NFL power rankings: Week 8

Sports are funny. It feels like teams with the best records constantly collapse in the face of teams with worse records. This isn't always the case, especially in sports such as basketball and baseball, where the seasons are so long that typically the bad teams fall to the bottom and the good teams rise to the top. But in the NFL, there's only 17 games in a season, and it is much more difficult to determine which teams are better or worse — especially during the regular season. 

That's where this column comes in. As someone who watches an unhealthy amount of football — and has strong opinions — I am perfectly qualified to give my opinion on who I think the top teams are in the NFL on a week-to-week basis. Each week, I will cover what nine teams are — in my opinion — the best teams in the league. 

You may be thinking to yourself, nine is an odd number to pick for a thirty-two team league, is this guy unqualified to write about sports? While the answer is yes, I have a good reason, which will be explained with the first ranking.

0. The Kansas City Chiefs

This column will always feature the Kansas City Chiefs at rank 0. The NFL is currently rigged so that the Chiefs will win it all, and as such I refuse to have them take up a spot on the list of best teams in the league. They aren't one of the best teams in the league, they just get constantly bailed out by the refs. That is my stance unless by some miracle they don't win a Superbowl, God help us all if they three-peat this year.

8. The Washington Commanders

This is a tough one. The Commanders have so far outperformed expectations, but as of  now, the engine of their offense — rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels — is out with a rib injury. I think the team can still get it done in the short-term, but I have concerns for their long-term success as a team if Daniels is out for the season.

7. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Similar to the Commanders, the Buccaneers are currently struggling with star players catching the injury bug. As of right now, Mike Evans is out until at least Week 12 and Chris Godwin is likely out for the season. The team is still incredibly solid despite missing these essential receivers, but if they have more players fall to injury before their bye week in Week 11, their season will be dead in the water. 

6. The Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings are a confusing team. No one expected them to be good, let alone 5-1, but they also feel like a team that's barely holding it together. It reminds me of the 2022 Minnesota Vikings that went 10-0 during the regular season in one-score games, but ended up losing in the playoffs in a one-score game. This season they're 3-1 in one-score games, and have a manageable schedule ahead — but I'm split on whether this team is going to have sustained success or fall apart by the end of the season.

5. The Houston Texans

The Texans are one of the few good teams in the American Football Conference. Despite a tough loss to the Packers last week, they seem to have what it takes to put together a run through the regular and postseason for the Superbowl. Considering they pushed a strong Packers team to nearly lose while without star receiver Nico Collins, the Texans have it in them to win, even while missing major contributors on offense. 

4. The Buffalo Bills

Out of the two teams that made splashy trades for star receivers last week, the Bills are so far the only ones seeing a payoff. Amari Cooper looked right at home in a revitalized Bills offense, Josh Allen still hasn't thrown an interception this year and the defense has played solid ball despite, yet again, missing many of their important defensive players. Since they show no signs of slowing down, this year's Bills team seems dead set on ending their franchise's playoff curse.

3. The Green Bay Packers

I saw a sports analyst comment on how it seems Jordan Love has Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre on his shoulders, with the former telling Love to throw beautiful passes to open receivers and the latter telling him to fire off another head-scratching interception. The team's season will come down to which voice he listens to more, but right now the Packers look tough to beat.

2. The Baltimore Ravens

This Ravens team is scary. NFL fans have wondered for years about what a Lamar Jackson/Derrick Henry backfield would look like, and so far this season they have spearheaded one of the most potent offenses in the league. While the defense has some question marks after starting the season dominant but allowing 92 points across the last three games, the offense has kept up with their opponents scoring and looks to continue their dominance into the postseason.

1. The Detroit Lions

After dethroning one of the NFL's remaining undefeated teams — the Vikings — the Lions are on a roll. Many people expected their defense to collapse this week following the injury to Aidan Hutchinson, but that was not the case. The team still played dominant football despite the loss of Hutchinson's production on the defensive side of the ball. Right now, no team looks better, or more complete than the Detroit Lions.