NFL power rankings after Week 4: Eagles soar to the top as Panthers spiral

#29 Chicago Bears (2-2)

Chicago Bears v New York Giants

Chicago’s offense is in a completely different stratosphere to the rest of the league, in terms of play-selection. Only the Giants have averaged fewer net yards per pass attempt (4.7) and they have averaged fewer than 100 yards total via the pass per game (390).

On the flipside, they are behind only New York and Cleveland, as the third team with over 700 rushing yards on the season. Justin Fields has only attempted 67 passes, completed just over half of those (50.7%), with a two-to-four TD-to-INT ratio. He's also been sacked on an absurd 19.7% of dropbacks – the next-closest team is yet again the Giants at 11.5%.

The fact that they are passing the ball on just 37.9% of offensive plays in 2022 is astonishing. The defense at least has been opportunistic, taking the ball away seven times and holding teams out of the end-zone on half their defensive red-zone possessions (7-of-14).

However, they simply haven’t been able to stop the run, as teams have run the ball more often (143) for more yards (733) than anybody else, whilst still averaging 5.1 yards a pop.

#30 Washington Commanders (1-3)

Washington Commanders v Dallas Cowboys

Purely going by the numbers, you could argue that Washington has been the worst team in the NFL. They currently have the league-worst average point differential at -8.5, their offense has averaged a league-low 4.6 yards per play and their defense has only taken the ball away once – no other team has fewer than three.

That’s also a big factor in being tied for the second-worst turnover differential in the league at -6. The reasons they aren't dead last on this list is because there is a team with zero wins and they have played against some very stiff competition.

I still like Scott Turner’s ability to design plays and Carson Wentz provides the arm strength to take those vertical shots – their protection has just been very shaky, surrendering an NFL-high 17 sacks.

Their defense simply hasn’t been disruptive enough and Chase Young's potential return should help with that. When they have been able to get opponents to those crucial downs, they have been top-10 in third, fourth down and red-zone percentage surrendered.

#31 Carolina Panthers (1-3)

I just feel bad for the defensive players on this team. In terms of tackles for loss, sacks, third-down percentage and multiple other statistics, they’ve been well above-average since the start of 2021.

Defensive coordinator Phil Snow has done some interesting stuff in terms of their pressure looks and how they tie in coverages with those. However, since Matt Rhule has arrived in Carolina, their offense has been nothing but disastrous.

Now with three different starting quarterbacks and offensive coordinators, they have gone 1-and-26 when the opposing team has scored at least 17 points. Once again, they are on track to finish 32nd in passing efficiency, but they are also dead-last in the league with 56 first downs picked up, time of possession (24:18) and third-down conversion rate at just 25.5%.

Baker Mayfield has looked even worse than he did last year in Cleveland with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, as he is comfortably dead-last among starting quarterbacks in EPA per play (-0.219) and QBR (15.3).

They have offensive skill-position talent, but their protection has been an issue and they haven’t been able to design plays for those pieces to touch the ball adequately.

#32 Houston Texans (0-3-1)

Just like the Eagles occupy the top spot for being the only undefeated team, the Texans are bottom for being the only squad without a win. They had a chance to get on the board in week one against the Colts, as they were up 20-3 entering the fourth quarter.

However, they crumbled in the final quarter and had to settle for a tie in overtime. They were also up 9-6 entering the fourth against the Broncos, before conceding the final 10 points. They were tied at 20 with the Bears, with a chance to put together a two-minute drill, before it ultimately ended in a Roquan Smith interception, which set up a game-winning kick for Chicago.

They lost only by 10 points to the Chargers, but that was due to them scoring points in the final 15 minutes for the first time this season. The things that matter most – on offense, they are 31st in third-down rate (26.9%) and EPA per play from the quarterback position with Davis Mills (-0.166).

The defense has been a little bit better, but they’ve missed a league-high 31 tackles already and they just faced an offense for the first time which isn’t in the bottom-seven in points per drive – and they scored 34.