NFL Power Rankings Week 5: Post-Thursday Night Football Standings, Review

Week 5 of the 2020 NFL season began with a competitive matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears that went down to the wire at Soldier Field in Chicago. But in the end, the Bears held on for a 20-19 victory, as they improved to 4-1. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers fell to 3-2.

That game also started a week in which the NFL schedule is again going to be impacted by positive COVID-19 tests. For the second straight week, the New England Patriots are having their game moved from Sunday to Monday, when they'll host the Denver Broncos. The Tennessee Titans, who were postponed last week, have had their home matchup against the Buffalo Bills moved to Tuesday.

So, Thursday's Bucs-Bears matchup was only the start of a busy week, as there are still 14 games to come. (The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions are on a bye.)

Heading into the rest of Week 5, here's a look at the current NFL standings and the latest power rankings, followed by more on Thursday night's contest.

Current NFL Standings

AFC East
1. Buffalo Bills (4-0)
2. New England Patriots (2-2)
3. Miami Dolphins (1-3)
4. New York Jets (0-4)

AFC North
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0)
2. Baltimore Ravens (3-1)
3. Cleveland Browns (3-1)
4. Cincinnati Bengals (1-2-1)

AFC South
1. Tennessee Titans (3-0)
2. Indianapolis Colts (3-1)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-3)
4. Houston Texans (0-4)

AFC West
1. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0)
2. Las Vegas Raiders (2-2)
3. Denver Broncos (1-3)
4. Los Angeles Chargers (1-3)

NFC East
1. Philadelphia Eagles (1-2-1)
2. Washington Football Team (1-3)
3. Dallas Cowboys (1-3)
4. New York Giants (0-4)

NFC North
1. Green Bay Packers (4-0)
2. Chicago Bears (4-1)
3. Minnesota Vikings (1-3)
4. Detroit Lions (1-3)

NFC South
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2)
2. New Orleans Saints (2-2)
3. Carolina Panthers (2-2)
4. Atlanta Falcons (0-4)

NFC West
1. Seattle Seahawks (4-0)
2. Los Angeles Rams (3-1)
3. Arizona Cardinals (2-2)
4. San Francisco 49ers (2-2)

Current NFL Power Rankings

1. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0)
2. Seattle Seahawks (4-0)
3. Green Bay Packers (4-0)
4. Baltimore Ravens (3-1)
5. Buffalo Bills (4-0)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0)
7. Tennessee Titans (3-0)
8. New Orleans Saints (2-2)
9. New England Patriots (2-2)
10. Los Angeles Rams (3-1)
11. Chicago Bears (4-1)
12. Indianapolis Colts (3-1)
13. Cleveland Browns (3-1)
14. San Francisco 49ers (2-2)
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2)
16. Arizona Cardinals (2-2)
17. Las Vegas Raiders (2-2)
18. Dallas Cowboys (1-3)
19. Carolina Panthers (2-2)
20. Los Angeles Chargers (1-3)
21. Minnesota Vikings (1-3)
22. Philadelphia Eagles (1-2-1)
23. Miami Dolphins (1-3)
24. Detroit Lions (1-3)
25. Cincinnati Bengals (1-2-1)
26. Houston Texans (0-4)
27. Atlanta Falcons (0-4)
28. Washington Football Team (1-3)
29. Denver Broncos (1-3)
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-3)
31. New York Giants (0-4)
32. New York Jets (0-4)

Thursday Night Football Recap

Even though the Bears have already made a quarterback switch this season, replacing Mitchell Trubisky with Nick Foles, they're currently 4-1 and will be a half-game behind the Packers in the NFC North at the end of Week 5. But a major reason for that has been Chicago's defense.

On Thursday, the Bears held the Bucs to 339 total yards and only allowed them to get into the end zone once. Chicago also got a key defensive stop in the final minute, forcing Tom Brady to throw an incompletion on a 4th-and-6 at the Buccaneers' 41-yard line.

It's not often that Brady can't lead his team to a comeback victory. And with 33 seconds to go when the Bucs turned the ball over on downs, they had time to potentially get into field-goal range, even with no timeouts remaining. Instead, Tampa Bay suffered its first loss since its season opener at New Orleans.

"I know we needed a chunk, and I was thinking about more yardage and it was bad execution," Brady said. "I had a great opportunity there. Just didn't execute when we needed to."

Although the Bucs jumped out to a 13-0 lead, the Bears scored a pair of touchdowns in the final two minutes of the opening half—a three-yard run by David Montgomery and a 12-yard pass from Foles to Jimmy Graham—to take a 14-13 lead into the break.

After forcing Tampa Bay to go three-and-out late in the fourth quarter, Chicago took the lead for good on a 38-yard field goal by Cairo Santos, his second of the fourth quarter, with 1 minute, 13 seconds to go. The Bears then held on to bounce back from their Week 4 loss to the Colts. Chicago is off to a 4-1 start for the first time since 2012 (when it opened the season with seven wins in their first eight games).

"There's something special about this team," Bears head coach Matt Nagy said, according to ESPN's Jeff Dickerson. "We find ways to win, and it's not always pretty; we totally understand that. This is a big win for us, to be 4-1. Every win is so crucial, so I'm proud of our coaches and players for that."

The Bears will look to keep their early-season momentum going the next two weeks when they go on the road to face the Panthers and Rams. They haven't played an NFC North rival since their Week 1 win at Detroit, and they don't play another until their home matchup against Minnesota in Week 10.

The Buccaneers will look to bounce back next week when they have another tough matchup against the Packers, who will be 4-0 and coming off their bye week.