NFL Power Rankings 2024 Week 3: Bears fall out of Top 15

Denny Medley - USA Today Sports

by Anthony Pasquale - Staff Writer - Sun Sep 22 10:30:02 GMT-05:00 2024

Here are our NFL power rankings as the Week 3 of the 2024 season begins:

1. Kansas City Chiefs 2-0

It will take some serious steps in the wrong direction to dethrone the Chiefs, who are firmly cemented as the NFL’s newest dynasty. An offense led by Patrick Mahomes and an aging Travis Kelce had acquired some new toys for Andy Reid: speedsters Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Hollywood Brown. Mix that with one of the league’s best defenses, and you have the NFL’s best teams.

They very easily could be 0-2, but when you have Patrick Mahomes and Harrison Butker, you find a way,

2. Houston Texans 2-0 (up 5)

Houston was perhaps last season's most surprising team, as CJ Stroud emerged as a top quarterback in the league in his rookie season. Take that highly-ranked offense from a year ago and add Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon to it, and you’re looking at an All-Star team. Houston should be poised for another exciting year, and two straight wins start the season on the right foot.

3. Buffalo Bills 2-0 (up 5)

Buffalo may have lost Stefon Diggs, but any team with a healthy Josh Allen at quarterback deserves some respect in our rankings. They’ve been on top of a division that includes some very talented teams and have won the first two games; for that reason, they’re still in the top-5 in our eyes.

Could this be the year Josh Allen wins his MVP?

4. Detroit Lions 1-1 (down 2)

Pre`y crazy to see the Lions this high in our rankings, but they’ve earned it. With elite play makers on the both sides of the ball, the Lions were a few different bounces away from represenIng the NFC in the Super Bowl a year ago. Dan Campbell has figured something out in the motor city and the Lions are on the up and up. The Lions didn’t even play that well in week one, beat a very talented Rams team, and followed that up with a very tough loss to Tampa. Trust me, they’re sIll good.

5. San Francisco 49ers 1-1 (down 2)

The 49ers once again represented the NFC in the Super Bowl last season. Despite coming up short, the 49ers returned almost the same team that had been dominant all season long. There are some questions about an aging core, but this team remains a force to be reckoned with. Plus, they’ll be on their revenge tour in 2024-2025 — which started with a thrashing of the Jets on Monday Night Football in week 1. However, this team looks beatable with Christian McCaffrey on the IR and Deebo Samuel out.

6. New Orleans Saints 2-0 (up 19)

I know it’s hard to imagine a team could shoot up 19 spots in our rankings aMer just two weeks, but that’s how good the Saints have looked so far. Don’t

just take it from me; take it from the fact that the Saints — in their brand new offensive system — put up 15 straight scoring drives to start the season.

Derek Carr looks excellent and this defense is legit.

7. Tampa Bay Bucs 2-0 (up 5)

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers have looked like one of the NFL’s best teams so far. A balanced offensive attack led by Mayfield and Mike Evans, mixed with a solid defense, leaves the Bucs as contenders in what should be an entertaining NFC South.

8. LA Chargers 2-0 (up 5)

Something crazy happened when the Chargers acquired Jim Harbaugh as their head coach — they found an idenIty. Week one against the Vegas Raiders showed the Chargers a game in which they lost a million Imes over the last few years, but they won. It feels like the Chargers might be better than we expect, and

a 2-0 start shows that.

9. Philadelphia Eagles 1-1 (down 5)

You could easily make the argument that the Eagles have the best roster in football, and they added Saquon Barkley to it. However, the end of the Eagles season leM a sour taste in the mouths if its fans — causing Philly to hire new coordinators. We should know quickly if this Eagles team is a contender or a pretender.

They looked potent offensively against Green Bay in Brazil but struggled to finish the game against Atlanta in week 2.

10. Dallas Cowboys 1-1 (down 5)

The Dallas Cowboys are the league’s most top-heavy team. Dak Presco, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons are three of the best in football, but there is a steep drop-off behind them. They lost their OC and Tony Pollard as well. Is Dak Presco capable of carrying a team? We’re about to find out.

They dismantled Deshaun Watson and the Browns in week one but were crushed by the Saints in week two—who is Dallas?

11. Baltimore Ravens 0-2 (down 5)

Falling out of our top 10 is the final of the four teams that made the conference championship last season. Led by Lamar Jackson who now has two MVPs in his trophy case, the Ravens had an incredibly strong season a year ago. The only knock on Lamar’s nearly perfect resume thus far is the fact that he hasn’t been able to get over the hump in the playoffs quite yet. Nonetheless, this team has crushed the regular season since Jackson has been in the league, and I don’t see any reason to expect any different.

In week one, the Ravens gave the Chiefs everything they could handle, but they lost and were upset by Vegas.

12. SeaVle Seahawks 2-0 (up 5)

Somehow, Seattle continues to get it done. To be fair, the Seahawks have played a fairly weak schedule to this point, but hey, you'll have to win the games. The offense, led by Geno Smith, certainly has some playmakers, but it’s been the new-look defense without Pete Carroll that has been impressive.

13. Green Bay Packers 1-1 (down 3)

Thanks to an extremely strong close to the regular season, the Packers squeaked into the playoffs and had an impressive display. The Packers went into Dallas and destroyed the Cowboys and then gave the 49ers all they could handle — leading Jordan Love to sign a contract that makes him the highest paid QB in the league. The offense added Josh Jacobs to replace Aaron Jones, and the rest of the team is pretty much the same. It’ll be up to Love to prove that his strong finish wasn’t just a flash in the pan — which might be hard to do moving forward as he was injured in the 4th quarter against the Eagles.

But his backup, Malik Willis, secured a week two dub.

14. New York Jets 1-1 (no change)

The Jets have arguably the best defense in football, and now they have a healthy Aaron Rodgers to pair with Garret Wilson and Breece Hall. The biggest question is whether it can last more than four plays.

They'll have some kinks to work out, but I’m not hitting the panic button on the Jets.

15. Cincinnati Bengals 0-2 (up 1)

The Bengals might have had the most shocking performance in week 1—getting beat by the New England Patriots. Joe Burrow looked out of sync, and his lack of training camp experience with Ja’Marr Chase, who held out, was apparent. I trust the Bengals will figure things out, but they certainly didn’t look good enough in week 1. In week 2, they outplayed Kansas City but lost—so I'm not panicking just yet.

16. Miami Dolphins 1-1 (down 7)

The Miami Dolphins have looked like the best team in football for the first two months of each of the last two seasons. Then, as the weather turns cold, their offense loses its firepower, and their defense can’t carry them. However, the offense is still in the top-5, and Tua Tagoviloa’s health is the most concerning aspect of this team.

17. Chicago Bears (down 2)

The Bears had some hype entering the season and won a game in week one that they didn’t deserve to win. Then, in week 2, the Bears took on an incredibly talented Houston Texans team, and the defense certainly looked as if they belonged—the offense, not so much. Caleb Williams was pressured 36 times on 45 dropbacks and took seven sacks. Caleb is loaded with talent; it’s up to the Bears to put him in a position to succeed.

18. Pittsburgh Steelers 2-0 (up 4)

19. Minnesota Vikings 2-0 (up 4)

20. Los Angeles Rams (down 9)

21. Atlanta Falcons 1-1 (no change)

22. Arizona Cardinals 1-1 (up 2)

23. Indianapolis Colts 0-2 (down 6)

24. Cleveland Browns 1-1 (up 2)

25. Washington Commanders 1-1 (up 2)

26. New England Patriots 1-1 (up 2)

27. Las Vegas Raiders 1-1 (up 4)

28. Jacksonville Jaguars 0-2 (down 4)

29. Denver Broncos 0-2 (down 4)