NFL Power Rankings Week 3: Updated Standings After Thursday Night Football

Not every Thursday Night Football contest promises to deliver season-long implications possibly impacting the playoff picture. 

So went the thinking going into Thursday's Week 3 encounter between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, which held true enough but still provided a shocker in the form of Baker Mayfield coming into the game and lifting the Browns to their first win since 2016. 

After the Browns pulled off a stunner, marquee matchups like New Orleans-Atlanta, San Francisco-Kansas City and even Pittsburgh-Tampa Bay in the Monday slot line the rest of the slate. 

Before the full week rearranges what we know about the league, here's an updated look at power rankings. 

2018 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

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

Chicago Bears

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

It isn't a good idea to sleep on the Chicago Bears. 

They only get attention right now for the big trade for Khalil Mack. What seems to go flying under the radar is they only lost 24-23 to the Green Bay Packers in the season opener. 

There, Aaron Rodgers tossed a trio of touchdowns while Mitchell Trubisky was held underneath 200 yards passing. 

But if the Bears can shake off early-season rust, they're in a good spot. 

Chicago turned it around on Monday Night Football, taking down the Seattle Seahawks 24-17. Trubisky threw for 200 yards with a pair of touchdowns and interceptions, but the real story was shutting down the Russell Wilson-led attack while tallying six sacks. 

Defense, as always, is where the Bears will feast or starve: 

All the Bears have to do now is take care of business. With Rodgers ailing and a relatively simple schedule outside of games against New England and the Los Angeles Rams, the outlook seems solid. The offense will need to take a leap and better utilize running backs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen (only nine carries and five targets for the latter), but the defense will be good enough to keep them in games. 

Sometimes that's enough, making the Bears one of the top teams to watch moving forward. 

Indianapolis Colts

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Andrew Luck can only get better from here. 

Through two games since his return, Luck has completed 71.4 percent of his passes for 498 yards and four touchdowns against three interceptions. 

Luck struggled in his first game back and had to work off the rust against an elite Cincinnati pass rush, going down to the Bengals 34-23. Week 2 was better despite it being a road contest, as Luck tossed a pair of scores and interceptions in a 21-9 win over the Washington Redskins. 

The Colts go as Luck goes—and he'll go based on how well he can adapt to new faces in front of him, as always:

But this isn't as scary as it sounds. New head coach Frank Reich has Luck staying away from his deep-gunning ways, instead opting for quick-hitting plays. It's working, and the defense is starting to turn a corner in large part thanks to unexpected performances from guys like Margus Hunt (two sacks) and second-round rookie Darius Leonard, who already leads the team in tackles. 

Outside of a date against New England, the Colts look good from a season-long perspective, too. The AFC South has a dominant Jacksonville Jaguars team, but severely underwhelming Tennessee and Houston squads. 

Call Luck the great equalizer who could even give Jacksonville problems, so he's perhaps the top individual player to watch in the coming weeks.  

Houston Texans

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

Houston got a mention above, but it's worth expanding. 

Deshaun Watson is undergoing serious growing pains for the Texans, hence the 0-2 start. He mustered only 176 yards with one touchdown and an interception on 34 attempts in a 27-20 loss to the New England Patriots. He then rebounded with 310 yards and two touchdowns with a pick in a 20-17 defeat to the Tennessee Titans. Watson acknowledged he held onto the ball too long with the game on the line late. 

"We tried to take a shot," Watson said, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "We didn't have any timeouts, and they guarded the sideline very well. My instincts took over and tried to get the ball and time ran out."

Everything else seems in place for the Texans. They're averaging 5.3 yards per carry on the ground with Lamar Miller healthy for the time being and the defense has been respectable, though it's odd to see a J.J. Watt-led unit only tally three sacks.

And while one could argue things will even out, it's weird to think the Texans have lost two games, one at the hands of Tom Brady, the other...Blaine Gabbert. 

Playing Jacksonville twice is a brutal fate, and they are already two in the hole in the AFC, not to mention 0-1 in the division. It's now or never for the Texans, who have yet to be seriously wounded by the injury bug. By the time Watson gets it going, other ailments could make the 0-2 start more devastating than it seems right now.