NFL Power Rankings Week 12: Reaction and Standings After Thursday Night Football

A three-game slate on Thursday was bound to create a big change in the NFL Week 12 power rankings. 

As many watched on with fistfuls of turkey and otherwise, two divisional games and a cross-conference showdown made for an entertaining time with far-reaching consequences. 

In the first game, the Minnesota Vikings kept control of the NFC North with a 30-23 win over the Detroit Lions behind three total touchdowns from Case Keenum.

In the second, the Los Angeles Chargers made a mockery of the reeling Dallas Cowboys, 28-6, as Philip Rivers erupted for 434 passing yards and three scores.

Rounding out the action, the Washington Redskins squeaked past the New York Giants 20-10 in a game without playoff implications. 

Let's take a look at the updated power rankings. 

2017 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

Rank	Team
1	Philadelphia Eagles (11-2)
2	New Orleans Saints (9-1)
3	Minnesota Vikings (18-1)
4	Pittsburgh Steelers (11-2)
5	New England Patriots (7-2)
6	Los Angeles Rams (9-1)
7	Jacksonville Jaguars (25-1)
8	Carolina Panthers (20-1)
9	Seattle Seahawks (12-1)
10	Atlanta Falcons (28-1)
11	Kansas City Chiefs (12-1)
12	Los Angeles Chargers (200-1)
13	Detroit Lions (33-1)
14	Tennessee Titans (40-1)
15	Baltimore Ravens (125-1)
16	New York Jets (500-1)
17	Washington Redskins (125-1)
18	Dallas Cowboys (33-1)
19	Oakland Raiders (40-1)
20	Buffalo Bills (125-1)
21	Cincinnati Bengals (200-1)
22	Denver Broncos (200-1)
23	Houston Texans (200-1)
24	Chicago Bears (300-1)
25	Green Bay Packers (66-1)
26	Indianapolis Colts (1000-1)
27	New York Giants (1000-1)
28	Arizona Cardinals (200-1)
29	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (200-1)
30	Miami Dolphins (500-1)
31	San Francisco 49ers (5000-1)
32	Cleveland Browns (5000-1)

Pittsburgh Steelers

Are the Pittsburgh Steelers for real or not? 

It's a question worth asking and one still going strong since Week 1, where the Steelers struggled past the still-winless Cleveland Browns, 21-18. 

Ben Roethlisberger and Co. look good coming out of a 40-17 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 11, sure, but right before that was a 20-17 escape of the miserable Indianapolis Colts without a guy by the name of Andrew Luck. 

Other than general inconsistency, the Steelers just lost starting offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert to a four-game ban. 

Still, the Steelers are lucky the odd year comes at a time where the rest of the AFC is a downright mess. They're winning games they're supposed to, too, even if Big Ben is only completing 61.8 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and even if Le'Veon Bell is only rushing for 3.8 yards per carry and half of Antonio Brown's touchdowns (six) came in one game. 

Offensive oddities overshadow a strong point made by NFL Media's Chase Goodbread: 

An elite defense has the Steelers riding high, and we'll find out everything we need to know about them in a Week 15 showdown against the New England Patriots. 

Until then, the Steelers rank right alongside the best of the NFC barring a big hiccup. 

Carolina Panthers

It's easy to forget about the Carolina Panthers. 

Despite being winners of three in a row, Cam Newton's team goes grossly overlooked because they happen to reside in the same division as the league-best New Orleans Saints—and they lost to those Saints in Week 3, 34-13. 

It doesn't help, either, that the Panthers made an odd move at the deadline by trading away top wideout Kelvin Benjamin. 

But it might be time to wake up to these Panthers. They're 7-3, have bested teams like the Patriots and Detroit Lions and came within five points against the Philadelphia Eagles on a short week. At present, the Panthers should only get better thanks to the impending returns of tight end Greg Olsen and offensive lineman Ryan Kalil.

"We've kind of come together the last two weeks as an offense," coach Ron Rivera said, according to ESPN.com's David Newton. "There are a lot of positive signs. We're a completely different team than we were three, four, five, six weeks ago."

From a season-long perspective, the Panthers still get another shot at the Saints and face big tests against the Minnesota Vikings and Falcons once again. But with seven wins already and Newton, who only has 14 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, getting some help in the way of returns, it's time to stop overlooking the Panthers. 

After all, they have wins and otherwise close calls against some of the other top teams in the power rankings to date and an MVP-caliber player under center. 

Kansas City Chiefs

Then again, maybe we shouldn't knock the Steelers too much for inconsistency when reviewing what the Kansas City Chiefs have done so far this year. 

The Chiefs started hot, winning five in a row and even taking down both the Patriots and the Eagles. Since, they've lost four of five, even going down at the hands of the miserable New York Giants in overtime, 12-9. 

That overtime loss was especially ugly, with Alex Smith attempting 40 passes on the road and throwing two picks while rookie back Kareem Hunt rushed 18 times for 73 yards.

Call it the personification of the team's recent struggles—the rest of the league has caught on to Hunt and is forcing the Chiefs to beat them with Smith through the air. 

The Chiefs have gone on to hit an odd sort of panic mode, yanking Darrelle Revis out of free agency despite a miserable showing a year ago:

To be fair, maybe Revis provides a spark. But the defense, even without Eric Berry, largely hasn't been the problem considering it's the offense that has scored less than 20 points in three games since Week 6. 

Smith is a good example of how deceptive stats can be considering he has 18 touchdowns against three interceptions. The Chiefs will need an uptick in play to help open things up for the running game, which falls into the easier-said-than-done category with games against notables like Buffalo, the New York Jets and  Denver left on the schedule. 

Luckily for the Chiefs, the rest of the AFC West is a mess. But failing to iron out issues now means the team risks falling off with the rest of the division, if not getting bounced from the playoffs with ease. 

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. Odds courtesy of OddsShark.