Week 12 of the 2011 NFL season has come to a close and once again, the Green Bay Packers reign supreme as they improved to 11-0 for the first time in franchise history. The Packers have to travel to the Meadowlands to face the Giants this coming weekend, host the Raiders in two weeks and host Chicago and Detroit to close out the season, so a 16-0 regular season is no sure thing. But they are looking really good for it right now.
The Oakland Raiders are making their way back up the power rankings following their third straight win. The Raiders pulled out a home win over the Chicago Bears to improve to 7-4 and maintain their one-game lead over the Denver Broncos. The victory moved them up to No. 10 in my rankings. The AFC West is turning into a two-horse race as we approach the final quarter of the season. The Raiders travel to Miami in Week 13, while the Broncos travel to Minnesota.
The San Francisco 49ers dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 following their loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving. You could argue that given the short week, the 49ers probably shouldn't fall that far. In reality, you could throw the 49ers, Ravens, Steelers, Patriots and Saints into a hat and pull names randomly. Green Bay is number one and those teams are in that second tier. The 49ers host the Rams in Week 13 with a chance to clinch the NFC West. They face divisional opponents in four of their final five games, with the one non-division opponent being the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On to the Week 13 NFL Power Rankings (previous week in parenthesis). As always, feel free to tweet your disagreements to @sbnbayarea:
1. (1) Green Bay Packers (11-0)
2. (3) New Orleans Saints (8-3)
3. (5) New England Patriots (8-3)
4. (7) Baltimore Ravens (8-3)
5. (4) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3)
6. (2) San Francisco 49ers (9-2)
7. (8) Atlanta Falcons (7-4)
8. (11) Houston Texans (8-3)
9. (12) Dallas Cowboys (7-4)
10. (14) Oakland Raiders (7-4)
11. (6) Chicago Bears (7-4)
12. (13) Cincinnati Bengals (7-4)
13. (15) Denver Broncos (6-5)
14. (9) Detroit Lions (7-4)
15. (10) New York Giants (6-5)
16. (17) Tennessee Titans (6-5)
17. (20) New York Jets (6-5)
18. (16) Philadelphia Eagles (4-7)
19. (18) Buffalo Bills (5-6)
20. (19) San Diego Chargers (4-7)
21. (24) Miami Dolphins (3-8)
22. (21) Cleveland Browns (4-7)
23. (22) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-7)
24. (23) Jacksonville Jaguars (3-8)
25. (28) Carolina Panthers (3-8)
26. (30) Washington Redskins (4-7)
27. (25) Seattle Seahawks (4-7)
28. (29) Arizona Cardinals (4-7)
29. (26) Kansas City Chiefs (4-7)
30. (27) Minnesota Vikings (2-9)
31. (31) St. Louis Rams (2-9)
32. (32) Indianapolis Colts (0-11)