Hot Garbage

This team is great! This team sucks! These teams are trending up, these teams aren’t. The NFL power rankings are always shifting like the sands, and so do the futures odds. Let’s take a quick run-through at the top teams with a shot at the title — as pathetic as some of them might be.

(Current odds from Caesars)

Chiefs (+485) — Treasure. Patrick Mahomes is still the QB, the defense is ranked fourth, the team is 5-0 and KC is all on board for a 3-peat. Hard to believe they won’t win a fourth title in six years.

49ers (+675) — Treasure. This team is a major TBD. They’ve got the Chiefs on Sunday, and a loss means SF can probably only beat the weak and not the strong. Let’s see if the Niners can get revenge for two heartbreaking Super Bowl losses to Mahomes and KC.

Ravens (+695) — Treasure. That 0-2 start is far behind in the rear-view mirror. Baltimore has won four straight, including a 35-10 thrashing of the Bills. In his past four games, Lamar Jackson has completed 77, 62, 72 and 80 percent of his passes, with 8 TD passes to 1 INT. He’s also rushed for nearly 60 yards per game.

Lions (+965) — Treasure. Jared Goff has posted a 150-plus QB rating in two straight blowout victories, albeit against the Seahawks and Cowboys. Detroit has road games at Minnesota, Green Bay and Texas coming up. Let’s see how that goes.

Bills (+1055) — Trash. Nice win over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets on the road on MNF, but Buffalo still hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record. They’ll be able to pad their record against the Titans, Seahawks, Dolphins and Colts in their next four games. Then they’ve got Chiefs and 49ers.

Texans (+1095) — Treasure. Houston is 5-1, but the Bills are their only victim with a winning record. Still, C.J. Stroud has the sixth-most passing yards in the NFL and the defense is top 10 in yards allowed.

Vikings (+1210) — Treasure. Kevin O’Connell’s team has already beaten the 49ers, Texans and Packers. Their defense is ranked 7th. Reborn QB Sam Darnold has an 11-4 TD-INT ratio and is 7th in passer rating. Can he maintain it?

Eagles (+1540) — Trash. Philly has enough talent scattered throughout their roster, but they’ve only beaten one decent team — Packers. We just aren’t convinced about Jalen Hurts as a big-time QB until he gets a big-time win.

Packers (+1820) — Treasure. Jordan Love is throwing too many INTs, but the Packers have beaten the inferior teams while suffering one-score losses to the Eagles and Vikings. No shame there. They made a great second-half run last season, let’s see if that happens again.

Falcons (+2775) — Trash. The defense is middle of the pack, as is Kirk Cousins’ passer rating. They have won three straight and lost a close game to the Chiefs. It’s really hard to trust any South team, much less Cousins and his 1-4 playoff record.

Bengals (+3100) — Treasure. Any team with Joe Burrow at QB is a win streak away from being a contender. He leads the league in passer rating, with 12 TDs to 2 INTs. Cincy is 2-4, but they’ve had narrow losses to the Chiefs, Commanders and Ravens. Burrow and Cincy must go on a run soon.

Darkhorse to Watch: Chargers (+4990) — First-year coach Jim Harbaugh is doing what he’s done his entire career — turn teams into winners. LAC is third in defense and Justin Herbert is ranked 13th in passer rating. They’ve got four very winnable games coming up against the Cardinals, Saints, Browns and Titans — great fodder to inflate their 3-2 record. But by mid-November, the Harbaugh Experiment will get its first major tests against the Bengals, Ravens, Falcons and Chiefs in weeks 11-14.