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The Bay Area is doing much better than its Southern California counterpart with the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders both coming off wins while the San Diego Chargers continue their freefall into the lost world of teams ranked in the 20s of the national Power Rankings. Sooner or later, the Chargers may need removal from Cali. They're starting to smell.
Meanwhile, the 49ers stayed in the no. 2 spot across the board on ESPN, Sportsline and SB Nation and for good reason. Eight straight wins - including an easy win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday - leads them into the HarBowl against the Baltimore Ravens. Brothers Jim and John Harbaugh will become the first brothers to ever face each other as NFL head coaches.
The Raiders are proving to be a tight-knit team that knows when to lean on each other based on their 4-1 road record. Now, they're given a gift when they face the Chicago Bears without recently injured quarterback Jay Cutler.
After the Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings, ESPN moved them up two spots to no. 14, Sportsline moved them one spot to no. 13 and SB Nation moved them two spots to no. 14.
The San Diego Chargers. Everyone is questioning whether or not we truly knew who this team was prior to the season. Maybe these five straight losses have told us more than we need to know. This team was overrated and needs a coaching change.
ESPN dropped them three spots to no. 21, Sportsline dropped them four spots to no. 23 and SB Nation dropped them three spots to no. 21. Twenties purgatory is officially upon them.