POWER RANKINGS

(Through Week 4)

1. Los Angeles Rams (4-0) | Last Week’s Rank: 1

The Rams’ offense was spectacular in Thursday night’s win over the Vikings and QB Jared Goff vaulted himself into the league MVP conversation, if only the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes falters just a little bit at some point.

2. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0) | Last Week’s Rank: 2 Nothing was easy for Mahomes and the Chiefs on Monday night in Denver. That made what the secondyear QB accomplished in pulling out the comeback victory all the more impressive. 3. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 4 The Jaguars made it look easy against the Jets and reestablished themselves as a team to beat in the AFC.

4. New Orleans Saints (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 5

The Saints won Sunday at the Meadowlands with QB Drew Brees throwing for a modest 217 yards and no TDs.

5. Carolina Panthers (2-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 6

The Panthers find themselves chasing the Saints in the NFC South as they return from their bye. 6. Cincinnati Bengals (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 10 The Bengals found a way against the Falcons, and their Week 2 victory over the Ravens has them in early control of the AFC North. 7. Baltimore Ravens (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 8

The very good versions of QB Joe Flacco and the Ravens were on display Sunday night in Pittsburgh. 8. New England Patriots (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 11 Things are looking up for the Patriots after they responded to their latest September crisis with Sunday’s lopsided triumph over the Dolphins. 9. Chicago Bears (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 12 When they hired Matt Nagy as their coach, the Bears hoped he could do for Mitchell Trubisky what Sean McVay has done in L.A. for Goff. 10. Green Bay Packers (2-1-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 14 The Packers bounced back from their bad performance against the Redskins and made the Bills return to resembling the league’s worst team. 11. Tennessee Titans (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 17 Coach Mike Vrabel showed Colts coach Frank Reich how to play to win and have it turn out well. 12. Philadelphia Eagles (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 3 The champs are sputtering after Sunday’s OT defeat in Nashville. The return of QB Carson Wentz hasn’t gotten the Eagles out of their malaise. 13. Minnesota Vikings (1-2-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 9 QB Kirk Cousins has committed some ill-advised turnovers. But for the most part, he’s living up to the enormous expectations created by his hefty contract.

14. Washington Redskins (2-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 13 The Redskins emerge from their bye week in first place in the NFC East. 15. Miami Dolphins (3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 7 Never make too much of one game. But in this case, it’s tough to avoid believing the Dolphins might have been exposed as AFC East pretenders rather than contenders on Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. 16. Los Angeles Chargers (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 19 The Chargers are hanging in there. But they really, really need standout pass rusher Joey Bosa back from his foot injury to give their defense a boost. 17. Seattle Seahawks (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 23 Earl Thomas’ broken leg brings the “Legion of Boom” days to an official end. 18. Dallas Cowboys (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 26 The Dallas offense showed some signs of being functional and, even with their early-season issues, the Cowboys are only a half-game out of first place in the NFC East. 19. Denver Broncos (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 15 The Broncos did just about everything right Monday night against Mahomes. He’s simply too good. 20. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 16 ESPN’s report that Le’Veon Bell plans to report to the Steelers in Week 7 should be only mildly encouraging from the team’s perspective. 21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 18 The quarterbacking demise of Ryan Fitzpatrick was predictable and swift. 22. Atlanta Falcons (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 20 How in the world did the Falcons allow A.J. Green to get so open on the Bengals’ game-winning TD Sunday?

23. Houston Texans (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 30

The Texans did what they could to stay out of the win column by squandering a big lead against the Colts.

24. Oakland Raiders (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 31 Four games into Jon Gruden’s return to coaching, it actually was a bit of a surprise that his team somehow pulled out a win at home against the Browns. What does that say? 25. Cleveland Browns (1-2-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 21 On the positive side of loss to Raiders, rookie QB Baker Mayfield reinforced that he’s the real thing, despite some mistakes. 26. New York Giants (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 22 That’s three times in four games that the Giants have failed to reach 20 points. 27. Detroit Lions (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 24

It should not ever be forgotten. Matt Patricia inherited a team that went 9-7 last season. 28. Buffalo Bills (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 25

The Bills’ 2018 highlight video might end up consisting solely of the first half at Minnesota last week, when they outscored the Vikings, 27-0. Other than that, Buffalo has been outscored this season, 106-23. 29. Indianapolis Colts (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 27 There’s no complaint here about Frank Reich playing to win in OT against the Texans. It just didn’t work out.

30. New York Jets (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 28 Speculation is beginning to swirl about coach Todd Bowles’ job security. 31. San Francisco 49ers (1-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 29 C.J. Beathard wasn’t terrible in his first start since taking over for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo. 32. Arizona Cardinals (0-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 32 Rookie QB Josh Rosen was decent in his first NFL start.