NFL Power Rankings: 5 Teams Gaining Traction at the Right Time

The NFL is now to the point where every team has played more than half its game. We are officially over the top of the hill, and now is the time to gain traction. As the saying goes, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," and these are five teams that are playing like they will finish well. 

No. 2 San Francisco 49ers: Usually, when a team starts this well, you think it's that they had the easier part of their schedule come first (see Cincinnati). The 49ers started off going 8-1 against the hardest part of their schedule, though. Now they get the easy part, and they are rolling.  

No. 4 Chicago Bears: They started horribly, giving out sacks like they were Halloween candy. But over the last four weeks, they have only given up four. In last week's game, each aspect of the Bears game—the offense, the defense and the special teams—independently outscored the entire Lions production. That's firing on all cylinders.

No. 8 New England Patriots: They stumbled a bit against the Steelers and Giants when they lost their two straight, but after last week's convincing win against the Jets, they are back to their winning ways and could win out.

No. 17 Oakland Raiders: They were universally hailed as veritable idiots after they made the trade for Carson Palmer, but now they're making a Bush, a Palmer and a Moore look like one bird in the palm of the hand or two in the bush look like less that what they gave up.  

No. 20 Denver Broncos:  If Tim Tebow leads the Denver Broncos to the playoffs, a possibility in the weak AFC West, then Skip Bayless, already the most insufferable human being on the planet, will be even more full of himself!

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