Week 7 power rankings: Are the Lions an above average team?

The Detroit Lions have now won two consecutive games against teams with winning records. Sure, the Los Angeles Rams weren’t that highly thought of and sure, the Philadelphia Eagles lost again this week, but the two wins have certainly put the Lions in a different perspective than two weeks ago.

Power rankers around the net seem to be taking notice, too. After spending a few weeks meddling toward the bottom of the league, the Lions are now smack dab in the middle of most rankings and are even creeping toward the top half of the league. Here’s how things look after six games.

• SB Nation: 19th (up 3)
• NFL.com: 16th (up 3)
• Yahoo! Sports: 19th (up 1)
• CBS Sports: 19th (up 3)
• USA Today: 13th (up 8)
• ESPN: 21st (down 1)

CBS has the Lions ranked highest all the way up at 13. They have them over teams like the Cardinals and Texans. Meanwhile, ESPN is back to their strange ways, dropping the Lions after a win for the second time this year. Their 21st ranking is fair, but still a bit strange considering the 2-4 Bengals and Chargers are both well above them.

The Lions face Washington this week, and for the third week in a row, Detroit will try to defeat a team generally believed to be a better team than they are. Washington is riding a four-game winning streak and currently holds a playoff spot at 4-2. As a result, experts have Washington right around 10th overall. Here’s a look:

• SB Nation - 9th
• NFL.com - 12th
• Yahoo! Sports - 11th
• CBS Sports - 10th
• USA Today - 10th
• ESPN - 9th