NFL power rankings, Week 2: 49ers stay low, but where do I put the Rams?

The first week of the 2017 NFL regular season is officially a wrap. The Minnesota Vikings had their way with the New Orleans Saints in the opener of the Monday Night Football doubleheader, while the Denver Broncos blocked a Los Angeles Chargers field goal to secure their own win in the late game.

We’re back with our first edition of 2017 NFL power rankings. Most every web site out there does some version of power rankings, and I thought that once again we’d offer our own version. It is entirely my opinion, so there will be plenty of disagreement. And after only one game, it’s hard to decide who is actually good and bad, and who will improve or regress from their Week 1 performance.

The San Francisco 49ers got off to a poor start, losing 23-3 to the Carolina Panthers. I don’t think they’ll be that bad every week, but I also don’t see a lot of huge highlights this year — especially with Reuben Foster likely to miss several weeks of action.

That being said, they are not at the bottom of my power rankings. I was planning on reserving spot No. 32 for the New York Jets all season long, but this week, we have a new addition at the bottom. The Indianapolis Colts were atrocious in their 46-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. I do think the Colts will improve with Jacoby Brissett replacing Scott Tolzien, but he won’t help that defense improve. If the Colts don’t get Andrew Luck back soon, they’re in for a world of hurt this year.

That raised one of the bigger questions for me after Week 1. What do we make of the Rams? I ranked them in the middle of the pack for now. They beat a bad football team, which is certainly a plus, but how high do they deserve to be? They host Washington this week, and after how Washington performed at home against Philadelphia, this is suddenly a very winnable game for the Rams. Traveling to Santa Clara in Week 3, it is not entirely out of the realm of the possible they head into their Week 4 matchup in Dallas sitting at 3-0. Or am I reading too much into a big win over a bad team?

Week 1 NFL power rankings

1. Green Bay Packers (1-0)
2. Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)
3. Dallas Cowboys (1-0)
4. Oakland Raiders (1-0)
5. New England Patriots (0-1)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)
7. Minnesota Vikings (1-0)
8. Atlanta Falcons (1-0)
9. Detroit Lions (1-0)
10. Seattle Seahawks (0-1)
11. Philadelphia Eagles (1-0)
12. Carolina Panthers (1-0)
13. Baltimore Ravens (1-0)
14. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0)
15. Los Angeles Rams (1-0)
16. Buffalo Bills (1-0)
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-0)
18. Miami Dolphins (0-0)
19. Denver Broncos (1-0)
20. Los Angeles Chargers (0-1)
21. Tennessee Titans (0-1)
22. Arizona Cardinals (0-1)
23. New York Giants (0-1)
24. Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)
25. New Orleans Saints (0-1)
26. Chicago Bears (0-1)
27. Washington (0-1)
28. Houston Texans (0-1)
29. Cleveland Browns (0-1)
30. San Francisco 49ers (0-1)
31. New York Jets (0-1)
32. Indianapolis Colts (0-1)