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The first half of the season has showed that a few trendy picks to leap into contention — namely the Bears and the Browns — clearly were not ready for those heady expectations.
Meanwhile, the Fab 5 in The Post’s weekly NFL Power Rankings remain unchanged from one week ago, as the top teams continue to separate themselves from the league’s also-rans as we enter Week 9 with two unbeaten squads and two winless ones at either end of the list.
The Rams notably worked their way back into the Top 10 with their second straight win, with surging Indianapolis also making a three-spot jump to land right behind them.
1. New England Patriots, 8-0 (Last week: 1): This incredibly is shaping up to be Bill Belichick’s best defensive unit during his prolific time in New England, with a league-high 25 forced turnovers and just 61 points allowed through eight games. The Pats are 8-0 for the third time in team history, halfway to their perfect 16-0 regular season in 2007 (when they finished, ahem, 18-1 overall). Sunday night’s road contest against Lamar Jackson and Baltimore (2nd in the league in total offense) should represent their biggest test yet.
2. San Francisco 49ers, 7-0 (2): The Niners’ defense — led by No. 2-overall pick Nick Bosa, who Richard Sherman believes has been the league’s defensive MVP — has been just as stingy as New England’s D over the past four weeks (23 points allowed), including a 51-13 clubbing of a previously hot Carolina offense ahead of Thursday’s visit to Arizona.
3. New Orleans Saints, 7-1 (3): Drew Brees receives a bye this week to recuperate from his impressive 373-yard return from September thumb surgery, with three games against Atlanta and Tampa Bay coming up in November. The Saints also boast the second-best run defense in the league (sixth overall) through eight weeks, at 84.2 rushing yards per game.
4. Green Bay Packers, 7-1 (4): Aaron Rodgers has tossed eight TD passes the past two weeks, even if he didn’t get to square off with injured counterpart Patrick Mahomes in Sunday’s win in Kansas City. Running back Aaron Jones has provided tremendous balance for the Pack all season, leading the league with 11 touchdowns, one more than Carolina’s Christian McCaffery, entering Sunday’s road game against the Chargers.
5. Minnesota Vikings, 6-2 (5): Speaking of balance, no offensive attack has been as versatile lately as that of the Vikings, with NFL rushing leader Dalvin Cook (823 yards) opening up the field for Kirk Cousins and the passing game for big plays. That especially has been true for no-longer disgruntled deep threat Stefon Diggs, who has seven catches in each of his past three games for 167, 142 and 143 yards, respectively, entering Sunday’s game at Kansas City.
6. Seattle Seahawks, 6-2 (7): The Seahawks need to stay within two games of undefeated San Francisco to have any chance of catching them in the NFC West, with their first of two head-to-head matchups in the second half looming on Nov. 11. Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson (17-1 TDs/INTs) first must remain focused on this week’s home game against Tampa Bay.
7. Baltimore Ravens, 5-2 (9): Jackson’s legs (82.4 rushing yards per game) and arm (235.7) should be well-rested before Sunday’s home showdown against the Patriots, a potential statement game for John Harbaugh and the Ravens in the AFC. Teams 2-through-6 in the rankings all hail from the other conference.
8. Kansas City Chiefs, 5-3 (8): The Chiefs will maintain first place in the mediocre AFC West for at least another week, even if Mahomes (dislocated kneecap) misses his second consecutive start. They have lost three consecutive games at Arrowhead Stadium and face another daunting challenge this week at home against the Vikings.
9. Buffalo Bills, 5-2 (6): The Bills’ only previous loss had been a low-scoring game against New England, but their five wins over that span came against the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Titans and Dolphins — teams with a combined record of 7-31. They have to bounce back from Sunday’s ugly 31-13 home loss to Philadelphia this week against 1-7 Washington.
10. Los Angeles Rams, 5-3 (13): The Rams’ odd three-game losing streak is firmly in the rearview, after taking care of bad teams Atlanta and Cincinnati by a combined 61-20 aggregate the past two games heading into their bye week.
11. Indianapolis Colts, 5-2 (14)
12. Houston Texans, 5-3 (11)
13. Dallas Cowboys, 4-3 (12)
14. Carolina Panthers, 4-3 (10)
15. Philadelphia Eagles, 4-4 (17)
16. Detroit Lions, 3-3-1 (16)
17. Jacksonville Jaguars, 4-4 (21)
19. Chicago Bears, 3-4 (15)
20. Arizona Cardinals, 3-4-1 (18)
21. Oakland Raiders, 3-4 (19)
22. Los Angeles Chargers, 3-5 (24)
23. Pittsburgh Steelers, 3-4 (25)
24. Cleveland Browns, 2-5 (22)
25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2-5 (23)
26. Giants, 2-6 (26): The Giants haven’t held a lead at any point during their four-game losing streak, and it seems unlikely that any players-only meetings or new players (i.e. Leonard Williams) will dramatically change that statistic on Monday night against rival Dallas. The Daniel Jones-Darius Slayton rookie tandem at least showed some promise with two touchdown hookups in Sunday’s loss to Detroit.
27. Denver Broncos, 2-6 (27)
28. Jets, 1-6 (28): Sam Darnold and the Jets will look to avoid another indignity — perhaps the ultimate one — this week against winless Miami. The Dolphins have allowed the second-most rushing yards per game this season (160.4), so maybe this finally will be the week Le’Veon Bell breaks out from the low-impact start to his Jets career.
29. Washington Redskins, 1-7 (29)
30. Atlanta Falcons, 1-7 (30)
31. Cincinnati Bengals, 0-8 (31)
32. Miami Dolphins, 0-7 (32)
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