Week 7 Power Rankings

Walterfootball (8. Lions:  Underrated NFL Team: See why the Lions are an overrated NFL team in our new Overrated-Underrated page.):  http://walterfootball.com/nflpowerrankings.php

USA Today (10. Lions (4): Detroit was mere seconds away from claiming first place in NFL's toughest division. Instead, Lions get sunk by mental errors and bad calls — feel free to send officials a hefty fine in a FedEx envelope this week, Trey Flowers.):  https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2019/10/15/week-6-nfl-power-rankings-cowboys-texans-seahawks/3982289002/

FTW Power Rankings (10. Lions):  https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/10/nfl-power-rankings-week-5-seahawks-49ers-browns-panthers-cardinals-redskins-dolphins

Freep (12. Lions (2-2-1):  Don’t blame officiating. You can’t settle for five field goals and expect to beat a good team on the road.):   https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2019/10/15/nfl-power-rankings-detroit-lions-green-bay-packers/3983238002/

SI (12. Detroit Lions, 2-2-1 (10):  A crushing divisional loss for the Lions on Monday Night Football, marred by bad officiating. Detroit remains one of the toughest teams to figure out this season, but next week’s matchup against Minnesota will be crucial.):  https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/10/15/nfl-power-rankings-week-7-patriots-49ers-saints

Touchdown Wire Doug Farrar (12. Lions:  Clete Blakeman’s crew doesn’t just owe Matt Patricia and the Lions an apology after a 23-22 loss to the Packers in which there were several crucial wrong calls from the officiating group. There should be something more after one grievously missed pass interference call on Green Bay, and two weird hands to the face calls on Detroit defensive lineman Trey Flowers that swing the game in Green Bay’s favor. There will no doubt be a boilerplate apology from the league, but that doesn’t help Detroit’s playoff prospects. Now, it wasn’t entirely the fault of Blakeman’s crew – the Lions also blew leads of 13-0 and 22-13 – but at a time where there’s perhaps less confidence in the quality of NFL officiating than ever before, this Monday night meltdown is an extremely bad look for the league.):  https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2019/10/14/nfl-week-7-power-rankings-subtle-differences-between-playoff-teams-and-also-rans/

NFL (13. Lions:  A brutal loss for the Lions, who have every right to be furious after a pair of bogus illegal-hands-to-the-face penalties on Trey Flowers all but doomed them in the fourth quarter. In Detroit, we imagine these blown calls might paper over the Lions' shortcomings, which included blowing a 13-point lead, settling for five field goals on multiple trips to the Packers' side of the field and allowing 100 yards rushing on the ground for the fifth consecutive game. The Lions once again proved they can hang with the NFL's best teams ... but can they get over the hump?):  http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001066009/article/nfl-power-rankings-week-7-49ers-eyeing-no-1-texans-surge

AP Pro32 (13. Lions):  https://pro32.ap.org/poll

MLive (No. 14 -- Detroit Lions (2-2-1): The Detroit Lions lost another heartbreaker coming out of the bye week. There were some controversial calls, no doubt, but the Lions kicked two field goals from inside the 10-yard line and five kicks altogether. Detroit also gift-wrapped a touchdown in the 23-22 loss to the Packers by having 12 men on the field during a field-goal attempt. Week 7: vs. Vikings):  https://www.mlive.com/lions/2019/10/mlives-week-7-nfl-power-rankings-lions-dont-fall-far-after-last-second-loss-in-green-bay.html

CBS (14. Lions):  https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/powerrankings/

SN (17. Lions 2-2-1 (15):  The Lions missed a big opportunity to take a leap in Lambeau and prove they should be considered NFC North title contenders. The running game and defense are playing bigger roles this season, but their decent start has been tied to late career-best play from Matthew Stafford.):  https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-power-rankings-49ers-saints-vikings-texans-cowboys-eagles-week-7/1lvi4bq7leyim1plh1e82i29pp

ESPN (17. Detroit Lions (2-2-1) - Biggest weakness: Run defense.  The Lions have showed improvement in almost every area compared with a season ago, but they've struggled against the run. They are allowing 4.84 yards per carry (26th in the league) along with 124.8 yards per game. They allowed over 100 yards rushing in every game the first month of the season and had given up five rushing scores entering Monday night against Green Bay. -- Michael Rothstein):  https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27839117/week-7-nfl-power-rankings-1-32-poll-plus-every-team-biggest-weakness

PFT Power Rankings (18. Lions (2-2-1; No. 12): Yes, they got screwed. If they’d gotten touchdowns instead of field goals, the bad calls wouldn’t have mattered.):  https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/10/15/pfts-week-seven-power-rankings-2/

Yahoo (18. Detroit Lions (2-2-1, LW: 18):  The Lions had their chances, of course, and no one call is going to determine a football game. But yeah, they should be salty about the officiating on Monday night. That was really bad.):  https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-power-rankings-eagles-and-cowboys-havent-been-as-good-as-advertised-041736819.html

PFF (21. DETROIT LIONS: Yes, the Lions lost another hard-fought, close game to drop them to 2-2-1, but the performance moved them up several spots in our rankings. Despite what Booger McFarland would have you believe, their improved offense from a season ago is spear-headed by Matthew Stafford letting the ball fly and pushing it downfield once more, not the running game. He’s able to throw to two of the better contested-catch receivers in the NFL on those deep balls. Kenny Golladay ranks fourth among all players with 50-plus contested targets since 2017 in catch rate (53.1%) and Marvin Jones ranks 5th (52.6%).):  https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-2019-pff-week-6-nfl-power-rankings

Average Power Ranking (209/15):  14