Three teams in the top five of last week’s Power Rankings lost in Week 5, and five of the top 10 overall lost. Two of them were thankfully enjoying their bye weeks. And two that won had to hang on for dear life in a wild fourth quarter.
So, seriously, doesn’t anyone want to win this thing this year? And how can anyone make sense of this weird week in a very strange season so far? I’ll give it a shot in my Week 6 NFL Power Rankings.
*Super Bowl LX odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook
Super Bowl odds: +650
Giving up 21 fourth-quarter points to Jake Browning and the Bengals is alarming, but they’ve won four straight and averaged 40.3 points in those games. Dan Campbell’s team is apparently back.
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The Lions have looked like their normal selves since Week 1. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Super Bowl odds: +850
It’s hard to drop them too far after a narrow loss to a playoff team, but their second half against the Broncos was frightening. Something doesn’t look right. And they remember they still have Saquon Barkley, right? It’s hard to tell.
Super Bowl odds: +2000
They are playing with fire every single week, but somehow they keep pulling games out. Their four wins are by a combined nine points and all came on a score in the final minute of regulation. Is that a sign of danger … or magic?
Super Bowl odds: +500
They’ve looked just OK this season, but their four wins have come against teams that are a combined 3-17. The Patriots were the best team they’ve played so far and they stopped running back James Cook cold. Could the AFC East be an actual race?
Super Bowl odds: +1600
Yes, I badly underestimated Kyle Shanahan’s team. Their overtime win over the Rams was convincing. So is how well they’re clicking behind quarterback Mac Jones.
Super Bowl odds: +1700
Two losses in the last three games would’ve dropped them farther, but those were narrow losses to the Eagles and 49ers. They’re still a top team and Matthew Stafford is still defying the odds and playing like an MVP candidate.
Matthew Stafford didn’t get the win over the 49ers, but he continued showing he has plenty left in the tank. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
Super Bowl odds: +800
They got a bye week to ponder how they lost to Cleveland and followed that up with an unsatisfying tie in Dallas. If they want to stay in the top 10, they better beat the Bengals this weekend.
Super Bowl odds: +1800
Indiana Jones just keeps on rolling. It helped that they were playing the awful Raiders, but his lone loss was still in Los Angeles against the dangerous Rams.
Super Bowl odds: +4500
They are 3-1, but their hold on a top-10 spot is tenuous because there hasn’t been much that’s impressive about them this season. Let’s see what Aaron Rodgers can do next against the Browns and then the Bengals coming off the bye.
Super Bowl odds: +6500
That touchdown drive to thwart a Chiefs comeback in the final 1:45 is the kind of thing that can jump-start a run. After back-to-back wins over the 49ers and Chiefs, it’s time to admit the Jags are for real.
Super Bowl odds: +700
Maybe the Chiefs’ dynasty is really over? Or at least they’re taking a year off. After their mistake-filled loss to the Jaguars Monday night all they have this season is wins over the 1-4 Giants and 1-4 Ravens.
Super Bowl odds: +2000
Beating the Eagles was a serious win, especially the way their defense shut Philly down in the second half. They still have some offensive issues, but the D can carry them a long way.
Bo Nix got a signature win with the Broncos’ comeback performance against the Eagles. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Super Bowl odds: +1900
They are a much different team with Jayden Daniels back in the lineup. More importantly, their defense finally showed up against a potent, but slumping, Chargers team.
Super Bowl odds: +1900
They are a much different team with Jayden Daniels back in the lineup. More importantly, their defense finally showed up against a potent, but slumping, Chargers team.
Super Bowl odds: +5000
They were on the verge of a season-defining win over the Bucs before Sam Darnold threw a terrible, late interception. It was a reminder of this team’s potential, and how hard it is to trust the quarterback.
Super Bowl odds: +1200
Don’t overreact too much to a win over the Jets, but when their QB is playing like an MVP they deserve to be in the top half of the league. Also, 77 points in their last two games with CeeDee Lamb out of the lineup is really impressive.
Super Bowl odds: +5500
They deserve a huge jump because beating a Super Bowl favorite on the road in prime time isn’t easy. And the way quarterback Drake Maye and their defense played in Buffalo, they could make things tough for the Bills in the AFC East.
Stefon Diggs (left) and Drake Maye looked like an elite WR-QB combo on Sunday night. (Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
Super Bowl odds: +11000
They looked like a potential contender by beating Washington before their bye. Now they get a chance to prove it with a game against the angry Bills this weekend followed by a trip to San Francisco.
Super Bowl odds: +1500
Caleb Williams is starting to look pretty good, heading into his showdown with Washington’s Jayden Daniels this weekend. By the way, after that their schedule is pillow soft for the next month after that — vs. the Saints, at Baltimore, at Cincinnati, vs. the Giants.
Super Bowl odds: +4000
They’ve steamrolled into their bye week with two straight wins by a combined score of 70-10 and looked more like themselves on both sides of the ball. It would all be so much more convincing if those wins hadn’t come against the Titans and the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens.
Super Bowl odds: +7000
They looked mostly terrible during their two games in London, though they do get some points for a late, Carson Wentz-led comeback on Sunday against the Browns.
Super Bowl odds: +1900
Honestly, my preseason Super Bowl pick might still be ranked too high. What a disappointment and a disaster. At 1-4, having given up more points already than they did all of last season, not even Lamar Jackson’s return can save them now.
Super Bowl odds: +20000
Sure, it took a couple of flukey plays for them to lose to the Titans. But it was the Titans, for goodness sake. And that visual of running back Emari Demercado dropping the ball before the goal line on what would’ve been a 72-yard touchdown? That’s a really bad sign.
No one is quite sure how Kyler Murray and the Cardinals lost to the Titans. (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
Super Bowl odds: +70000
Jake Browning finally played like a useable quarterback in the fourth quarter against the Lions on Sunday. Too bad it was way too little, too late. The same might be said for their season, too.
Super Bowl odds: +50000
They were left for dead in a 17-0 hole against the Dolphins, and they showed a lot of fight climbing out and escaping with a 27-24 win. That’s not really worth a jump this big, but the teams down in this part of the rankings are really, really bad.
Super Bowl odds: +40000
Rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel managed the game nicely in his first start and didn’t turn the ball over. If only his defense had held up late, he would’ve left London with a win.
Super Bowl odds: +70000
OK, that’s enough. It looks like Pete Caroll broke Geno Smith, who has now thrown eight interceptions in his last three games. After four straight losses, maybe it’s time to see what Kenny Pickett can do.
Super Bowl odds: +60000
They rolled off their first win of the season and out to a 17-0 early lead over the Panthers. And then they remembered something important: They’re just not very good.
Super Bowl odds: +80000
It certainly helped that they got five turnovers from the Giants, but quarterback Spencer Rattler finally got his first win in his 11th NFL start. And any win is worth savoring for this Saints team.
Spencer Rattler (No. 2) finally got a win as an NFL starter, but it took playing a team lower than his Saints in the power rankings. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Super Bowl odds: +80000
It took a bunch of flukey plays for the Titans to get their first win. But you know what? They still put up 212 yards and 16 points in the fourth quarter. Suddenly, they don’t look like “ass” anymore.
Super Bowl odds: +80000
So much for all the excitement of the Jaxson Dart Era. This might have been the one game this season the Giants couldn’t afford to lose. And they blew it in a five-turnover mess. It’ll be hard for any of them to recover from that.
Super Bowl odds: +80000
The NFL’s only winless team and the first 0-5 team to not have forced a single turnover in NFL history deserves the bottom spot. They are bad on offense and on defense and they’re an undisciplined mess. Other than that …
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Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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