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With the Detroit Lions on their bye week, there wasn’t much change in their power rankings from last week to this week. They are still a team that is very much considered average or slightly below average. Here’s a look at where they stand after seven weeks of the 2017 NFL season.
SB Nation (“hope rankings”): 19th (no change)
ESPN: 16th (down 1)
Washington Post: 21st (down 1)
Bleacher Report (Simms): 16th (down 2)
Yahoo! Sports: 14th (up 1)
USA Today: 16th (down 3)
CBS: not available
NFL.com: 17th (down 1)
Obviously, heading into the bye week on a two-game losing streak did very little to inspire NFL analysts across the world. But Detroit has a big opportunity to make an impression this week, because they’re hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers in front of a national audience, and this team is no joke.
According to our Week 8 power rankings roundup, this Steelers team is a consensus top five team right now. Check it out.
SB Nation (“hope rankings”): 3rd
ESPN: 4th
Washington Post: 3rd
Bleacher Report (Simms): 2nd
Yahoo! Sports: 4th
USA Today: 2nd
CBS: not available
NFL.com: 3rd
After handing the Chiefs their first loss on the road and easily defeating the Bengals last week, the Steelers are riding high. The last time Detroit played a team so highly ranked was the Falcons in Week 3, when Atlanta, too, was a consensus top five team. Detroit was barely edged out in that game, 30-26.
Sunday night, they’ll have yet another chance to prove they can hang with the league’s best.