NFL power rankings Week 5: No. 1 spot changes hands for third consecutive week

1. San Francisco 49ers (4): Given their largely tremendous start, the Niners would have reached the top spot sooner if not for their latest rash of injuries, with FB Kyle Juszczyk the most recent star to go down. However, the team is certainly safeguarding early MVP candidate Brock Purdy, becoming the first team since Peyton Manning's 2005 Indianapolis Colts to permit zero sacks through the first four games. Beat Seattle on Sunday, and San Francisco will have already taken down three of last season's final four teams. Unbeaten through four games for the third time under Kyle Shanahan, now the longest-tenured coach in franchise history, the 49ers leveraged those other two hot starts into Super Bowl berths.

2. Kansas City Chiefs (2): Will the AFC's final undefeated team have anyone left to play wide receiver on the other side of their Week 5 bye after losing Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton in Las Vegas on Sunday? Maybe an old friend?

3. Seattle Seahawks (3): Even with RB Jadarian Price joining Zach Charbonnet on the shelf, the Seahawks are doing a nice job with a patchwork running game that's incorporating KR/WR Rashid Shaheed and, perhaps, veteran Joe Mixon, eventually.

4. Denver Broncos (5): It hasn't been pretty through four weeks, especially offensively, but the Broncos' only losses are to the undefeated Chiefs and Niners, and the schedule eases a bit for the rest of October. Even better, All-Pro CB Patrick Surtain II (ankle) isn't expected to miss much time.

5. Los Angeles Rams (6): They're still out of sorts offensively, with QB Matthew Stafford launching a league-high 162 passes for an offense that's only running 38% of the time, but facing Buffalo's air defense — not exactly the Iron Dome — in Week 5 won't provide much reason to balance things out.

6. Jacksonville Jaguars (8): Bend but don't break? They rank 26th overall in total defense, yet the Jags haven't allowed more than 20 points in their past 10 regular-season games.

7. New England Patriots (15): Will the Patriots' biggest offensive outburst of the season steady QB Drake Maye and this team at large? New England's 29 offensive points Sunday matched its aggregate total entering Week 4.

8. Buffalo Bills (1): They're still scoring at the highest clip in the league, but the Bills' early season success is now contextualized by beating two winless teams prior to Sunday's wake-up loss to the Patriots — winners of two in a row now at Buffalo. Now it's up to the Bills to stabilize away from Western New York, given they'll only play at home once over the next six weeks.

9. Minnesota Vikings (7): As great as the Vikings' swarming defense has been, let's not lose sight of All-Pro K Will Reichard. His league-high 42 points scored are nearly half of Minnesota's total (86). Reichard has provided all of the scoring in two of the four wins.

10. Chicago Bears (9): After giving up 37 points in the opener, the Bears' defense has surrendered only 28 total over the past three weeks. It doesn't much matter who the QB1 is with that kind of margin for error.

11. Las Vegas Raiders (11): Where has this franchise been? Andy Reid has the most wins (7) of any coach — including the Raiders — at Allegiant Stadium. And while Klint Kubiak's troops arguably legitimized themselves by nearly knocking off Reid's Chiefs on Sunday, they'll be challenged to keep it up — the Patriots, Bills, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks and Broncos are among the Silver and Black's next seven opponents.

12. Cleveland Browns (18): Kardiac Kids Part Deux? Deshaun Watson is the first Browns QB since Brian Sipe, the league MVP in 1980, to engineer a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter of three consecutive games.

13. Carolina Panthers (21): By the conclusion of Sunday night's win over Detroit, the Panthers owned the league's No. 1 passing attack. Props to QB Bryce Young for rendering the bust label some had affixed to him premature.

14. Atlanta Falcons (22): It's been an entirely new team since QB Michael Penix Jr.'s Week 3 return … and maybe one capable of winning the Falcons' first NFC South crown in a decade.

15. Detroit Lions (10): The Lions are certainly leaning on their stars — RB Jahmyr Gibbs has the most touches (102) in the league and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (46) has the most targets. It will be difficult for Detroit to deviate from that formula given how bad the league's most permissive defense has been … a state of affairs that seems unlikely to change any time soon.

16. New Orleans Saints (12): The Saints are in the same boat as the Lions, likely needing to win a shootout every week, but they will need to get RB Travis Etienne and WR Jordyn Tyson back soon if they are going to recover sufficiently to make their first post-Drew Brees playoff appearance.

17. Baltimore Ravens (13): It's no secret that the Ravens can't afford to be without injured QB Lamar Jackson for long, He's doing more damage with his arm right now than his legs, pacing the league with 14.2 yards per completion, the best figure of his nine-year career.

18. Dallas Cowboys (14): After a strong debut Sunday with the Cowboys, CB Joey Porter Jr. might be making the case he's the ex-Pittsburgh player this team should re-sign given the significant drop in WR George Pickens' production.

19. Pittsburgh Steelers (16): Time will tell if the Steelers' hardline negotiating policies cost them too much following the departure of Porter, but they sure could have used him in Cleveland.

20. Cincinnati Bengals (17): Depending on how long injuries to WRs Ja'Marr Chase (concussion) and Tee Higgins (groin) linger, Bengals QB Joe Burrow could be throwing to Dohnte Meyers and Mitch Tinsley on Sunday at Miami Gardens.

21. New York Giants (23): If the season ended today, the Giants would be the NFC East champions and a No. 3 playoff seed. It is worth noting that QBs Jameis Winston and J.J. McCarthy have the same number of career postseason starts: Zero.

22. Philadelphia Eagles (19): The last time the Eagles were this helpless on offense (172 yards on Sunday) was 2014 … when Chip Kelly was the coach and Mark Sanchez the QB.

23. Indianapolis Colts (24): Maybe the Colts should pack the Mayflower trucks (ships?) for Europe given they've won three in a row in the Old World, which the NFL seems ready to make its new frontier. Heck, they are already better at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium than the EPL Spurs, the Premier League soccer team which calls the place home.

24. Washington Commanders (20): Rookie Athan Kaliakmanis became the first NFL QB to throw his first career TD pass in an international game. That's cool, but the Commanders can't get QB Jayden Daniels back fast enough.

25. Arizona Cardinals (28): S Budda Baker leads the team with 1 1/2 sacks … which is fairly indicative of how things are going for the Cardinals, who have one of the league's worst defenses.

26. Green Bay Packers (26): Still no Josh Jacobs. Still no Micah Parsons. And now standout LB Edgerrin Cooper is out for the season with an Achilles tear. It is getting increasingly difficult to view the Packers as a playoff entry, especially given the narrow win at Tampa.

27. Houston Texans (25): Even if the 0-4 Texans wanted to wave the white flag, the contracts of players like DE Danielle Hunter and WR Nico Collins are basically untradeable due to their salary cap ramifications.

28. New York Jets (27): After losing three in a row to NFC North teams, the Browns should be a welcome sight for the Jets, who became the first team this century to run fewer plays (32) in a game than the number of first downs it surrendered (34).

29. Los Angeles Chargers (29): The Chargers don't face a team that currently has a losing record until the Texans visits in Week 9 … by which time the Bolts could be 0-7.

30. Tennessee Titans (30): Little has gone right so far for the Titans, but it's been nice to see rookie WR Carnell Tate pick up the pace. He has 15 catches for 203 yards over the past two weeks.

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (31): The Bucs' point total has decreased with each successive week, proportionate with the optimism that once surrounded this dead-in-the-water team.

32. Miami Dolphins (32): The Dolphins haven't led for a single minute of any game so far.