bo Nix. Three in a row for this defense. Three in a row for Sean Payton. While everyone is going hog wild for Jayden Daniels in Washington, Nix has strung together three straight wins. He may not be as spectacular, or as efficient as Daniels but he is doing exactly what a rookie QB should be doing. Managing games, and not losing them. While Nix deserves his flowers, we need to acknowledge Patrick Surtain Jr. and this Denver defense which has yet to give up more than 20 points in a game.

17) New York Jets 2-3, last week 15

I don’t want to write off Aaron Rodgers just yet. I was a little rushed to judgement when I said he was back to his best after he had a nice game against the lowly Patriots, but in London he did something he hadn’t done in two decades in the NFL. He threw two first quarter picks, one of which got taken back for a TD. He had a chance to win the game in a situation that we have seen him lead his team to victory so many times, but he threw his third pick of the game on an under thrown, off target pass. You could point the finger at Breece Hall and the lack of run game, but in games decided by 6 points Rodgers can’t be throwing three picks, and he acknowledged that after the game.

18) Los Angeles Chargers 2-2, last week 18

BYE

19) New Orleans Saints 2-3, last week 14

It’s been a steep fall from grace for the New Orleans Saints who at one time were being talked about as front runner in the NFC. What happened to the team that saw Alvin Kamara score 4 TDs against the Cowboys as his offensive line bullied defenses? That’s not what we saw on Monday night in KC, and to make matters worse Derek Carr suffered an oblique injury at the end of the game. Not exactly the news you’re looking for when you wake up on Tuesday morning in the midst of a three game losing streak.

20) Chicago Bears 3-2, last week 22

Something is brewing in Chicago. We knew that this was a talented team even before Caleb Williams took his first snap as a Bear this preseason. The question was, could the rookie quarterback step in and take command of the offense to ease the burden of the Bears stacked defense. It took about a month, but Williams had that breakout performance that those in the Windy City have been waiting for on Sunday. They are 3-2, which is exciting for those in Chicago, but they still need a good win against a quality opponent. Wins against the Titans, Rams and Panthers count, but aren’t going to make a believer out of many people.

21) Arizona Cardinals 2-3, last week 25

Unfortunately for the Cardinals they don’t play division opponents every week. Their two wins have come against the Rams and the Niners, and in those wins the defense allowed a total of just two TDs. In their three losses, against non division opponents, they have given up a combined 96 points. They don’t play another NFC West game until after Thanksgiving so they are going to have to straighten out those defensive woes to give Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison a chance to win games.

22) New York Giants 2-3, last week 31

The Giants aren’t the team I thought they were. I thought this team was a laughingstock to start the season because they lost to the Vikings and the Commanders. Turns out, those weren’t terrible losses. This Sunday they went west and dominated the Seahawks in Seattle despite giving up a 101 yard fumble for a TD. Not many teams are able to rebound from that 14 point swing, especially early in the game, but Daniel Jones had an efficient game and more importantly Tyrone Tracy Jr. ran for 129 yards on 18 carries. This team was finding ways to lose games a month ago, now they are coming up with late game winning plays like the blocked field goal returned for a TD.

23) Cincinnati Bengals 1-4, last week 21

You couldn’t have asked Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase to do much more in their Week 5 match up with the Ravens. The offense looked as good as we have seen in the last couple years, as the Bengals built up a double digit lead for most of the 2nd half. They would lose that lead, miss out on a game winning overtime field goal and then get trampled by Derrick Henry on the next play to lose the game and slip to 1-4. Burrow said this team is “not a championship-level team” but right now they aren’t even looking like a “playoff picture” level team.

24) Indianapolis Colts 2-3, last week 19

You can’t chalk the Colts loss up to 39 year old quarterback Joe Flacco. He was near perfect, going for 359 yards but the lack of run game with Jonathan Taylor prevented Indy from controlling the game, and they spent most of the second half chasing Jacksonville. That especially becomes a problem when you have a defense that gives up the most yards per game in the NFL.

25) Jacksonville Jaguars 1-4, last week 29

We could have been writing a very different narrative had the Jags blown their 14 point lead with five minutes left in the 4th quarter. In fact, they did blow the lead, but luckily for Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence went 4/4 to and set up a game winning Cam Little field goal from 49 yard out. It may be too late for the Jags after an 0-4 start, but they are headed to London for their next two games and that has been their fortress over the last couple years. This could be a turning point, but it’s not yet time to let Doug Peterson and the rest of the Jags off the hook for the way they started the season.

26) Las Vegas Raiders 2-3, last week 22

When you know you don’t have a quarterback that can run a team heading into the preseason and you don’t do anything about it, this is usually what happens. We have been preaching it even before the season started. Gardner Minshew isn’t a starting NFL quarterback. He’s liable for a few good games off the bench, but he will fade eventually. That’s what happened on Sunday in Denver. Despite going up 10-0, the Raiders lost it in the blink of an eye thanks to a Minshew pass that got picked in the end zone and taken to the house. Minshew got yanked in the third quarter and his status as QB1 has yet to be determined by coach Antonio Pierce.

27) Los Angeles Rams 1-4, last week 24

The Rams are at a stage in the season where they have to grab on to anything they can and hold on tight. Hopefully it’s not too late for LA, but at 1-4 with Puka Nacua on the IR until at least next week and Cooper Kupp unlikely to return until Week 7 it’s not looking promising. Without them it doesn’t matter how heroic Matthew Stafford is, one man isn’t enough to beat teams like the Packers.

28) Cleveland Browns 1-4, last week 26

The wheels are starting to fall off in Cleveland. We all saw the footage of Deshaun Watson neglecting to go for the fourth down conversion, leaving Kevin Stefanski speechless as his QB marched off the field. A change is needed under center, ASAP. Jameis Winston may not be Tom Brady, but at least he can rally the guys around him. Watson doesn’t just look defeated, he looks like a loser. Hard to have any sympathy for a guy with his past and a fully guaranteed contract that he is incapable of living up to.

29) Miami Dolphins 2-3, last week 27

Somehow the Dolphins pulled out the victory in one of the worst games we will see in the NFL this season. Tyler Huntley had a much better game than he did against the Titans last Monday, but that didn’t mean the points were flowing in Foxborough. He did put Miami in positions to score points but a missed field goal and a botched snap on a field goal spoiled those opportunities. In the end it took Alec Ingold to run in Miami’s only TD on his sixth carry of the season. They will take it from anywhere they can get it for the time being. The good news if there is any, is that the division leading Bills are only a game ahead of Miami.

30) Carolina Panthers 1-4, last week 28

The novelty of a new quarterback took two weeks to fade, and the Panthers are back to being terrible. They got man handled by Caleb Williams who took advantage of the Week 5 game to have his coming out party in the NFL. Dalton struggled. The defense struggled and the Panthers are back to looking like one of the worst teams in the league after a brief moment of hope thanks to the Red Rifle.

31) New England Patriots 1-4, last week 30

A blocked punt and seeing the Dolphins miss two field goals wasn’t enough to give this terrible Pats side the victory at home against a team that can’t score points. It must be stated, that the already bad offensive line took another hit when their starting center David Andrews was put on IR. At this rate Jacoby Brissett is like bait in a shark tank every time he drops back to pass. Despite this, the Pats did take the lead late in the 4th quarter only to have Ja’Lynn Polk’s TD overturned and taken off the board as the Patriots lost a truly forgettable game.

32) Tennessee Titans 1-3, last week 32

BYE