NFL Power Rankings, Week 8: Biggest risers and fallers after Week 7

10. Chicago Bears

It’s got to feel pretty great for Chicago Bears fans to see their team potentially as one of the 10 best teams in the NFL right now.

The progression of the defense late last season (and carried over into this season) coupled with the development of Caleb Williams and all of those weapons on the offensive side of the ball? It’s the vision of GM Ryan Poles really coming to fruition. The stars have aligned.

Thank goodness for that mulligan on passing on CJ Stroud last year, right?

The Bears are a good team. How they fare over the long haul of an NFL season with a rookie under center remains to be seen, but as the Bears spent this week on a bye, there’s really no reason to be pessimistic at this point. The Bears have a good-looking team and the only thing stopping them from being relevant in January is the quality of their division, which makes up 40 percent of the top 10 teams in the league right now.

9. Houston Texans

We can’t ding the Houston Texans too much for the road loss against the Green Bay Packers in Week 7. Obviously, this Texans team is good. Obviously, they are in the driver’s seat of the AFC South and there’s barely anybody in the rear-view.

Okay, the Colts are still in the rear-view for now, but the Texans clearly look like the class of that division.

Houston went into Green Bay and nearly pulled off a win, but a last-second field goal by Green Bay sent Houston home 5-2 and disappointed. Still, like I said, I don’t think you can ding them too much for this loss when it comes to weekly NFL Power Rankings.

It’s very clear that Houston has one of the best teams in the NFL with the type of quarterback who can be a difference-maker in January. Speaking of, I think we do need to have a conversation about CJ Stroud throwing for just 86 yards and taking four sacks. Houston managed just 197 yards of offense in this game and it still took a last-second field goal for Green Bay to get the win.