NFL Power Rankings Week 13: Texans Climbing, Steelers Stumble

The wild run that was Week 12 of the 2018 NFL season is nearly wrapped up, and this week featured a bit of a different feel. After a day of turkey, stuffing and a whole lot of other food, we saw a few teams emerge from the Thanksgiving action as big winners in the power rankings for the week.

But after a wild Week 11 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams, both teams had a bye this week, leaving one big question. Did they move out of their spots following the action? We'll break that down and look at some of the other big winners, and a few of the losers from the week of action while we go through the latest rankings.

Before we get there, let's take a look at a few interesting storylines from the action this week, starting with the Los Angeles Chargers.


Could the Chargers Topple the Chiefs?

To be clear, nothing about the Chargers' 45-10 win over a poor Arizona Cardinals team is what makes me even mention this. But the Chargers sit at 8-3 on the season while the Chiefs are 9-2 and both teams have a few interesting games. If Los Angeles manages to get past the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals the next two weeks, it could set up a fun one in Arrowhead.

Unfortunately, the Chargers lost Melvin Gordon to a knee injury Sunday. The severity is unknown, but it seems he could miss Week 13 against the Steelers. If that's the case, there'll be heavy lifting to be done by Austin Ekeler and rookie Justin Jackson to keep the Chargers in the mix for a division title.


Bears Look Like the Real Deal

While the Detroit Lions haven't looked great at times this year, the performance the Chicago Bears put together on Thanksgiving was impressive. This is largely due to the fact that they did so without Mitchell Trubisky, who was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Chicago has won five straight and sit at 8-3 on the season, but winning a nationally televised road game with your backup quarterback 23-16 is worth talking about.

Except, it seems very few players were surprised by the 230-yard, two-touchdown performance from Chase Daniel in the victory. Running back Taquan Mizzell may have summed it up best in comments courtesy of ESPN.

"Everyone in this locker room knew what he [Daniel] was going to do, and he didn't let us down," Mizzell said. "People forget how long he's been in the NFL and how much talent he has. They talk about the number of games he's started, but the people that practice with him every day knew that he was going to give us a chance to win this game."

The Bears are quite a story, but let's dive in and see where they rank currently. Click the next arrow to see this week's NFL power rankings heading into Week 13.