After dominating the Chicago Bears in a Monday night battle of backup quarterbacks, the San Francisco 49ers have vaulted into the top spot of the TSN.ca NFL Power Rankings, ahead of the New England Patriots and the previous number one team, the Houston Texans.
While there may be some debate over whether Colin Kaepernick is going to take over the starting quarterback job for the 49ers, that he was able to play well in his first start is enough reason to feel comfortable with the Niners, a team built on defence and a running game.
New England might normally have climbed to top spot after putting 59 points on the board against Indianapolis, but losing All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski to a broken forearm does present some issues for the Patriots offence that will need to be reconciled. If Aaron Hernandez returns, that would mitigate Gronkowski's loss but, in the meantime, the Pats stay No. 2.
Cincinnati's second straight blowout win lifted them from 17 to 12 and Washington's dominant effort against sinking Philadelphia raised the Redskins from 22 to 18.
The Eagles, not surprisingly, kept falling, from 26 to 29; Miami slipped from 18 to 21 after their loss in Buffalo and San Diego dropped from 16 to 19 after losing for the fifth time in the last six games.
Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook.