Week 17 NFL power rankings: Welcome to the bottom half, Lions

To be the best you have to beat the best. So when you lose to one of the worst teams, what does that make you?

You know what? Don’t answer that.

The Detroit Lions lost to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Going into Week 16, the Bengals were a unanimous bottom eight team in the league. So, it stands to reason that the Lions, now out of the playoff race, are among the bottom half of the league in nearly every power ranking for the first time all year.

SB Nation (“hope rankings”): 18th (down 4)
ESPN: 14th (up 2)
Washington Post: 19th (down 7)
Bleacher Report (Simms): 17th (down 5)
USA Today: 17th (down 2)
CBS: 17th (no change)
NFL.com: 16th (down 2)

Of course, ESPN (per usual) throws the curveball of moving the Lions up two spots after a devastating loss. But everyone else is on board: After a performance like that, the Lions don’t deserve to be in the conversation among the top half of teams.

Down there with the Lions are the Green Bay Packers, who looked completely lifeless against the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday night. With Aaron Rodgers back on IR, most believe the Packers are well below the Lions in rankings.

SB Nation (“hope rankings”): 24th
ESPN: 21st
Washington Post: 21st
Bleacher Report (Simms): 20th
USA Today: 21st
CBS: 18th
NFL.com: 22nd

Where do you think the two teams belong in comparison to the rest of the year? Will either be a top half team in 2018?