NFL Week 8 power rankings roundup: Detroit Lions still have a lot to prove

If you haven’t already, check out our Week 8 power rankings, as curated by our own Mansur Shaheen. He has a pretty darn good grasp of the entire league, and does a great job remaining as objective as possible with his rankings.

But this week, I wanted to expand our outlook for power rankings. The Detroit Lions have been a very confusing team thus far. Their three wins have all come against teams with winning records, but their three losses are all against teams with losing records. So I wanted to see what the national perception is of this team after moving to .500 last week with a road victory against the Dolphins.

Here’s where they stand after Week 7 according to several other outlets.

SB Nation: 17th (up 7)
ESPN: 20th (up 3)
USA Today: 19th (up 4)
Yahoo Sports: 15th (up 3)
NFL.com: 12th (up 5)

It’s obvious the Lions still have to go a long way to prove themselves to NFL analysts. Only two publications have the team in the top half of the league, but just about everyone has them in that middle tier of teams. That certainly makes sense, given not only how inconsistent the team has been but their overall 3-3 record.

Still, there are some oddities among these rankings. ESPN has the Dolphins two spots above the Lions despite Detroit taking it to them on their home turf two days ago. SB Nation has the Dolphins one spot ahead of the Lions.

What may not come as a surprise is that the Lions are last in the NFC North in all of these power rankings... except for one. NFL.com has the Packers a spot below Detroit at 13.

This week the Lions are hosting the Seahawks, who hold an identical 3-3 record and have also won three of their last four. Analysts have the Seahawks slotted right around the same place as the Lions: smack dab in the middle of the league. Check it out:

SB Nation: 18th
ESPN: 16th
USA Today: 16th
Yahoo Sports: 16th
NFL.com: 17th

So which team is more mediocre? We’ll find out this Sunday.