Shedeur Sanders’ second start as the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns yielded very little during a 26-8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Nonetheless, the Browns’ position in eight of the most prominent Power Rankings across the league saw very little change after the team recorded their ninth loss of the ongoing season, guaranteeing another losing season in the process.
Surprisingly, two media outlets even promoted Cleveland a spot relative to last week’s place, after taking a pounding from San Francisco. ESPN and USA TODAY Sports saw them jump one spot, to 28th and 23rd — yes, 23rd — respectively, while the other six listings consulted had them dropping.
Sports Illustrated’s Power Rankings punished Cleveland the most, sinking them three spots to 28th, but Fox Sports and CBSSports are the mediums that place them the lowest, at 29th, after deducting them one position each this week. The Browns also lost one position in NFL.com (28) and Yahoo!Sports (27th) rankings’, and two spots in PFT’s (26th) list.
Even so, the Browns were hardly the biggest losers this week in the AFC West, where Baltimore got hit hard by reality after falling to the Bengals on Thanksgiving by a score of 32-14. The Ravens were pushed down eight rungs on Yahoo!Sports’ ladder (18), six spots on USA TODAY’s list (16), and five places in CBSSports (17), PFT (19) and SI’s (17) rankings. NFL.com showed more compassion, only subtracting one position from Baltimore and leaving them at 14th.
On the flipside, Cincinnati was the only true winner this week in the AFC North, not just on the field, but also on all eight of our consulted NFL Power Rankings. CBSSports awarded the Bengals a six place jump to 21st, their largest gain of the week.
Finally, Pittsburgh also sank one most lists, with a four spot deduction to 20th by NFL.com as they’re worst showing. Shockingly, Sports Illustrated list was the only one moving them upwards, one spot to 20th, after losing handily to Buffalo, 26-7.
The Steelers are behind the Ravens on all but two rankings, FoxSports’ and PFT’s lists, While Cincinnati has already leapfrogged Pittsburgh in another one, USA TODAY’s.
Unsurprisingly, Cleveland is dead last in the division in all eight Power Rankings consulted.
Next up for Cleveland is a home tilt against the worst team in the league, the Tennessee Titans, in a matchup that will answer a ton of questions regarding next April’s NFL Draft order.