NFL power rankings entering Week 3 of the 2026 season (previous rank in parentheses):
1. Seattle Seahawks (1): Their 12 wins in a row − for the 12s − mark a new franchise record, overtaking the 2005 squad that was the first to represent Seattle in the Super Bowl. The current Seahawks are set to get QB Sam Darnold back, maybe this week, against a wounded Washington outfit.
2. Buffalo Bills (3): They've got the league's best player (Josh Allen) and, apparently, have paired him with the right coach at the right time. Also feels like an upgraded home-field advantage is already in effect.
3. San Francisco 49ers (2): Only three NFL players in history have scored 50 touchdowns with two different franchises. Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and Randy Moss
and Christian McCaffrey. End of list. Impressive.
4. Los Angeles Rams (5): Throwback uniforms, throwback DPOY. Forthcoming coach. All seems well after their Week 1 mulligan.
Gettin' to be that time ⏳ pic.twitter.com/woAw57hi0I
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 22, 2026
5. Kansas City Chiefs (6): It's early yet − way early, obviously − but the Super Bowl MVP backfield of QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Kenneth Walker III is on pace to pass for nearly 5,000 yards and rush for nearly 2,500, respectively.
6. Cincinnati Bengals (9): Who are these guys? The six points allowed Sunday were tied for Cincinnati's fewest in a game in the past decade.
7. New England Patriots (10): If you hadn't heard, lifelong Seahawks fan Macklemore will not be allowed to perform at Gillette Stadium this week. The Pats have now won seven in a row … against teams not based in the Pacific Northwest.
8. Denver Broncos (13): The offense was twice as good in Week 2 under rookie OC Davis Webb, if only still moderately impressive. Double the output in Week 3, and this team will be cooking with Crisco.
9. Minnesota Vikings (16): Let's not lose sight of the fact that they were handling Chicago before QB Caleb Williams went down. The question now is should they go back to QB Kyler Murray simply because they can?
10. Detroit Lions (12): Just what they needed, S Avonte Maddox, who'd been pressed into the starting lineup himself, is out for the season with a foot injury. GM Brad Holmes needs to consider making a move or two to augment what is, by far, the NFC's worst pass defense through two weeks.
11. Jacksonville Jaguars (8): Hate to continue belaboring the point, but if you think CB/WR Travis Hunter has basically been invisible through two weeks … yeah.
12. Dallas Cowboys (15): You knew QB Dak Prescott was now the franchise's all-time leader in TD passes (249). But did you know he's one win from defeating NFC East rivals 21 times in a row at home, which would break Tom Brady's post-merger NFL record against a divisional foes? However Prescott will have to wait until the Eagles visit on Thanksgiving to take aim at that TB12 standard.
13. Chicago Bears (4): Seems like the real 'Madden' curse here is that the Bears may have to wait at least another year for their first 4,000-yard passer.
14. New Orleans Saints (17): You better put them away before the fourth quarter, when the Saints have outscored the opposition 25-3. However you also don't want to face them in the Big Easy, where the Saints will play all but two of their next seven games.
15. Baltimore Ravens (7): John Harbaugh may be gone, but fourth-quarter meltdowns are still as much a Baltimore staple as crabcakes. But it's all "White Noise" outside the building.
White Noise. Coming to The Bank Sept. 20.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 24, 2026
🎟️: https://t.co/1cE6L9YwbG pic.twitter.com/N8p0OFj9kz
16. Philadelphia Eagles (18): It's hardly been pretty, QB Jalen Hurts under relentless fire from a seemingly inferior opponent Sunday. But give him credit − Philly is 2-0 nevertheless and in its customary perch atop the NFC East.
SEND THEM ALL - Jalen Hurts probably
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) September 21, 2026
Hurts was pressured on 57% of dropbacks Sunday, the highest pressure rate allowed by Philly since tracking began in 2009 🤯
No problem for the Eagles' QB, who finished 11-20 with 2 TD when pressured, including the last second game-winner 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sekm262RNU
17. New York Giants (14): A vibes 180 in the wake of ... whatever happened to QB Jaxson Dart in Monday night's loss. But it doesn't seem like the G-Men are in an unrecoverable spin.
18. Houston Texans (11): What, we worry? They've now dropped their first two games in three of QB C.J. Stroud's four seasons … and recovered to reach postseason in the first two instances.
19. Carolina Panthers (23): They'd never opened a season with scoring outbursts of at least 30 points in their first two games … until now. Remarkably, QB Bryce Young is also tied for the league lead in TD passes (6) and finally starting to justify why the Panthers picked him atop the 2023 draft instead of Stroud.
20. Green Bay Packers (22): Back in the win column after suffering their first six-game skid since the pre-Favre years. It's helped that former first-round pass rusher Lukas Van Ness' 2½ sacks are already more than he had all of last season.
21. Las Vegas Raiders (29): Kirk Cousins joined Hall of Famer Ken Stabler (1976) as the only Silver and Black QBs to throw at least three TD passes in each of a season's first two games. You'll recall the '76 Raiders won the Super Bowl, of course.
22. Cleveland Browns (31): An impressive Week 2 win amid disadvantageous circumstances in Tampa. But all due respect to Coach Monken, betting the "Browns are gonna Browns" when they roll out QB Deshaun Watson to start the team's home opener this weekend.
23. New York Jets (27): Take heart, NYJ fans − your team isn't going winless, has been highly competitive so far this season but hasn't sacrificed all that much QB draft position. Sunday was a perfect loss.
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (19): The complexion of their season might look entirely different … if not for a league-worst four fumbles lost, twice as many as the next-worst teams.
25. Indianapolis Colts (26): Worst defense in the league so far − by quite a few metrics. Good thing they added CB Sauce Gardner to it. Sunday's game against equally winless division rival Houston could effectively be a playoff elimination bout.
26. Arizona Cardinals (24): WR Marvin Harrison Jr., the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft, has one catch − on just four targets − in two games … and the Cards were playing from way behind Sunday against Seattle.
27. Pittsburgh Steelers (20): It's been 16 years since HC Mike McCarthy and QB Aaron Rodgers spearheaded an offense that … produced three points. It's also been 16 years since McCarthy and Rodgers won a Super Bowl together, so …
28. Los Angeles Chargers (25): It took 100 NFL games for Jim Harbaugh to experience an 0-2 start. He could be 0-8 in no time with the Bolts' next six games against the Chiefs and five 2025 playoff qualifiers.
The Chargers are the second team in NFL history to lose back-to-back games by double digits with both coming at home against teams that had a sub-.200 win pct the previous season.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 21, 2026
The other was the 1926 Racine Tornadoes (Oct. 10-17), who played just one more game before folding.
29. Atlanta Falcons (28): At least they'll have 2024 first-round QB Michael Penix Jr. back Thursday and, theoretically, a chance to finally leverage all of their offensive firepower after failing to score a touchdown in the past seven quarters.
The Falcons are the 4th team since NFL Play-by-Play was first tracked in 1978 without a Red Zone Drive through two games, joining:
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) September 21, 2026
▪️2008 Rams
▪️1997 Lions
▪️1992 Patriots pic.twitter.com/wgU2m5t6Ah
30. Washington Commanders (21): However they won't have 2024 first-round QB Jayden Daniels, not for Week 3 against Seattle anyway. Tom Brady summed up Washington's state of affairs pretty well Sunday.
31. Tennessee Titans (30): They played much better Sunday against Philadelphia but still don't have a player with 100 yards from scrimmage … for the season.
32. Miami Dolphins (32): Not sure why they practiced in Napa all week. Coulda gotten the same results by taking hot air balloon rides and hanging out at the wineries.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL power rankings Week 3: Where do Rams slot after trouncing Giants?
