2022 NFL Power Rankings: Bears barely still in Top 20 |
Here is BearsHQ.com's 12th power rankings of the 2022 season.
*We decided to explain the top 16 and the Bears*
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs turned a rocky start into a dominating end of the season. Aside from two losses to the Bengals, the Chiefs have not lost since October. However, without Tyreek Hill, the offense will look much different, although the Chiefs did acquire Ju-Ju Smith Schuster, Marquez-Valdez Scantling, and rookie Skyy Moore to an offense that has Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. And that offense was clicking in weeks one and two. The Chiefs are one of the league’s best teams — despite dropping a late game to the Colts last week. The Chiefs got back on track in a big way with a dominating win over the Buccaneers and beat the Raiders in prime time Monday night. The Chiefs are easily a top-5 team in the sport, despite their recent loss to Buffalo at home — mostly because they responded by dominating the 49ers and beating the Titans and Jaguars on Sunday.
Philadelphia ended last season on a hot streak and added AJ Brown to an offense that was missing a WR 1, and all of a sudden, the Eagles look like a championship team. 38 points in week one, a week two blowout on Monday Night Football over the Minnesota Vikings, and a dominating win over the Commanders, Jaguars, Cardinals, and division rival Cowboys — plus they recently dismantled their in-state rival Steelers and the Texans in primetime. Philly looks legit, the best team in the NFL thus far, until their week 10 loss to Washington.
With an offensive-minded head coach and the best wide receiver in football, the Minnesota Vikings look like legit contenders early on. A blowout win of the division rival Green Bay Packers certainly helps, but getting blown out against Philadelphia certainly does not. But keep an eye on Minnesota, as they got back on track with wins over the Lions, Saints, Bears, Dolphins, Cardinals, Commanders, and Bills.
The Bills are one of the league’s best teams and had a heartbreaking end to the postseason a year ago. Josh Allen and the Bills won the AFC East and dominated New England in the playoffs before falling to Kansas City in overtime in the playoffs. Either way, the Bills are primed to own the AFC East and contend in the AFC. They are motivated, and showed it in their week one blowout of LA and week two domination of Tennessee, but faltered a bit in week 3 against Miami. The Bills did get back on track against the Ravens in week four, their first win over their last 20 victories that was by less than 10 points. The Bills followed that up by throttling the Steelers on Sunday and getting past the big brother Chiefs in a thriller. Last week, the Bills beat down the Packers, but this week they faltered against the Jets. They look GOOD, but beatable, which showed this Sunday against Minnesota.
San Francisco has one of the most talented rosters in the sport and rode their best players to an NFC Championship appearance. The 49ers made the change to Trey Lance, but with Kyle Shannahan and the defensive superstars the 49ers have, they are easily one of the NFC’s best teams on paper — and with Trey Lance injured, Jimmy G is back under center, so we know what they are, and that is a good team, as shown on Monday night when they handled the Rams and this week when they thumped Carolina. But, the 49ers faltered on Sunday against the Falcons. The 49ers acquired Christian McCaffrey at the trade deadline, and now look primed for a playoff push, and beating the Rams and Chargers certainly helps their case.
The question surrounding the Miami Dolphins is how good can Tua be, because the offense that features Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waddle, and Raheem Mostert is loaded with speed. If Tua can tie it all together, Miami looks scary, and his six touchdown passes in an epic comeback against Baltimore certainly looks like it and hanging on over the Super Bowl favorite Buffalo Bills, among other victories over the Bears, Browns, Patriots, Steelers, and Lions make the Dolphins a top-10 team — despite their losses to Cincinnati, New York, Minnesota and Tua’s scary head injury.
The New York Giants have shocked the football world early on as they are now 5-1. Led by a resurgent Saquan Barkley and stout defense, the Giants have been able to beat the Titans, Panthers, Bears, Packers, and Ravens in the early going — all while proven no lead is safe against the G men — even though the Giants were unable to complete the comeback this week against Seattle, they got back on track against the Texans this week.
Dallas has one of the best defenses in the league, but week 1 was challenging as the Cowboys dropped the game to Tampa and lost Dak Prescott to injury. But since then, the Cowboys have rallied to beat the Bengals, Giants, Commanders, and Rams — they are definitely a team to look out for in the NFC. With Dak back, the Cowboys have beaten the Lions and Bears in a convincing fashion. But have faltered to the Packers this past Sunday.
Baltimore has one of the league’s strongest rosters, but they spent most of 2021 as the most injured team in the sport. But this team has speed all over the field, on both sides of the ball, and they know their identity. Led by an MVP in Lamar Jackson, the Ravens have the recipe for success — they just need to stay healthy. The Ravens lost a shootout thriller in week two against Miami and a tough game to Buffalo in week four but got back on track by beating the Bengals on Sunday night. This week, Baltimore took a step back, falling to the Giants. However, the Ravens have gotten it back on track beating the Browns, Tampa Bay, and the Saints on Monday night before their Bye week.
The Bengals were the AFC’s representative in the Super Bowl, but it has been a rocky start to the season for Joe Burrow and the Bengals. The Bengals have struggled to keep Burrow upright, but still, have the makings of a contending team, and showed that Sunday against the Jets and last Thursday against the then-undefeated Dolphins — but faltered slightly on SNF against Baltimore. The Bengals got back on track with a win over New Orleans on Sunday — but faltered in a big way against the Browns on Monday Night Football. However, the Bengals got back to winning ways over Carolina this past week before your bye.
So we know the Bucs have a wildly talented offense and a defense with young stars — plus Tom Brady, so this team really does not have any flaws — and that was on display Sunday night in Dallas. This week against New Orleans, Tom Brady had some struggles, but the defense came through at the end to make Tampa Bay 2-0. Weeks three and four were a step back, losing to Green Bay and Kansas City. Tom Brady has not lost three weeks in a row since 2002, that streak continued when the Bucs beat the Falcons in week 5. However, there is plenty of drama surrounding Brady, and some think that led to the Bucs dropping one to the Steelers or to the Ravens this week. We saw a bit of vintage Brady this past week over the Rams, though, and in Germany over the Seahawks. Brady has become the only quarterback in NFL history to win an NFL game in four countries.
LA might have had the best off-season in the league. The offense had no problems, but the Chargers struggled to get stops. This year, the Chargers add pass rusher Khalil Mack and shut down corner JC Jackson to a defense that will be getting a healthy Derwin James and Joey Bosa back in 2022. This team might be the most complete team in the NFL, and they looked like it handling the Raiders in week one. A step back in week two against KC, where Justin Herbert was injured, and a week three loss where he was not himself will not knock the Chargers too far back in our rankings, especially after their blowout of the Texans and wins over Cleveland and Broncos over the last three weeks. However, dropping to Seattle did not help the Chargers, but beating Atlanta did before they lost to the 49ers.
Green Bay is back on our top 16 after beating Dallas in overtime this past week. It has been a bumpy ride for Green Bay, who is still in second place in the NFC North and far behind the Minnesota Vikings and a playoff spot — but Rodgers looked vintage in week 10. The loss of Davante Adams has hurt the Packers immensely on offense, and the defense hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. We’ll see if the Packers can build on their momentum.
Seattle is now in our top 14, after a phenomenal start to the season. Who would have ever thought that after even weeks, the Seahawks would be leading a division that has represented the NFC in the last two Super Bowls? Geno Smith has led the offense admirably, and the run game has proven strong for the first-place Seahawks — who have beaten the Chargers, Broncos, Cardinals twice, Lions and Giants so far.
The Jets have been the laughing stock of the NFL for a multitude of seasons, but have finally invested in draft capital and chosen wisely. Zach Wilson protects the football and rookie RB Breece Hall and rookie DB Sauce Gardner have been difference-makers — it's been fun to watch. But, with Hall injured, the Jets looked bad last week against the Patriots. They responded in a big way over the Bills though, this week, and the Jets look primed to make a push toward the playoffs.
Mike Vrabel’s team had the No. 1 seed in the AFC last season, traded away AJ Brown — and the Titans are still leading the AFC South. A stout defense and the prowess of future Hall of Fame Derrick Henry are enough to make this team look scary come December and January.
The Bears go into the season with a new coach, a new general manager, a new staff, and a quarterback who many expect to take the next step. Now it’s just time for the Bears to upgrade the offensive line and build around Justin Fields, and finally show some promise on the field. Which they did in their week 1 win over the 49ers. After a few weeks of choppy offense, the Bears delivered in a big way on Monday night over the New England Patriots, dominating in Foxboro. Justin Fields I showing some real promise, and the Bears are winning games — plus, the acquisition of Chase Claypool should help the offense. The Bears have lost to the Cowboys, Dolphins, and Lions in consecutive weeks, but the best player on the field in both games has been from Chicago — in fact, Fields became the first player all season to win NFC Player of the week in a losing effort, and the first in NFL history to rush for 178 yards in a game. Plus, the Bears are the first team in NFL History to lose three straight games when they put up 29+ points.
Stay tuned as we update these rankings every week.1. Kansas City Chiefs 7-2 (up 1)
2. Philadelphia Eagles 8-1 (down 1)
3. Minnesota Vikings 8-1 (up 1)
4. Buffalo Bills 6-3 (down 1)
5. San Francisco 49ers 5-4 (up 1)
6. Miami Dolphins 7-3 (up 4)
7. New York Giants 7-2 (no change)
8. Dallas Cowboys 6-3 (down 3)
9. Baltimore Ravens 6-3 (down 1) BYE
10. Cincinnati Bengals 5-4 (down 1) BYE
11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5-5 (up 3)
12. Los Angeles Chargers 5-4 (down 1)
13. Green Bay Packers 4-6 (up 4)
14. Seattle Seahawks 6-4 (down 2)
15. New York Jets 6-3 (down 2) BYE
16. Tennessee Titans 6-3 (no change)
17. New England Patriots 5-4 BYE (up 1)
18. Arizona Cardinals 4-6 (up 1)
19. Washington Commanders 5-5 (up 6)
20. Chicago Bears 3-7 (down 1)
21. Atlanta Falcons 4-6 (up 1)
22. Denver Broncos 3-6 (up 1)
23. Pittsburgh Steelers 3-6 (up 1)
24. Cleveland Browns 3-6 (up 1)
25. Los Angeles Rams 3-6 (down 10)
26. New Orleans Saints 3-7 (down 6)
27. Detroit Lions 3-6 (up 2)
28. Indianapolis Colts 4-5-1 (up 2)
29. Carolina Panthers 3-7 (up 2)
30. Jacksonville Jaguars 3-7 (down 3)
31. Las Vegas Raiders 2-7 (down 3)
32. Houston Texans 1–7-1 (no change)
