Doug & Wolf Week 15 NFL power poll: Bears claw into the rankings
Dec 12, 2018, 9:16 AM
(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Chicago Bears have arrived. There’s hardly a better way to announce that than holding an 11-2 Los Angeles Rams juggernaut to six points on Sunday.
Also, Bradley Sowell scored a touchdown. Yeah, that Bradley Sowell, the backup offensive tackle for the Arizona Cardinals from 2013-15.
Anyway, all that made for a 15-6 victory that moved the Bears to 9-4 on the season. And also thanks to a loss by the Texans against the Indianapolis Colts that ended a nine-game winning streak for Houston, Chicago found itself in the Week 15 Doug & Wolf power poll.
The Bears placed fifth in Doug Franz’s power rankings and fourth in Paul Calvisi’s.
Ron Wolfley did not follow suit. He simply had the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs leap-frog the Patriots in his rankings compared to a week ago — this after New England fell on a wild two-lateral play in the final seconds against the Miami Dolphins.
Calvisi dinged the Pats for that loss. They ranked second in his power poll last week but moved out of Calvisi’s top-five entirely, allowing for the Dallas Cowboys to enter. Dallas won its fifth in a row, beating the Eagles 29-23 this week.
Maybe the other big takeaway from this week: a Rams loss wasn’t a cause for panic, as two of our pollsters kept them steady at No. 1 while Franz slid them down from second to third despite the loss to Chicago.
A peek at each of the guys’ power polls are below:
Doug Franz
5. Bears
4. Chargers
3. Rams
2. Chiefs
1. Saints
Ron Wolfley
5. Patriots
4. Chargers
3. Chiefs
2. Saints
1. Rams
Paul Calvisi
5. Cowboys
4. Bears
3. Chiefs
2. Saints
1. Rams