32. Detroit Lions, 0-6 (-2)

The Lions were winless but competitive. Now, they’re not even that. Consider this their home (den?) until they put a couple in the win column.

31. Houston Texans, 1-5 ( - )

After getting smacked around by the Indianapolis Colts, the Texans now have the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams. They could have a three-week stretch of losing by 100+ points.

30. Jacksonville Jaguars, 1-5 (+2)

The Jaguars finally got one...against the Dolphins, with the closest of margins. I still don’t love this team which is flawed and with no real sense of pulling out of it, but it has to feel great for the players to get that monkey off their back.

29. New York Jets, 1-4 ( - )

The Patriots shut down the offense in their first meeting a few weeks back. Will coming off a bye week change that, at all? Probably not...

28. Miami Dolphins, 1-5 ( - )

The Dolphins should probably drop some, but it’s difficult to win across the Atlantic without your top cornerbacks. That said, this team absolutely belongs at the bottom of any list except, “teams who need new coaching staffs.”

27. Atlanta Falcons, 2-3 ( - )

Falcons were 2-1 in the three weeks before their bye and now have the Dolphins, Panthers and Saints. If they can go 2-1 in the three weeks after their bye (heck, even 1-2), things won’t be nearly as desperate as they seemed a month ago.

26. New York Giants, 1-5 ( - )

The Giants, fully healthy, are a competitive team that can easily be manipulated because they’ve got some flaws. I have my quibbles with quarterback Daniel Jones, but he’s talented and dynamic enough to overcome those...sometimes. Now, with injuries mounting, this might be the worst team in football.

25. Philadelphia Eagles, 2-4 ( - )

Losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a short week doesn’t mean much, but upcoming games against the Las Vegas Raiders and Lions will determine a lot about this season. With a healthy offensive line, this team can go as far as QB Jalen Hurts takes them.

24. Chicago Bears, 3-3 ( - )

The Bears have quietly gone .500 against one of the more difficult early schedules in the NFL and amid a QB change. The only problem? The schedule doesn’t get any easier for another month.

23. Minnesota Vikings, 3-3 ( - )

Speaking of tough schedules, the Vikings finally got the “close game” juju working just in time for a stretch featuring Dallas, Baltimore, the Los Angeles Chargers, Green Bay and San Francisco.

22. Indianapolis Colts, 2-4 ( - )

The Colts have won two of their last three and went toe-to-toe in losses against the Rams and Ravens. Sitting at 2-4 stinks, but this is a competitive team.

21. Washington Football Team, 2-4 ( - )

In my notebook, I put head coach Ron Rivera on the hotseat, and I firmly believe that this team needs to show improvement both overall and especially defensively or see some wholesale changes. With the Packers this week, expectations should be low.

20. New England Patriots, 2-4 (-2)

Yeah, it was a loss to the Cowboys, but Patriots fans are as high on rookie QB Mac Jones as they’ve been. This week, it’s the Jets, so life is looking up!

19. Pittsburgh Steelers, 3-3 (-)

Ya’ll almost lost to QB Geno Smith...don’t get too excited about .500

18. Denver Broncos, 3-3 (-2)

Started 3-0 and now we’re here. This is a bad offense and a defense that doesn’t look nearly as stout as we all thought. Ya’ll got any more of those garbage teams from Weeks 1-3?

17. Las Vegas Raiders, 4-2 (+3)

This team isn't in nearly as much disarray as we all thought. Philadelphia and the Giants are a pretty great midyear chance to rehab the image.

16. New Orleans Saints, 3-2 (-2)

Quietly one of the top defenses in the league, they’ll have both a bye week and a long week to prep for Geno Smith and the Seahawks who are battered on both sides of the ball.

15. Carolina Panthers, 3-3 (-2)

The next three weeks is Giants, Falcons and Patriots. Either the Panthers move way up this list or they move way down. There isn’t a lot of middle ground left for them in what’s been a pretty enigmatic season both for their reclamation project at quarterback and for a defense that has taken a step back after an initial dominant start.

14. San Francisco 49ers, 2-3 (-3)

Put the blame on QB Jimmy Garoppolo all you want, but the passing offense has been middle of the road.

13. Seattle Seahawks, 2-4 (-3)

Smith has played well, but don’t expect too much out of this team for the rest of the season. Head Coach Pete Carroll seems to be slowing down for the first time in a long, storied NFL career and the team around him seems listless.

12. Cleveland Browns, 3-3 ( - )

I asked my Three & Out co-host, Samantha Bunten what I should say about the Browns: “How many starters do we have injured now? Like nine? You’re looking at Case Keenum and a banged-up offensive line, so trending down.”

11. Cincinnati Bengals, 4-2 (+6)

Beating the Lions doesn’t give you a lot of cred, but the Bengals are clicking offensively. No one is going to expect much out of this week’s matchup with the Ravens but overall this is a team worth getting excited about.

10. Tennessee Titans, 4-2 (+5)

Last week, I called the Buffalo Bills “suddenly one of the scariest teams” in the NFL. Now? Both physically and mentally, the Titans look like a much tougher team.

9. Kansas City Chiefs, 3-3 ( - )

It was one thing when it was the Chiefs defense letting us all down, but now QB Patrick Mahomes seems to be struggling as well...and they face those scary Titans from above.

8. Los Angeles Chargers, 4-2 (-1)

We knew the Chargers were good, but it’s not entirely surprising that the Ravens were able to pick apart a known weakness in their rushing defense. The Chargers have a lot of teams lower than them on this list coming up on the schedule, so it’s “take care of business” time for a team that’s struggled with that in the past.

7. Dallas Cowboys, 5-1 (+1)

If the Cowboys can avoid a shootout with the Vikings this week, they should not only move up this list even more but firmly place themselves outside of shooting distance in the NFC East.

6. Buffalo Bills, 4-2 (-3)

The NFL is so top-heavy at the moment that the Bills were probably 13 inches away from moving up to No. 1 in these rankings but fall to No. 6 instead.

5. Green Bay Packers, 5-1 (-1)

Owning the Bears is nothing. Owning Football Team this week will mean even less. I’m looking forward to 10/28 against the Cardinals to see who really to be excited about.

4. Arizona Cardinals, 6-0 (+1)

See above.

3. Baltimore Ravens, 5-1 (+3)

Beating the Bengals will be huge for the Ravens, because there is a persistent thread of belief that the Ravens cannot consistently be who they’ve been the last 2-3 weeks.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 5-1 (-)

I’ve said it about a few other teams a few other times this season, but if you look forward on the schedule for the Buccaneers, you can be sure they’ll lose another game or two, but it’s difficult to see who that is. If the Buccaneers start to turn up more defensively, they’re headed right back to the Super Bowl.

1.Los Angeles Rams, 5-1 (-) Looking forward to QB Matthew Stafford playing against his old Lions this week? You might be the only one. They’ve got the Texans after that, so let’s end the talk about this defense struggling for a few weeks.