NFL power rankings, Week 10: Texans, Bears are gaining on the Falcons

SB Nation's NFL power rankings are back in Week 10 with a handful of changes in the top 10. The Falcons remain perfect as the NFL's best team. The Texans and Bears follow them up as the two next best teams and then you get into a crowd of teams ranging form the 49ers to the Ravens who are all grouped together.

Finding the best teams and the worst teams is easy by this point. It's everyone in the middle that makes this challenging.

1. Atlanta Falcons (LW: 1, 8-0): I don't think the Falcons have the best players and I don't think they play the best football every week, but there's no denying a team that goes through half the schedule unbeaten. The second half of the schedule isn't daunting, either. This is a 13-win team, minimum.

2. Houston Texans (LW: 2, 7-1): Another "Are these guys for real?" game coming up this weekend when the Texans face the Bears in Chicago. Houston's already dominated the Ravens, so we know they're legit. Beating the Bears would help cement that for the non-believers.

3. Chicago Bears (LW: 4, 7-1): Obama thinks they have the best defense in football. No one has scored more than 23 points on them in a game this season. Hosting the Texans and then on the road in San Francisco over the next two weeks will let us know whether the Bears are very good or elite.

4. San Francisco 49ers (LW: 5, 6-2): Still laughing at "gobble, gobble, gobble turkey from jive turkey gobblers."

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 10, 5-3): I remember getting some flack for keeping the Steelers ranked high despite their 2-3 start to the season. Three wins later, including one over the defending champs, and it's an easier argument to put them in the top 10.

6. New York Giants (LW: 3, 6-3): Remember when the NFC East was really competitive?

7. Green Bay Packers (LW: 7, 6-3): Four wins in a row. Thirty or more points in three of their last four games. In that four-game span, Rodgers has 15 touchdowns to one interception, which kinda tells the story.

8. Denver Broncos (LW: 9, 5-3): Chargers fans want to fire their coach. So do Chiefs fans. And the Raiders are the Raiders. Seems like the Broncos are on the right track.

9. New England Patriots (LW: 6, 5-3): Next four: Bills, Colts, at Jets, at Dolphins. New England is prepping for its annual run.

10. Baltimore Ravens (LW: 8, 6-2): The defense is ranked 15th. Average. How often can you say that about Baltimore? The Steelers will make them work for that AFC North title.

11. Indianapolis Colts (LW: 21, 5-3): You just gotta hate the Colts, don't you? Going from annual playoff appearances under Peyton Manning to the start of annual playoff appearances under Andrew Luck. Ugh.

12. Seattle Seahawks (LW: 12, 5-4): I see the possibility of five more wins: Jets, at Dolphins, Cardinals, at Bills, Rams. Ten-win team in Seattle?

13. Minnesota Vikings (LW: 11, 5-4): We were all fooled by the Vikings. After a 4-1 start, the Vikings have lost three of four and Christian Ponder looks like a bad quarterback.

14. Miami Dolphins (LW: 13, 4-4): Three of the Dolphins' four losses have come by three points (and two of them in overtime). I'm wondering how I (we?) could've been so wrong on the Dolphins before the season.

15. San Diego Chargers (LW: 17, 4-4): This should be fun. If you were running the Chargers, how would you fix the team?

16. Detroit Lions (LW: 19, 4-4): Unfortunately for Detroit, the Lions' resurgence in the last 18 months comes at a time when the Bears and Packers are two of the best teams in football.

17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 24, 4-4): They may have a playoff run in them yet. Josh Freeman is playing very well and Doug Martin looks like the best back in football. Too bad Atlanta won the division two months ago.

18. Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 14, 3-5): Just switch to Nick Foles so we can stop writing the weekly, "Andy Reid still supports Michael Vick" headline.

19. Washington Redskins (LW: 15, 3-6): Usually not a good sign to see headlines like this one: "Year 3: Redskins are getting worse, not better"

20. Arizona Cardinals (LW: 16, 4-5): Really, how did they start 4-0?

21. Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 18, 3-5): If they would just beat the teams they should beat, like the Dolphins and Browns, they'd be 5-3 right now.

22. Dallas Cowboys (LW: 20, 3-5): Cowboys vs. Eagles next week. Loser fires their head coach?

23. New Orleans Saints (LW: 27, 3-5): The Saints have won three of four. They're a threat to run the table if things go well.

24. Tennessee Titans (LW: 22, 3-6): "In my 50 years of owning an NFL franchise, I am at a loss to recall a regular-season home game that was such a disappointment for myself and fans of the Titans," owner Bud Adams said.

25. Buffalo Bills (LW: 23, 3-5): Super Mario was booed on his return to Houston. And he liked it. He probably would've liked staying in Houston, too.

26. New York Jets (LW: 25, 3-5): "We're not even close," Rex Ryan said. "We're not sniffing the playoffs." Not much else to say here -- he's right.

27. Carolina Panthers (LW: 30, 2-6): Cam Newton has the dumbest stories written about him.

28. Oakland Raiders (LW: 26, 3-5): The race to not finish last in the AFC West is on.

29. St. Louis Rams (LW: 28, 3-5): The Rams new GM is doing these a little differently this year, which is a good thing. Not finishing over .500 in nearly a decade is a bad thing.

30. Cleveland Browns (LW: 29, 2-7): The Browns have only lost three games this year by more than one score. Staying competitive is the goal this year, actually winning games is the goal next year.

31. Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 31, 1-7): So the Jags are better than the Chiefs, right?

32. Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 32, 1-7): Still haven't led for one second in regulation this season. As a Chiefs fan, I'm not even mad. That's impressive.