NFL Power Rankings Week 10: Teams Who Will Prove Contender Status

Nicholas GossNov 8, 2011

The Chicago Bears' win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night football proved Chicago a legitimate playoff contender and a team to be feared heading down the stretch.

Conversely, the Eagles proved they are in fact pretenders, and likely will not make the playoffs unless they don't lose another game.

Let's look at three teams who will prove they are playoff contenders in Week 10 of the NFL season with crucial victories.

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Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons are 5-3 thus far, and have already matched their loss total of last season when they were the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Atlanta has been playing well recently and have won four of their last five games. Their Week 10 opponent, the New Orleans Saints, have looked beatable this season, especially on defense.

The Saints have given up a lot of passing yards, and against Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan the New Orleans pass defense will struggle again.

Ryan and rookie wide receiver Julio Jones, who caught his first two touchdowns last week, are starting to develop a nice chemistry.

The Falcons will beat the Saints on Sunday and take over first place in the NFC South.

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are a frustrating team because they look so good for stretches of a season, then look quite bad for other parts.

The inconsistency of their play has been a talked about part of their 2011 season, but they will beat the Oakland Raiders on Sunday night in a crucial AFC West matchup.

Despite losing to the Green Bay Packers last week, the Chargers didn't play that badly. Quarterback Philip Rivers threw two consecutive interceptions that were returned for touchdowns which, dug an early hole for the Chargers to climb out of.

Against a far weaker defense in Oakland, Rivers will not struggle, and in fact he will commit zero turnovers. Crazy? Well, stranger things have happened.

San Diego will get a crucial win to earn at least a share of the division lead by the end of Week 10.

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are just one game out of first place in the AFC West, and when they beat the overrated Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday they will be closer to the top of the division.

Quarterback Tim Tebow is 2-1 as a starter this season, and has found ways to win in the fourth quarter. Tebow has improved his passing in each game this season, and threw several nice touchdown passes last week in a win over the Oakland Raiders.

Tebow will be able to run on the weak Chiefs rushing defense, and will improve to 3-1 as a starter this season. The Chiefs are also one of the league's worst teams in sacking the quarterback, so Tebow will have enough time to sit in the pocket and find the open man.

Nicholas Goss' Week 10 NFL Power Rankings

1. Green Bay Packers

2. New York Giants

3. Baltimore Ravens

4. San Francisco 49ers

5. Detroit Lions

6. Pittsburgh Steelers

7. New Orleans Saints

8. New England Patriots

9. Buffalo Bills

10. Cincinnati Bengals

11. Houston Texans