Last night after the New Orleans Saints beat down the New York Giants, I put together my Week 13 NFL Power Rankings. If you go to this power rankings story stream, you can see how my rankings have evolved since week eight. it is occasionally a haphazard process, so take them with one heck of a grain of salt.
I dropped the 49ers from No. 2 to No. 6. I've been looking around at some power rankings, and thus far I've dropped them further than anybody else. ESPN and CBS Sports dropped the 49ers one spot to No. 3. SB Nation's Week 13 NFL Power Rankings dropped them from second to fourth.
The 49ers loss stung, but the extent to which it exposed problems remains to be seen until the 49ers get back on the field. Although making excuses doesn't help matters, as Coach Harbaugh himself said, it's a fact that the 49ers had a short week like the Ravens. It is also a fact that the 49ers had to do the traveling and were the first team to cross three time zones east for a Thanksgiving game. Those are facts, plain and simple.
Given the Ravens historic performance in the pass rush, it may be a few weeks before we know how this game really did impact everything. The Rams and Cardinals are not guaranteed wins, but the next big time, high profile challenge is Pittsburgh on Monday Night in three weeks. Until then we are left to speculate on the fall-out from Thanksgiving.
As for dropping the 49ers this far? Well, consider it my attempts to incur good karma!