NFL Power Rankings Week 15: Updated Standings After Thursday Night Football

The NFL made a point to start Week 15 off with a juggernaut of a matchup as the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Los Angeles Chargers.

With AFC West supremacy and key AFC playoff seeding up for grabs, the Chargers pulled off the upset behind a pair of touchdowns and interceptions from Philip Rivers, not to mention two more scores from a strong running game despite the absence of Melvin Gordon. Fittingly, it matched the pre-game hype by ending on a two-point conversion. 

The week only gets more entertaining from there, with a pair of Saturday games on the schedule now that college football is out of the way. 

Before the dynamite lineup rolls into the weekend, let's revise the power rankings coming out of Thursday night. 

2018 NFL Power Rankings

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

Philadelphia Eagles 

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

It keeps getting worse for the Philadelphia Eagles. 

The Eagles have lost three of five, the exceptions being wins over bad New York Giants and Washington Redskins teams. More importantly, the team might have to go without Carson Wentz yet again. 

It was reported Thursday Wentz has a back injury: 

Chatter about last year's run without Wentz is all well and good, but the Eagles aren't as good this year. The team is hardly averaging four yards per carry with no standout in the backfield, and the defense has struggled as of late, letting up 27 or more points to Dallas twice and 48 to the New Orleans Saints. 

Painting in broad strokes, of the Eagles' six wins so far, only one came against a team with a winning record—the 7-6 Indianapolis Colts all the way back in Week 3. 

And it is not like the schedule gets much easier. The Eagles finish the season with a date against the Redskins again, but by then it might be too late thanks to games against the Los Angeles Rams and Houston Texans. 

Even so, last year's run does have to come up in the conversation and makes the Eagles a team to watch down the stretch. But in eighth in the NFC and boasting six wins just like the other teams, something has to happen fast.

Chicago Bears 

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

If anyone isn't a believer in the Chicago Bears now, chances are they hail from Wisconsin. 

Not only have the Bears won nine games this year, they have won six of seven, the only exception during the tear a three-point overtime loss to the Giants. 

Keep in mind the Bears have done this damage despite quarterback Mitchell Trubisky missing some time, which thrust Chase Daniel under center—where he mustered three touchdowns and two interceptions. 

As a testament to the Bears' overall strength, Trubisky tossed three picks last time out...yet still took down the superb Rams 15-6. To his credit, the signal-caller knows the deal: 

Against the Rams, the Bears picked off Jared Goff four times and held Todd Gurley to 28 yards on 11 carries. Written another way, he averaged 2.5 yards per carry. It shouldn't come as a surprise to find out the Bears rank 10th against the pass, second against the run and only permit an average of 19 points per game, which ranks third. 

Considering the Bears finish the season against Green Bay, San Francisco and Minnesota—all winnable games—it stands to reason the third seed should remain theirs. And if not, they have already shown they can beat teams like the Rams and Seattle Seahawks. 

Either way, there is something refreshing about seeing a defensive-minded team excel in December while the rest of the league airs it out, and it makes Chicago's final three games before the playoffs must-see material. 

New York Giants

Mark Tenally/Associated Press

The New York Giants are an interesting team to watch the rest of the way both because of how high they could climb in rankings and because of how much winning might encourage bad decisions this offseason. 

The Giants have won four of their last five since a Week 8 bye, the exception being the three-point loss to the Eagles. And while they have taken advantage of bad San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Washington teams, it is interesting to think about how the late-season success might skew offseason plans. 

And let's stop sugar coating it—this mostly concerns Eli Manning. The veteran was awful up until the bye but has turned it around since, throwing 10 of his 18 touchdowns over the five-game stretch while throwing just two of his eight interceptions. And even so, two of the games over the five were one touchdown, one interception games. 

Viewed through a long-term lens, Manning has had issues for a few seasons now: 

Some of this can be attributed to poor offensive line play and other excuses, but the front office tried to rectify these issues with guys like Nate Solder. The result is a 12th spot in the NFC with a 5-8 record in a relatively open conference. 

Manning has one year left on his deal, so it will be interesting to see what the Giants decide to do. The offense runs through Saquon Barkley and his 1,124 yards and nine touchdowns on a 5.4 average, not to mention talented weapons like Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, who could prop up most signal-callers. 

The Giants play Tennessee, Indianapolis and Dallas the rest of the way, making for one of the more interesting season-ending stretches due to the long-term implications it could have on the franchise.