Sports Fountain’s NFL Top 10 After Week 7: Vikings Take Over, Steelers and Bengals Break In

NR = not ranked; unranked teams are listed by record, then point differential. Prev. = last week’s rank. Diff. = season point differential. Vs. top 10 = record against the 10 ranked teams. Week 8 games are Sunday, Nov. 1, unless marked Thu (Oct. 29) or Mon (Nov. 2).

By Sunday night, the NFL had one unbeaten team left, and it was the one that looked the least comfortable getting there.

Editor's Picks

Sports Fountain’s NFL Week 7: 10 Claims, Where We Stand

NFL insider reveals Colts’ stance on trading Quenton Nelson, DeForest Buckner

Browns HC Todd Monken takes aim at old Cleveland punchline with telling statement

Allen Bailey’s brother confirms former Chiefs DE’s death at age 37

Sports Fountain’s NFL Top 10 After Week 6: 49ers Hold On, Broncos Climb, Browns Break In

Colts reportedly make first call to Peyton Manning after firing GM Chris Ballard

NFL Top 10 After Week 5: Patriots Surge, Bears Drop Out

NFL Week 4: Nine Big Claims and Where We Stand

Sports Fountain’s NFL top 10 after Week 3: Bears crash the party

Sports Fountain’s NFL top 10: 49ers edge Seahawks after two convincing wins

•••

The San Francisco 49ers turned the ball over four times against the Atlanta Falcons and lost. The Kansas City Chiefs scored three points against the Seattle Seahawks. The Minnesota Vikings trailed the Indianapolis Colts 10-6 after three quarters at home, found one touchdown and walked off 6-0.

That is enough to change our No. 1. Further down, the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars sat out on byes, the Chicago Bears beat the team that was fourth on this list a week ago, and two AFC North teams that were waiting outside finally get in.

Our order reflects the season through Monday night, October 26. We still care more about who you beat and who beat you than about how one afternoon looked. That is why a team can lose by 17 and stay in the top three. It is also why a team with wins over the Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers is now on the outside.

1. Minnesota Vikings (6-0)

Last week: 3 | Week 7: Beat the Indianapolis Colts 16-10

Nobody is putting this one in a season highlight package. Jonathan Taylor broke a 38-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Minnesota answered with field goals, and the Vikings went into the fourth quarter down 10-6 to a team that arrived at 2-4. Kyler Murray finally got them moving with a long scramble on third down, T.J. Hockenson caught a 5-yard touchdown pass, and an interception with 1:08 left ended the Colts’ last drive.

The defense is the reason this team is still perfect. Minnesota posted a blitz rate of 85.2 percent, the highest of the Next Gen Stats era, and Daniel Jones finished with 108 passing yards. Through six games, the Vikings have allowed 22, 3, 16, 10, 13 and 10 points. You can win a lot of games with that, even on a day the offense manages 275 yards.

It is Minnesota’s first 6-0 start since 2009, and it is also the fourth one-score win of the season. That second number is the reason some people will hesitate to put the Vikings first. We get the hesitation. But they already own wins over the Green Bay Packers and the Bears, they are the only team without a loss, and nobody behind them gave us a reason to leave them third. Sunday’s trip to face the Detroit Lions is the next division test.

2. San Francisco 49ers (6-1)

Last week: 1 | Week 7: Lost to the Atlanta Falcons 29-20

Two straight one-possession wins had been warning the 49ers. On Sunday, the margin finally ran out.

It started well enough. Kaelon Black’s 30-yard run, the first touchdown of his career, put San Francisco up 14-3 early in the second quarter. Then the Falcons scored 23 straight points. The 49ers lost the turnover battle 4-0, and Atlanta turned those giveaways into 13 points. Brock Purdy threw an interception on a drive that could have won the game, and George Kittle lost a fumble in the final minute.

“That’s a great recipe for winning in this league,” Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski said of the turnovers.

Atlanta came in at 2-4, so there is no way to dress this up. Still, San Francisco is 6-1 with wins over the Denver Broncos and Seattle. One bad Sunday moves the 49ers down a spot, not out of the conversation, and the bye comes at the right time.

3. Kansas City Chiefs (5-1)

Last week: 2 | Week 7: Lost to the Seattle Seahawks 20-3

Three points. That number will follow the Chiefs all week, and it should.

Seattle held Kansas City to 213 yards and three conversions on 11 third downs, and the Chiefs never got the ball inside the Seattle 20. Patrick Mahomes averaged 5.0 yards per attempt, the fifth-lowest mark of his career. His second-quarter interception set up Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 28-yard touchdown. Kenneth Walker III, who had carried this offense for most of the season, never got going.

So why only one spot? Because the rest of Kansas City’s season still holds up. The Chiefs beat Denver 31-10 in Week 1, and that is still the best win either they or the Bills own. Both teams are 5-1. Kansas City has the better victory, Buffalo has the more worrying defense, and one night in Seattle does not erase that.

It does make Sunday interesting. The Chiefs go to Denver, and a second straight loss would make this a much harder call next week.

4. Buffalo Bills (5-1)

Last week: 5 | Week 7: Bye

The Bills did not play and still moved up, which tells you more about the week around them than about Buffalo.

Nothing on the resume changed. The Bills have road wins over the Houston Texans, Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders, plus home wins over the Lions and Los Angeles Chargers. Their only loss came at home against the New England Patriots.

The concern is the same one we raised last week. Buffalo has given up 30 or more points in four of its six games. Josh Allen keeps finding a way to outscore that, but it is a tiring way to get through a season, and it is the main reason the Bills sit behind Kansas City.

The Baltimore Ravens visit Sunday after losing two straight without Lamar Jackson. If the Bills’ defense is going to look different after the bye, this is the week to show it.

5. Denver Broncos (5-2)

Last week: 6 | Week 7: Beat the Arizona Cardinals 30-16

Bo Nix came into Sunday with 37 rushing yards for the season. He passed that on one play.

With the game tied 6-6 late in the second quarter, Nix stepped up in the pocket, found nobody in front of him and ran 62 yards for a touchdown. The team says it is the longest run by a quarterback in Broncos history. In the third quarter, RJ Harvey took a short screen 52 yards for another score.

That was exactly what this offense needed after producing 168 yards in last week’s overtime win over Seattle. Denver finished with 378 yards in Arizona and won by more than one score for the first time this season.

The defense did its usual work. Arizona went 5 of 17 on third down and scored one touchdown in five trips to the red zone, and Denver hit the quarterback 12 times.

Three straight wins, victories over Jacksonville and Seattle, and two losses to the 49ers and Chiefs. That is a fifth-place resume. Kansas City comes to Denver on Sunday afternoon, and the Broncos lost the first meeting 31-10.

6. Chicago Bears (5-2)

Last week: 10 | Week 7: Beat the New England Patriots 30-24

Last week, the question was how much rust Caleb Williams carried after his hamstring injury. On Thursday night, he answered a bigger one.

Williams threw for 308 yards and two touchdowns, his second straight 300-yard game. No Bears quarterback had done that since Mitchell Trubisky in 2018. Eight of his completions went for 20 yards or more, his most this season. Luther Burden III caught four passes for 130 yards, and Cairo Santos hit a career-long 58-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to push the lead to nine.

“We’re a smashmouth football team, an innovative team,” Williams said.

The jump from 10th to sixth is a big one, so here is the reasoning. Chicago’s two losses are to the unbeaten Vikings and to Green Bay. Its five wins now include a team that was fourth here a week ago. Last week, the 31-7 loss at Lambeau Field kept the Bears behind the Packers. Green Bay lost Sunday and drops out, so that no longer holds them down.

The next test is a Monday night trip to Seattle on Nov. 2.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2)

Last week: 7 | Week 7: Bye

Jacksonville stays put, which feels right for a team that did not play.

The Jaguars still have one of the best collections of wins on this list: 34-10 over the Cleveland Browns, 35-6 over New England, 22-17 at the Cincinnati Bengals and 19-17 over the Philadelphia Eagles. Their two losses are not equal. Losing 20-13 in Denver is reasonable. Giving up 34 at home to a Houston team that is now 2-5 is not.

That Houston loss is why Chicago moves ahead of them. The Bears have the extra win, and their losses came against better teams. If the Jaguars beat the Colts at home on Sunday and then win in Baltimore four days later, this order will not last long.

8. Cleveland Browns (5-2)

Last week: 8 | Week 7: Beat the Tennessee Titans 27-24

If you cheer for the Browns, you probably need a quiet Sunday. You are not getting one.

Cleveland fell behind 14-0 in Nashville and was tied at 24 after Tony Pollard’s third touchdown with 58 seconds left. Deshaun Watson then hit Harold Fannin Jr. for 36 yards, and Andre Szmyt won it with a 32-yard field goal as time expired. That was Szmyt’s second walk-off kick in two weeks, after he had hit the upright on a 43-yard try earlier in the fourth quarter. It was also Watson’s fifth fourth-quarter game-winning drive of the season.

This was Watson’s cleanest game, too. He threw for 308 yards, his first 300-yard game for Cleveland, and the Browns finished with a season-high 491 yards. Watson had been sacked 24 times in the first six games. Tennessee got him once.

The Browns stay behind the Jaguars because Jacksonville beat them by 24 in September, and a 17-12 loss to the New York Jets keeps them from climbing past the teams above. Sunday’s trip to Pittsburgh is for first place in the AFC North.

9. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2)

Last week: Unranked | Week 7: Beat the New Orleans Saints 16-10 in Paris

The Steelers played the NFL’s first regular-season game in France, in front of 78,488 people at Stade de France, and won the way they usually win: with very little room to spare.

Aaron Rodgers threw one touchdown pass, a 4-yarder to Darnell Washington, and it moved him past Peyton Manning into third on the career list. Chris Boswell kicked three field goals, and Jaylen Warren ran for 101 yards. The defense held New Orleans to 18 rushing yards, and a Patrick Queen sack on third down stalled one of the Saints’ last chances in the fourth quarter.

Pittsburgh has won three straight, and its five wins include the Bengals, 30-27 in Week 3. Its losses came at New England and at Cleveland. The New England loss is the awkward one, since that 20-3 game is a clear head-to-head result and the Patriots are now outside the top 10. The short version is that Pittsburgh has two losses and New England has three. There is more on that below.

The Browns come to town Sunday, and the AFC North lead goes with the winner.

10. Cincinnati Bengals (4-2)

Last week: Unranked | Week 7: Beat the Baltimore Ravens 35-13

For a half in Baltimore, the Bengals looked like a team about to fall to .500. They trailed 13-0, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins had two catches between them, and the Ravens had held the ball for more than 22 minutes.

Then Cincinnati scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions. Joe Burrow completed 16 of 18 passes for 249 yards and four touchdowns after halftime, and the defense did not allow a point in the second half. Higgins finished with 148 receiving yards.

Baltimore was without Lamar Jackson again, and that belongs in the conversation. But 35 unanswered points on the road is still 35 unanswered points.

The Bengals get in because their two losses came against Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, both ranked here, by a combined eight points. The Lions are also 4-2, but they lost to a Carolina Panthers team that just lost 43-13 at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cincinnati gets the last spot, and the Titans visit Sunday.

Just outside

New England Patriots (4-3): This was the hardest call of the week. The Patriots own wins over Buffalo and Pittsburgh, and they were in it all night in Chicago. Drake Maye completed 24 of 31 passes for 321 yards, but his interception in the end zone before halftime took points off the board in a six-point loss. That is three losses now, including 35-6 in Jacksonville. Pittsburgh has one fewer, so the Steelers get the spot for now.

Detroit Lions (4-2): Jake Bates kicked a 22-yarder on the final play, which bailed out Dan Campbell’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 24 in a tie game with under five minutes left. Jared Goff threw for 303 yards, and Amon-Ra St. Brown had 153 receiving. The Lions are close. A loss in Carolina and an overtime win over New Orleans keep them just behind Cincinnati, and the Vikings visit Sunday.

Green Bay Packers (4-3): Last week’s No. 9 team drops out. The Packers reached the Detroit 17 with the score tied late and came away with nothing, then watched Bates win it. They are now last in the NFC North, which says plenty about the division, but three losses is three losses.

Seattle Seahawks (4-3): No team helped itself more this week. Seattle kept the Chiefs out of the end zone, Smith-Njigba caught nine passes for 150 yards and Emanuel Wilson ran for 100. The Seahawks still have three losses, including the two straight before Sunday, so they wait one more week. The Bears visit Monday night.