Week 13 NFL Power Rankings: Packers tread water after Vikings win

The Green Bay Packers didn’t make up much distance in national power rankings this week. Despite beating the Minnesota Vikings, it seems like analysts are only giving the team about half credit for beating J.J. McCarthy. Which, to be honest, is fair.

Let’s take a look at this week’s batch of power rankings, including some highlights from the highest and lowest spots the Packers were placed in.

Packers in NFL Power Rankings

• USA Today: 5th

“A seven-week stretch with five games against NFC North foes − including all three away dates − rolls on Thursday in Motown, hopefully with RB Josh Jacobs back in the lineup.”

The biggest believer in the Packers this week has the team ranked fifth in the NFL and third in the NFC, behind the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks. Speaking of Motown, it’s pretty back-and-forth whether analysts believe that Green Bay or Detroit is the best team in the NFC North. People still aren’t buying the Chicago Bears, who are 8-3 with a negative point differential.

• NFL.com: 7th

• ESPN: 7th

• CBS Sports: 7th

• The Athletic: 7th

• FOX Sports: 7th

• Bleacher Report: 7th

• Yahoo Sports: 7th

I guess seven is the magic number this week.

• The Ringer: 8th

• Pro Football Talk: 9th

“Their chance to sweep the Lions for the first time since 2020 is looming.”

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t realize the last sweep of Detroit was so long ago. Nothing will beat the Packers winning against the Lions 24 straight times at Lambeau Field.

• Sports Illustrated: 10th

“A great pickup here from Yahoo analyst Nate Tice. Jordan Love was handing the ball off with his off-hand all afternoon against a toothy Brian Flores defense to keep his separated shoulder from aggravating. This, in addition to the success of Emanuel Wilson shows just how capable this roster is of weathering the big storms.”

This is true. I wrote in our depth chart update this week that Love wasn’t able to get to some of the Packers’ usual run alerts because he’s only able to use his right hand for handoffs. The way he has to position his body for some of these looks to work puts his back to some of these pass options. Hopefully, he can get healthy sooner rather than later.