The Titans scored another huge win and the Chiefs continued to struggle. Those games and more are sorted out in the 2021 NFL Power Rankings at Week 8
There was once again a lot of intrigue during Week 7 as the Tennessee Titans faced the Kansas City Chiefs following their huge win over the Buffalo Bills the week prior, and the Los Angeles Rams took on the Detroit Lions.
Typically, a winless team facing one of the best in the business isn’t compelling but when it involves teams that completed a blockbuster trade where quarterbacks were swapped, it draws some attention.
In those games, the Rams held off the motivated Lions and the Titans made another statement whereas the Chiefs continued to struggle with consistency.
Let’s dive in now and see how those games and many others impacted our Week 8 edition of the 2021 NFL Power Rankings.
2021 NFL Power Rankings Week 8: Titans make another statement
This season has been hard for the Detroit Lions. They’re 0-7 entering Week 8 and may have suffered their second most disheartening loss of the season. Of course, the most painful one for them was when Justin Tucker hit an NFL-record 66-yard field goal to steal a 19-17 win.
Now, they had a 28-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in a game full of emotion. Jared Goff had a shot at his former team and the Lions surely wanted to show Matthew Stafford they could still compete without him.
Head coach Dan Campbell treated this one like his Super Bowl. After scoring on the opening drive, Campbell called for a surprise onside kick which his team recovered. They also had a fake punt on that drive, which ended in a field goal as they were up 10-0.
From there, the Rams were able to take the lead and with it sitting at 25-19, the Lions again started to move the ball. They went 63 yards on 15 plays but Goff was pressured by Aaron Donald which led to him throwing a bad pick to Jalen Ramsey. L.A. killed most of the clock and kicked a field goal to put it away.
Detroit is still looking for that first win but you have to admire their heart.