Bears Behind Packers? Power Rankings are a JOKE!
ESPN came out with their weekly Power Rankings today and their ranking of the Chicago Bears shows that they and their rankings are a complete and total joke! The Bears, after a 20-17 win over the Green Bay Packers to move to a 3-0 record atop the NFC are ranked 5th. Not bad you say? Well consider who they’re ranked behind. Yup, you guessed it. They’re two slots behind those same Packers.
To make matters worse, here’s the blurb that ESPN puts under the Packers’ #4 ranking:
Clipped from: espn.go.com (share this clip)
"It’s hard to beat anyone when you’re committing 18 penalties. (Walker)"
They can keep talking about how the Packers beat themselves or how they lost more than the Bears won, but riddle me this ESPN – how can you rank such a sloppy and undisciplined team #4? Isn’t their careless play a factor in the rankings? Last time I checked, you don’t qualify for the playoffs based on yardage or time of possession. You get there based on WINS and right now the Bears have 3 of them, more than any other team in the NFC.
I’m not going to stake out a position that the Bears are the best team in the NFC or the NFL for that matter, but I will not sit idly by while they rank a team that is looking up in the standings at us ahead of us.
CBS and Fox get a little closer to the mark, with the Bears one spot ahead of the just-beaten Pack.
Clipped from: www.cbssports.com (share this clip)
Clipped from: msn.foxsports.com (share this clip)
The Power Rankings are a snapshot in time. They should reflect the relative merits of each team at the time of the ranking, removing pre-conceived notions and biases. What really takes the cake in the rankings is how the 3-0 Chiefs get a #15 ranking from ESPN. 15? They’re among the handful of unbeatens and they can barely crack the Top 10 in the polls? Gimme a break!