We can put a bow on Week 5, and it appears there are two, maybe three teams that will be the favorites come playoff time. The New England Patriots are always in the mix, but the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs both got statement type wins and are the top dogs in the NFL.
The Chiefs welcomed the Jacksonville Jaguars to Arrowhead and put a thumping on them. Blake Bortles is always a shaky proposition, but it was what Patrick Mahomes did to the stout Jaguars defense that is notable. Meanwhile, the Rams went into Seattle and got a big division win. The Seahawks are not nearly as good as they used to be, but they gave the Rams everything they had and the Rams withstood it.
And then of course, there are the 49ers. They lost to the last winless team in the NFL on Sunday, and are now one of six teams with a 1-4 record. The other teams lumped together:
Atlanta Falcons
Arizona Cardinals
Oakland Raiders
Indianapolis Colts
New York Giants
The 49ers have 11 more games to go, likely with C.J. Beathard starting all of them — barring injury. The question at this point is how many of them the 49ers will win the rest of the way. They travel to Lambeau to face the Packers and then host the Rams on Sunday Night Football in Week 7. After that comes their “easiest” stretch of the schedule. They travel to the Cardinals, and then host the Raiders and Giants before their bye week. That’s three straight matchups with teams currently 1-4.
How many games of that trio can they win? If they clean up the turnovers, they can win all three, but this team has found numerous ways of shooting themselves in the foot. C.J. Beathard is a competent quarterback, but he has not proven good enough to overcome these kinds of mistakes.
I put together my latest NFL power rankings heading into Week 6, and for the time being I have the 49ers ahead of Oakland and New York, but behind Arizona. You lose at home to a team, you probably deserve to be behind them in this kind of situation. But Weeks 8-10 will tell us just where the 49ers stack up with some of the worst teams in the league.
Week 6 NFL power rankings
| Rank | Team | LW |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | LW |
| 1 | Los Angeles Rams (5-0) | 1 |
| 2 | Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) | 2 |
| 3 | Cincinnati Bengals (4-1) | 4 |
| 4 | New England Patriots (3-2) | 5 |
| 5 | Jacksonville Jaguars (3-2) | 3 |
| 6 | Carolina Panthers (3-1) | 6 |
| 7 | Chicago Bears (3-1) | 8 |
| 8 | New Orleans Saints (4-1) | 12 |
| 9 | Minnesota Vikings (2-2-1) | 13 |
| 10 | Green Bay Packers (2-2-1) | 7 |
| 11 | Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) | 16 |
| 12 | Baltimore Ravens (3-2) | 9 |
| 13 | Miami Dolphins (3-2) | 10 |
| 14 | Tennessee Titans (3-2) | 11 |
| 15 | Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2-1) | 19 |
| 16 | Washington (2-2) | 14 |
| 17 | Philadelphia Eagles (2-3) | 15 |
| 18 | Cleveland Browns (2-2-1) | 21 |
| 19 | Denver Broncos (2-3) | 17 |
| 20 | Dallas Cowboys (2-3) | 18 |
| 21 | Seattle Seahawks (2-3) | 23 |
| 22 | Detroit Lions (2-3) | 25 |
| 23 | New York Jets (2-3) | 26 |
| 24 | Houston Texans (2-3) | 28 |
| 25 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-2) | 22 |
| 26 | Atlanta Falcons (1-4) | 20 |
| 27 | Buffalo Bills (2-3) | 31 |
| 28 | San Francisco 49ers (1-4) | 24 |
| 29 | Oakland Raiders (1-4) | 27 |
| 30 | New York Giants (1-4) | 30 |
| 31 | Arizona Cardinals (1-4) | 32 |
| 32 | Indianapolis Colts (1-4) | 29 |