NFL power rankings Week 8: Who's No. 1 after 49ers, Chiefs lose first games?

1. San Francisco 49ers (1): Huh, you say? These guys just lost — pyrite! Not so fast. WRs Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel, and DE Nick Bosa were among the inactives Sunday and don't even truly illustrate the injury issues here. The Niners were also playing at 1 p.m. on the East Coast on the heels of a Monday night appearance. RB Christian McCaffrey was well shy of 100%, and QB Brock Purdy was well shy of his typical 100.0-plus passer rating, picked off twice by the plucky Atlanta Falcons. If ever there was a time to give a team a mulligan, especially as it heads into a badly needed bye week, this is it.

2. Chicago Bears (4): QB Caleb Williams has been lights out since his return, but after failing his Week 2 test against the Minnesota Vikings, he'll try to pass this week's against Seattle's equally formidable D — and on the road this time.

3. Denver Broncos (5): Bo Nix looked like a functional QB Sunday in the team's best offensive showing of the season. Next, he gets the opportunity to make up for Week 1's disappearing act in Kansas City.

4. Seattle Seahawks (6): How important is it for them to keep their turnover issues under control? Since the start of last season, Seattle is 15-0 when it has one or fewer giveaways. Otherwise, the Seahawks are 6-6.

5. Minnesota Vikings (3): Maybe they're the 2000 Ravens and only need to score 17 points a week … which is close to what they're providing. That wouldn't be such a concerning trend if they weren't having so much difficulty handling teams like Miami and Indianapolis.

6. Kansas City Chiefs (2): They don't get the benefit of the doubt San Francisco does, and this could be a generous ranking after the first game of Patrick Mahomes' career in which he never took a snap in the red zone. The offense's 213 yards was also a new low under the three-time Super Bowl MVP … granted Mahomes could use better blocking and some help at wideout, especially against a unit like the "Dark Side."

7. Jacksonville Jaguars (7): Might be a good week to showcase Brian Thomas Jr., who's effectively become WR5 here — targeted eight times over the past four games — despite what coach Liam Coen says.

8. New England Patriots (8): Turnovers continue to be their bugaboo, their 14 giveaways the second most in the league, and a minus-7 differential is also the second worst. Factor in a rash of injuries, and it's fairly remarkable that the Pats are 4-3.

9. Buffalo Bills (9): How good has rookie coach Joe Brady been during this 5-1 start? Buffalo's 32.8 points per game are the second best of the Super Bowl era (since 1966) through a head coach's first six career games. If they figure out how to stop anyone, look out.

10. Atlanta Falcons (16): Major tip of the hat to rookie LB Kendal Daniels, whose fourth-quarter interception of Purdy sealed Sunday's upset — and a week after Daniels was carted off the same field and hospitalized after taking a blow to the head. "It's been the craziest week of my life," said Daniels who didn't actually suffer a concussion in Week 7.

11. Detroit Lions (11): Maybe a little more MVP love for Jared Goff, the only QB to pass for at least 200 yards, a TD and zero picks in each of his team's first six games? Ever.

12. Green Bay Packers (17): Given their circumstances, there is a lot of room for upward mobility here — especially if OLB Micah Parsons rejoins RB Josh Jacobs on the field in the near future.

13. Los Angeles Rams (13): The Rams are who we thought they were — that's why we took the damn field. Now if you want to crown them, then crown their … well for one week anyway.

14. Las Vegas Raiders (12): The Raiders are who we thought they were — that's why we took the damn field. Now if you want to crown them, then crown their … not for the past four weeks actually.

15. Cleveland Browns (14): Say what you want about QB Deshaun Watson — and I generally do — but he's led a game-winning drive in all five of this first-place team's wins. He had one in his first four seasons in Cleveland … combined.

16. Pittsburgh Steelers (18): “Sometimes you’ve got to suck it up and make a play for your guys,” QB Aaron Rodgers said of his 8-yard run for a first down in the final minutes of Sunday's game, a scramble that pretty much buried the Saints. “I think because I am so much less athletic than I used to be, it actually fires up the guys even more.” On that play, the 42-year-old four-time league MVP also outrushed every single New Orleans player Sunday.

17. Cincinnati Bengals (19): Someone's heating up. QB Joe Burrow's eight TD passes over the past two games are more than he had in the first four weeks combined (7). "That's who we have to be," said Burrow of a team that's topped 30 points in both of its most recent outings, something it hadn't done since Week 1.

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (25): Good to see Baker Mayfield back, and the Bucs back to relevance … though they clearly should have had the QB's nifty new glove designed by the Milwaukee Brewers.

19. Carolina Panthers (10): Anomaly or worrisome reversion? QB Bryce Young threw for 163 yards and turned the ball over three times in Sunday's blowout loss to Baker's Bucs, looking like the player he'd been for most of his first three seasons — after Young had averaged a league-best 309.8 passing yards through his first five starts of 2026 with just two giveaways. So do we believe in Young's history? Or his recent history?

20. New Orleans Saints (21): They could really use RB Travis Etienne Jr. and first-round WR Jordyn Tyson to come back on the other side of their Week 8 bye.

21. Baltimore Ravens (15): Same old Ravens? They've blown a double-digit lead in all three of their losses … though getting outscored by a league-high 70 points after halftime in 2026 is a new twist.

22. New York Giants (22): Did you know that RB Cam Skattebo's 124-yard rushing performance Sunday was the first time he'd topped the century mark since Arizona State almost took out Texas in the 2024 CFP quarterfinals?

23. Dallas Cowboys (26): Perhaps the most encouraging component of Monday night's win at Philadelphia was the full reawakening of RB Javonte Williams.

24. Houston Texans (20): It may be a lost season in H-Town, but not if you're WR Tank Dell. Welcome back, boss, and props.

25. Washington Commanders (27): If you like rooting for the good guys, let's hope coach Dan Quinn's internal bye week audit bears some fruit for the one-win Commanders.

26. Arizona Cardinals (23): Could TE Trey McBride get to 150 receptions this season? He's already the first player in league history to catch at least seven balls in each of his team's first seven games.

27. Miami Dolphins (31): “Thinking of me as a little kid in the parking lot as we (came to the Meadowlands), I was one of the those guys flipping off the buses, and now here I am," said New Jersey native and first-year Fins coach Jeff Hafley after his team upset the Jets to finally break into the win column. Way to also flip off all of those observers who thought your team might become the 0-17 bookend to the 17-0 1972 Dolphins.

28. New York Jets (24): If Aaron Glenn wants to keep his job, he should probably beat an AFC East team — at least once. Or at least try not getting outscored 107-6 in the final minutes of the first half, as the Jets have been under their second-year HC. “If I were them, I would do two-minute every day of my life until further notice," noted former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin (possibly AG's replacement? Just sayin'.)

29. Philadelphia Eagles (28): Welp, at least they control the 2028 NFL Draft. Enough said.

30. Tennessee Titans (29): They haven't won consecutive games in a season since 2022. Enough said.

31. Indianapolis Colts (30): Think there might be a book out on QB Daniel Jones? He was blitzed on 85.2% of his dropbacks Sunday by Minnesota, most in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016) … and the results spoke for themselves.

32. Los Angeles Chargers (32): After getting throttled by their bye week, remaining the league's only winless team, the Bolts hit the road to face the Rams at SoFi Stadium, where maybe they'll play better as the visitors. (They're always visitors there? Sorry, never mind.)