Through three weeks of NFL action, two things are clear. The winless Detroit Lions are not a very good football team in 2021, but there are a few other teams that are demonstrably worse. That is reflected in the weekly power poll roundup, where the Lions managed to creep upward despite losing in historically heartbreaking fashion to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3.
At Touchdown Wire, the Lions moved up one spot from No. 29 to 28th. The commentary aptly sums up the slight uptick,
The Lions lost to a NFL record from Justin Tucker and kudos to him for hitting it. But Detroit got hosed with the play-clock decision after the Lions kept it close with a good team all game. That 36-yards they gave up on fourth-down would have avoided all this… and there’s no excuse for that.
The move upward was even more pronounced at USA TODAY. Analyst Nate Davis pushed the Lions up three spots to 26th. Of note here is that the Lions leapt over the division rival Chicago Bears, this week’s foe. Chicago dropped to 27th after getting blasted by Cleveland in Week 3.
NFL.com also pushed the Lions up a few spot, moving Detroit to 27th despite, or perhaps because of, the close loss to Baltimore. The Lions were 31st last week.
Detroit didn’t move up in every poll. The Lions fell a spot to 29th at the Sporting News. They also stuck at No. 30 in ESPN’s weekly update.