The San Francisco 49ers have climbed into the top five of most NFL Power Rankings thus far and are in a position to build on their recent run of success. SB Nation NFL Power Rankings ranked them fourth behind the Packers, Saints and Patriots and looked at their remaining schedule as fairly user friendly.
The 49ers five victories thus far were built against the Seattle Seahawks, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions. Their one loss came in overtime against the Dallas Cowboys. While this is not exactly the cream of the crop in the NFL, this includes a mix of some solid teams. Each team has its share of question marks, but each team has also won some big games thus far.
As the 49ers move into the remaining ten games of their schedule, it is hard for 49ers to not get excited about the prospects for January. The team is a heavy favorite to win the NFC West at this point and the remaining schedule provides a chance at double digit wins for the first time since 2002. While they do play in a crapy division, they have played a strong enough schedule to date to be considered one of the truly "good" teams in the NFL through seven weeks. Now they have an opportunity to reap the rewards of the rest of their schedule.
Here is the top ten in SB Nation's power rankings:
1. Green Bay Packers
2. New Orleans Saints
3. New England Patriots
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
6. Baltimore Ravens
7. San Diego Chargers
8. Detroit Lions
9. Buffalo Bills
10. New York Giants