Guys are dropping like flies.
A new week brought even more injuries, especially to the quarterback position, forcing some forgotten signal-callers back into action. And no, it wasn’t pretty.
However, the one team most associated with injuries, is relatively healthy and watching from afar as they prepare for another prime-time game.
Here is where the 49ers sit in the latest NFL power rankings heading into their “Monday Night Football” matchup with the Indianapolis Colts:
32. New York Giants (Last week: 30)
Record: 2-13
Jaxson Dart had 33 total passing yards and a pick for those of you bold enough to start him in your fantasy playoffs. And now your season’s probably over.
31. Las Vegas Raiders (Last week: 32)
Record: 2-13
Ah, so that is what Ashton Jeanty can look like in an NFL offense. Las Vegas should aspire to be that one day.
30. New York Jets (Last week: 29)
Record: 3-12
Nobody cares. Next.
29. Tennessee Titans (Last week: 31)
Record: 3-12
Cam Ward had the best game of his rookie season in a convincing win over the defending-AFC-champion Chiefs. No other context is needed, right?
28. Arizona Cardinals (Last week: 28)
Record: 3-12
Impeccable tanking job by Jacoby Brissett and Co. They’re in it just about every week, only to juuuust come up short. What a shame, right?
27. Cleveland Browns (Last week: 27)
Record: 3-12
Myles Garrett Watch continues at least for one more week. He inched closer with half a sack, and needs just one to break the single-season record.
26. Washington Commanders (Last week: 25)
Record: 4-11
Today I learned Josh Johnson still is in the league and coming in as the once-third-string quarterback in a game against Philly. Where have I seen this before?
25. New Orleans Saints (Last week: 26)
Record: 5-10
Another nice performance for Tyler Shough, who’s doing his best to make sure New Orleans isn’t in position to draft one of the top quarterbacks to replace him. It’s genius.
24. Cincinnati Bengals (Last week: 24)
Record: 5-10
One week after being shut-out, Joe Burrow took his anger out on Miami’s defense to the tune of four touchdowns. I would expect the ass-kickings to continue against Arizona and Cleveland to close out the season.
23. Miami Dolphins (Last week: 22)
Record: 6-9
Tua Tagovailoa got benched for Quinn Ewers, and what did the rookie do in his first start? Throw two picks. Some things never change.
22. Kansas City Chiefs (Last week: 21)
Record: 6-9
For the second consecutive week, a Chiefs quarterback suffered a torn ACL. Just insane. I’ll save you the effort: Chris Oladokun is the third-stringer, and he actually didn’t look half-bad.
21. Atlanta Falcons (Last week: 23)
Record: 6-9
Bijan Robinson’s 168 all-purpose yards on Sunday gave him 2,026 for the season. With two games remaining, he has a chance to have one of the 10 best non-quarterback yardage seasons of all time.
20. Dallas Cowboys (Last week: 19)
Record: 6-8-1
This will go down as a very frustrating calendar year and season for Dallas, but Dak Prescott doesn’t deserve an ounce of blame. He’s been fantastic, and Jerry Jones should do everything possible to get him a defense in the offseason.
19. Minnesota Vikings (Last week: 20)
Record: 7-8
J.J. McCarthy’s been playing so well, but unfortunately, we’re back to watching Max Brosmer attempt to play football. There’s a simple solution to this: Turn off the TV.
18. Baltimore Ravens (Last week: 15)
Record: 7-8
Tyler Huntley is a great backup for this offense, and nearly pulled out the win, but he’s not Lamar Jackson. Not even Lamar Jackson is Lamar Jackson this season. Just a weird year, and Baltimore is on the brink of elimination.
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Last week: 16)
Record: 7-8
The fall-off from Baker Mayfield and Tampa’s offense needs to be studied. Everyone’s healthy and they’re just so abysmal. Impeccable choke job this season.
16. Indianapolis Colts (Last week: 17)
Record: 8-6
(Monday Night Football)
15. Carolina Panthers (Last week: 18)
Record: 8-7
Carolina’s defense continues to give Bryce Young consistent opportunities to steal games if he can play just halfway decent. He did exactly that on Sunday, and now has a chance to steal the division crown from the Bucs in two weeks.
14. Detroit Lions (Last week: 13)
Record: 8-7
Detroit has a six percent chance to make the playoffs now after an utterly heartbreaking loss. It’s wild that one of the league’s most lethal offenses will be off to Cancún in two weeks. It’s pretty clear where they need to focus in the offseason.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers (Last week: 14)
Record: 9-6
Jaylen Warren put the game away. And then he put it away again. But then somehow it still wasn’t put away and they nearly lost. Wild, wild ending, but a massive win for soon-to-be division champs.
12. Houston Texans (Last week: 12)
Record: 10-5
Well, that was almost disastrous. C.J. Stroud and the offense were pretty mediocre, but against the Raiders, that’s still plenty good enough to escape with a win.
11. Green Bay Packers (Last week: 9)
Record: 9-5-1
Malik Willis filled in admirably for the concussed Jordan Love, but Green Bay still couldn’t generate enough offense to avoid the heartbreaking ending. The Pack need their quarterback back for next week’s matchup against Baltimore for all the marbles.
10. Philadelphia Eagles (Last week: 10)
Record: 10-5
Philly looked much more like its normal self on Saturday, but once again beat up on a terrible opponent. Congrats on winning the division, but let’s see how good you really are against Buffalo next week.
9. Jacksonville Jaguars (Last week: 11)
Record: 11-4
Trevor Lawrence has 10 total touchdowns over the last two games and has Jacksonville, with a stout defense, looking like a legit title contender.
8. Los Angeles Chargers (Last week: 8)
Record: 11-4
So Justin Herbert seems just fine after having surgery two weeks ago. A solid run game, led by Omarion Hampton, does wonders for this offense.
7. Chicago Bears (Last week: 7)
Record: 11-4
Caleb Williams officially has ascended. Now he’s connecting on walk-off bombs to beat division opponents and keep pace for one of the conference’s top seeds. Chicago’s one step closer to wrapping up the division.
6. San Francisco 49ers (Last week: 6)
Record: 10-4
(Monday Night Football)
5. Buffalo Bills (Last week: 5)
Record: 11-4
James Cook had a monster first half and then Buffalo’s offense just completely shut down in the second half. It was a little-too-close for comfort, but they squeaked out to keep pace in the division.
4. Los Angeles Rams (Last week: 2)
Record: 11-4
Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua had a mind meld on Thursday night. Their best performance of the season. Perhaps ever? And they still lost. A drama-filled week for Los Angeles ended with it firing its special teams coordinator. Sure, that will fix things.
3. Denver Broncos (Last week: 1)
Record: 12-3
Back to back weeks where Denver’s all-world defense looked anything but that. The AFC West just got very, very interesting. Guess who the Broncos play in Week 18 …
2. Seattle Seahawks (Last week: 4)
Record: 12-3
Well, that was fun. It wasn’t perfect, but Sam Darnold bucked the ‘can’t come through in prime-time’ narrative. Seattle is the conference’s top seed … for now.
1. New England Patriots (Last week: 3)
Record: 12-3
Did Drake “Drake Maye” Maye just reclaim the lead in the MVP race? What an impressive bounce-back win for the young star, who has New England back in the playoffs and currently in prime position to land the No. 1 seed.
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast