NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Bengals heating up, Eagles are the best team in football
In Week 8, the 49ers lost their third straight game. They also fell for the second straight week in the USA TODAY NFL power rankings.
San Francisco has had difficulties, but it is still in the top five. Over the past few years, they have accrued enough equity to be given the benefit of the doubt when they misbehave, as they have the past three weeks. Particularly considering that they were only one or two ball bounces away from victory in Minnesota and a missed field goal away from victory in Cleveland.
The 49ers were ultimately defeated in all three games due to their incapacity to mount a fourth-quarter comeback, as USA TODAY’s Nate Davis points out in his rankings:
This club’s crazy stat is shown below. San Francisco is 0-37 when behind by eight or more points in the fourth quarter since head coach Kyle Shanahan took over in 2017.
The biggest worry for San Francisco has probably been the defense’s incapacity to force stops and override a few errors made by quarterback Brock Purdy. The 49ers’ primary strength should be defense, but they haven’t played well the past three games.
The 49ers are now ranked in the top five, but if they suffer after their bye week, the power rankings and, more crucially, the standings, may plummet significantly.
