Sports Fountain’s NFL Top 10 After Week 6: 49ers Hold On, Broncos Climb, Browns Break In
San Francisco had a 20-point lead Yesterday’s night and still needed Malik Mustapha to knock a pass away near the goal line to protect its unbeaten season. Denver managed 168 yards of offense and beat Seattle. Buffalo spent another afternoon scoring enough points to survive what its defense allowed.
There were easier ways to get through Week 6. Minnesota had one of them: take the bye.
The three unbeaten teams remain at the top of Sports Fountain’s rankings. Behind them, the argument has become considerably harder. Jacksonville has beaten two teams on this list, Denver has beaten Jacksonville, and Cleveland now owns victories over both Baltimore and Pittsburgh. These results deserve more weight than whatever we thought those teams would be in August.
Our order reflects the season through Monday night, October 19. Wins count, opponents count, and six weeks of football should carry more weight than one afternoon.
Editor's Picks
1. San Francisco 49ers (6–0)
Last week: 1 | Week 6: Beat Washington 23–17
Malik Mustapha saved San Francisco from a very uncomfortable Tuesday.
Washington had worked its way back into a game the 49ers should have finished much earlier. On fourth down from the San Francisco 17, Jayden Daniels gave Treylon Burks a chance near the goal line. Mustapha arrived with him and broke up the pass. Washington eventually got another possession, but Romello Height and Keion White ended it with a sack. Six wins, no losses.
For much of the night, the offense had made that finish seem unlikely. Christian McCaffrey scored twice on the ground, and Brock Purdy threw for 264 yards. Then the production dried up. A 23–3 advantage became a six-point lead, and a home game against a struggling opponent became a test of everyone’s nerves.
That second half narrows the gap at the top. It doesn’t erase the opening five wins. San Francisco has already beaten Denver and Seattle, and nobody has put together a longer unbeaten start.
Still, this is the second straight week the 49ers have won by one possession. They have earned first place. They are giving the teams behind them reasons to keep looking up.
2. Kansas City Chiefs (5–0)
Last week: 2 | Week 6: Beat the Chargers 22–6
Kenneth Walker III is making an ordinary handoff feel like a perfectly sensible answer to almost everything.
He ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns against the Chargers, taking his season total to 665 rushing yards in five games. Kansas City established the lead early and never surrendered it. There was no need for Patrick Mahomes to spend the closing minutes rescuing the afternoon.
Walker’s arrival has given this offense something it can return to throughout a game. Defenses have to account for him before they can settle into the familiar business of making Mahomes work through coverage. That is a miserable combination to prepare for.
The Chargers are 0–6, so this victory adds less to Kansas City’s case than its earlier win over Denver. But holding a division opponent to two field goals while generating 422 yards is convincing work. The Chiefs controlled the game well enough that their missed opportunities in the red zone never became a serious threat to the result.
San Francisco’s extra win keeps it narrowly ahead. Kansas City is close.
3. Minnesota Vikings (5–0)
Last week: 3 | Week 6: Bye
Green Bay and Chicago both won Sunday. Minnesota has already beaten both.
That is the useful part of the Vikings’ idle week. Their opening results are holding up as the season develops. The Packers have recovered from a poor start, the Bears are 4–2, and both still have a Minnesota loss on their records.
The Vikings have also shown they can survive games in which points are scarce. Since allowing 22 against Green Bay in the opener, they have conceded three, 16, 10 and 13. That gives an offense room to have an awkward quarter without the entire afternoon slipping away.
There is no reason to move Minnesota simply because other teams supplied fresh highlights. Five games, five wins, and two victories over division opponents who belong in this discussion.
The Vikings return with their position intact.
4. New England Patriots (4–2)
Last week: 5 | Week 6: Beat the Jets 26–19
The Patriots are beginning to make last month’s defeat in Jacksonville feel less representative of who they are.
They have won three straight since that 35–6 loss. Buffalo was the most significant result, Las Vegas was the most emphatic, and Sunday required more patience. The Jets stayed involved, possessed the ball for much of the first half and made New England work into the closing seconds. Drake Maye’s three touchdown passes gave the Patriots enough.
The protection deserves attention here. An offensive line dealing with injuries kept Maye from being sacked. New England could run the ball, too, rather than asking its quarterback to manufacture every useful play. Those are encouraging developments for an offense that looked helpless in Jacksonville.
Putting the Patriots ahead of the Jaguars will invite a fair objection. Jacksonville beat them comprehensively. That game still belongs in the discussion. So do New England’s three subsequent wins, including one in Buffalo, while Jacksonville has since needed a last-second escape against Philadelphia and lost to Houston.
New England’s win over the Bills keeps the Patriots just ahead of them here. The margin is small.
5. Buffalo Bills (5–1)
Last week: 6 | Week 6: Beat Las Vegas 33–30
Josh Allen had defenders gathering around him, Keon Coleman waiting in the end zone and apparently no interest in throwing the ball conventionally.
His improvised flip to Coleman gave Buffalo a 23–13 lead in Las Vegas. It was the kind of play that sends everyone back to the replay, trying to work out when Allen decided it was available. The Bills eventually needed the points just as badly as the entertainment.
Buffalo has now finished consecutive road games with three-point victories, scoring 37 against the Rams and 33 against the Raiders. Coming home with both wins is an achievement. Asking the offense to keep doing that is exhausting.
Las Vegas still had a route back late Sunday. Buffalo held on, but another opponent reached 30, and another excellent offensive afternoon came with very little breathing room.
Five wins keep the Bills firmly among the leaders. Their offense gives them a chance against anybody. New England remains above them because the Patriots went to Buffalo and won, and the Bills have yet to produce enough separation elsewhere to overturn that result.
6. Denver Broncos (4–2)
Last week: 9 | Week 6: Beat Seattle 17–14 in overtime
Denver’s defense must occasionally look toward the offensive sideline and wonder how much more is required.
The Broncos produced only 168 yards against Seattle. Bo Nix threw for 107. An 11-point lead disappeared, and the game went to overtime with Denver having scored nothing after halftime.
Then Ja’Quan McMillian intercepted Sam Darnold, and Wil Lutz finished the job from 53 yards. The defense had supplied Denver’s third takeaway and, with it, another opportunity the offense had struggled to create for itself.
There is plenty to dislike about the way Denver is moving the ball. There is also a straightforward reason for this climb: the Broncos have beaten Jacksonville and Seattle, and their two losses came against San Francisco and Kansas City.
At this stage, that is a stronger collection of results than several more fashionable offenses can offer. Denver sits above Jacksonville because it won their meeting. It moves above Seattle because it won that one, too.
The Broncos have earned sixth. Watching them earn it has required some patience.
7. Jacksonville Jaguars (4–2)
Last week: 4 | Week 6: Lost to Houston 34–31
Jacksonville spent last week celebrating a winning field goal in London. This time, it had to stand there while Houston celebrated one.
The Jaguars recovered from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, only to leave enough time for C.J. Stroud to move the Texans into position for Ka’imi Fairbairn’s winning kick. Houston repeatedly found answers against a defense that had helped establish Jacksonville among the early leaders. Stroud finished with 312 passing yards and three touchdowns.
Giving up 34 to a team that entered with one win deserves a drop. Falling out altogether would ignore too much.
Jacksonville beat Cleveland 34–10 and New England 35–6. Those victories have become more impressive as both opponents have accumulated wins. The Jaguars also won in Cincinnati. Their first six games contain enough substantial work to survive a bad defensive afternoon.
Seventh reflects both sides of that record. Denver has the head-to-head win. New England has played better over the past three weeks. Jacksonville still has considerably more behind it than a team clinging to the bottom of the list.
8. Cleveland Browns (4–2)
Last week: Unranked | Week 6: Beat Baltimore 13–10
Cleveland has beaten Pittsburgh and Baltimore. At some point, the discussion has to start there.
The Browns’ offense gave them very little for much of Sunday. Then Carson Schwesinger knocked the ball away from Derrick Henry, Tyson Campbell recovered it, and Cleveland had a short field from which to score the tying touchdown. Later, Deshaun Watson found Jerry Jeudy for 33 yards to set up Andre Szmyt’s winning field goal.
That is now four victories secured with fourth-quarter winning drives. Cleveland keeps arriving at the end of close games with something left to offer.
Baltimore was without Lamar Jackson, and that belongs in the account. Tyler Huntley started again, while Henry managed 58 yards on 17 carries and lost the fumble that helped turn the game. Cleveland made the offense in front of it work for nearly everything.
The Browns move straight into eighth because victories over two 4–2 division rivals carry weight. Their offense has made these games unnecessarily difficult. Their defense has made them winnable.
9. Green Bay Packers (4–2)
Last week: 10 | Week 6: Beat Dallas 23–13
Dallas spent most of Sunday night collecting completions without getting much closer to winning.
The Cowboys had seven points until the final minute. Green Bay intercepted Dak Prescott twice and stopped two fourth-down attempts in scoring territory. A late touchdown made the final score more respectable than the game had been.
That follows the Packers’ 31–7 win over Chicago. Consecutive weeks of keeping an opponent’s offense under control are a welcome change from the team that allowed 39 to Minnesota and 35 to Atlanta.
Jordan Love threw for 276 yards against Dallas, and Matthew Golden topped 100 receiving yards. There were also dropped opportunities that could have made the margin larger. Green Bay established enough control that those misses never handed Dallas the game.
Three straight victories have repaired the Packers’ start. Cleveland gets the edge because its wins over Pittsburgh and Baltimore offer more than Green Bay’s victories over the struggling Cowboys and Buccaneers. The Packers’ convincing win over Chicago keeps them above the Bears.
10. Chicago Bears (4–2)
Last week: Unranked | Week 6: Beat Atlanta 31–23
Caleb Williams returned and completed 30 of 36 passes.
After three games out with a hamstring injury, there was every reason to expect some rust. Instead, Williams threw for 305 yards and helped Chicago win on the road. The Bears had their quarterback back, and the offense immediately looked comfortable giving him responsibility.
Kyler Gordon’s return was just as valuable. His late pressure helped disrupt Atlanta’s final chance, and his strip-sack gave Chicago the ball back to close it out. The Bears received meaningful contributions from two players they had badly missed.
Last week’s loss in Green Bay still keeps Chicago below the Packers. One good Sunday cannot make a 31–7 defeat disappear. But the Bears have won four times, including road victories over Carolina and Atlanta, and their two losses have come against Minnesota and Green Bay.
That is enough for the final place. Thursday’s home game against New England gives Chicago an immediate opportunity to make a stronger claim.
Just outside
Pittsburgh Steelers (4–2): Coming back from 16–3 down in the fourth quarter took nerve. Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers finished the job in overtime, but needing that escape against Tampa Bay leaves them narrowly behind Chicago. Pittsburgh’s defeats against New England and Cleveland also matter when both are already on the list.
Baltimore Ravens (4–2): Lamar Jackson’s absence helps explain the difficulty. It cannot award Baltimore a victory it didn’t earn. The Ravens scored 10 in Cleveland, lost the head-to-head meeting and surrender their place this week.
Seattle Seahawks (3–3): Seattle’s defense did enough to win in Denver. Three turnovers helped waste that performance. The Seahawks have now lost consecutive close games to teams above them, and repeatedly giving away possessions is becoming too expensive to overlook.
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