NFL Week 4 power rankings: Detroit Lions’ last-second win doesn’t move the needle

One of the weirdest NFL seasons in recent memory continued this week. We saw more fourth quarter comebacks, two potential Conference Championship previews and a few teams that were projected to be a part of playoff race saw their hopes potentially die completely just three weeks into the season.

• Early Playoff Previews

The two biggest matchups of the week were measuring stick games. Early on in the year, contenders had a chance to see each other in action and compare where they stand relative to one another early in the season.

On Sunday afternoon the Dallas Cowboys paid a visit to the Seattle Seahawks up in the Pacific Northwest. Both teams expect to be key figures in the NFC playoffs this year, both should win their divisions, and both should be expecting to go the distance this season. In order to get to the Super Bowl, though, they will first have to get by each other.

The Cowboys fell behind early, but just like they did in Week 2, they managed to claw their way back into the game and even take a late lead. Russell Wilson and his Seahawks quickly put together a two-minute drive, though, stealing back a 38-31 victory to remain a perfect 3-0 on the year.

On “Monday Night Football” we saw a game billed as a matchup that will define this generation of the NFL, as Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs took on Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens. Jackson entered the game winless against Mahomes in the quarterback’s two previous matchups, and his record remained that way.

Jackson got off to a rough start, and once the Ravens fell behind, things really started to unravel. Their offense never got going, and their defense was assigned the impossible task of somehow stopping Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. Kansas City won 34-20, but even a two possession differential on the scoreboard does not show how lopsided this game was.

Seattle and Kansas City are your Super Bowl favorites this year, and they proved why in Week 3.

• We are seeing some terrible collapses

I was really low on the Atlanta Falcons entering this season, but I did not expect this.

The Falcons are now 0-3 on the year after they blew yet another late lead this week. Atlanta ended the third quarter leading 26-10, and the Chicago Bears were in disarray, even making the change from Mitchell Trubisky to Nick Foles at quarterback. Foles, a player who got benched last season for a rookie sixth-round pick, decimated the Falcons defense, throwing three fourth quarter touchdown passes. Matt Ryan and his offense had no response, and somehow Chicago walked out of Mercedes Benz Arena with a 30-26 win and a 3-0 record.

Meanwhile, the Falcons are now 0-3, they have blown double digit second half leads in each of their last two games,. Their defense is yet to hold a team to under 30 points on the season. Things are looking dire.

Another big collapse is the career of Carson Wentz. Once heralded as an elite quarterback, and potentially even the future of the league, the quarterback may find himself out of a starting role soon.

The quarterback had another bad day in a battle on winless teams between his Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinnati Bengals. He managed only 225 passing yards on 47 attempts, throwing a touchdown and two interceptions as well.

Philadelphia expected to compete for a playoff spot this season, but after tying this game to a young team that has no expectations of victory this year, they are now 0-2-1, and a change at quarterback may be on the horizon. The calls to put second-round pick Jalen Hurts under center will only get louder unless something changes.

The entire city of New York is collapsing as well. The Giants and the Jets find themselves at the bottom of the power rankings and for good reason. The Giants got hammered 36-9 by a San Francisco 49ers team with more key players on the injury report than on the field. Jets quarterback Sam Darnold managed to score more points for the other team (14, two pick-sixes and a safety) than his own team scored in a 36-7 shellacking at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts.