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Apparently gritty and gutsy performances for an Ohio squad beating a west coast team in San Diego offers a cool jug of Haterade in the weekly power rankings. For the most part power rankings either granted the Bengals a one-point upgrade, or keeping them stationary while the Associated Press found it justified to drop the Bengals two points while the Steelers and Seahawks leapfrogged Cincinnati.
Power Rankings. Because writers actually think they know what they're talking about.
| RANK | L.WEEK | |
| SB Nation | 12 | 13 |
| NFL.com | 9 | 10 |
| CBS Sports (Pete Prisco) | 9 | 10 |
| ESPN | 11 | 11 |
| Fox Sports (Brian Billick) | 9 | 10 |
| Pro Football Talk | 10 | 10 |
| Pro Football Weekly | 13 | 13 |
| Associated Press | 13 | 11 |
| AVG. | 10.8 | 11.0 |