NFL power rankings, Week 5: 49ers, Cowboys climbing, Patriots slipping

And we're back with another round of Fooch's NFL power rankings! Week 4 is underway, so it is time to get ready for Week 5 with a look at how the NFL has set itself up at the quarter pole. Six teams had a bye in Week 4, but the rest of the league played through. We are starting to get some ideas about how things might shake out at the end of the regular season, but there are very few things we know with any kind of certainty.

The biggest climbers this week were teams like the 49ers, Lions, Ravens and Cowboys. Some will say I'm overrating the 49ers, but if you were to put the 49ers on a neutral field, I think they beat all those teams behind them. I think they probably beat a few of those teams in front of them as well, but I'm holding off on going extra crazy with this.

I have the Cowboys the biggest boost of all. They looked abysmal at times against the 49ers, but they have bounced back in a strong way. Dallas has won three straight to move into a tie for first place, and with that dynamic running game, and a defense that is bad but not awful, they are going to be tough the rest of the way.

The result of the Patriots-Chiefs game was a tough one to figure out for these rankings. The Chiefs did some big things, but in the end, I dinged the Patriots more than I credited the Chiefs. That might not be fair, but that's just sort of what I saw at this point. Of course, if the Chiefs come to San Francisco and leave us all a bit frustrated, they would then make a major move up the rankings. Let's hope we don't have to deal with that in a week's time!

For now, the top four spots of my rankings remain the same. The top three teams (Seahawks, Broncos, Bengals) all had byes. The Chargers could not quite shake the Jaguars in the first half, but they easily put their game away in the second half. The Chargers now have wins over the Seahawks, Bills and Jaguars. Normally they have been a second half of the season kind of team, but they are off to an impressive start. They face the Jets at home this week, then travel to face the Raiders before a huge home contest with the Chiefs.

Week 5 only has two byes, with the Raiders and Dolphins getting the week off after their trip to London. I'm pretty sure we won't miss them this weekend.

On to my Week 5 NFL power rankings!