It’s time to check in on the teams that can’t get out of their own way. We’re halfway through the 2022 NFL season, and much of it has been unpredictable, but there are always a few teams we expect to disappoint their fanbases. Now let’s get into the powerless ranking for Week 10.
Teams on the doorstep: Arizona Cardinals (4-6), Pittsburgh Steelers (3-6), Jacksonville Jaguars (3-7), Denver Broncos (3-6)
The Lions are suddenly on a two-game winning streak and are close to playing themselves off the Powerless Rankings. This is the first time Detroit’s won consecutive games since Weeks 6 and 7 of the 2020 season.
The Lions managed to defeat Aaron Rodgers and the Packers last week, and for their Week 10 encore, beat another divisional foe, Chicago. This was a high-scoring affair that the Lions narrowly escaped, 31-30.
Detroit survived four Justin Fields touchdowns by outscoring Chicago 21-6 in the fourth quarter. Neither team is great, but they put on an entertaining show together. A win next week and Detroit will surely be off this list.
New Orleans has been bad this year but has flown under our radar because of the other bad teams in the league — and its own division. But this once-potent offense could only muster up 10 points against a lowly Pittsburgh team.
Andy Dalton (above) is still doing Andy Dalton-type things (not a good thing anymore), Taysom Hill is nothing more than a gimmick at this point, and Jameis Winston is on the bench. The Saints are a team looking for answers and would typically be looking at taking a QB high in the draft if they still owned their pick, which belongs to the Eagles. Drew Brees retires, Sean Payton walks out, and just like that, the Saints are the “Aints” once again.
Carolina got its third win of the season behind P.J. Walker’s 10-of-16, 108-yard passing performance. The real star in this win over the Falcons was running back D’Onta Foreman, who rushed for 130 yards and a TD.
The Panthers’ defense also did their part with five sacks of Marcus Mariota and an interception. Carolina desperately needs to figure out its QB situation if it plans on contending next season. That’s where this rebuild needs to begin.
Las Vegas is a team that, no matter the circumstance, you can surely bet will find a way to lose. Against the Colts, an organization that just fired their head coach and hired a guy from ESPN for the position in the interim, the Raiders still couldn’t get the job done. Before taking the gig in Indy, Jeff Saturday tweeted how horrible the Raiders were, and in his first NFL game as a head coach, he led the Colts to a 25-20 win over the Silver and Black. The bulletin board material wasn’t even enough to inspire the Raiders to a win in Week 10.
The Raiders proved again why they are the most disappointing team in 2022 based on what they accomplished last season and the expectations that stemmed from that success entering this campaign. Some are already calling for Josh McDaniels to be canned, and there are still eight games remaining on the schedule. It’s time to stop blaming Derek Carr and point the finger at bad ownership. This is one of the best examples of ineptitude beginning at the top and trickling down.
The Texans are in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 pick in next spring’s draft. Although the Raiders are hanging tough in giving them a run for their money, Houston is the worst team in the league in terms of record. The Texans have been better than their record might indicate. Since they’ve been able to hang around in many of their games.
Houston just isn’t as good as most teams, and they don’t have a QB who can put the team on his back to win games. With a good crop of young signal callers in the upcoming draft, the Texans should be looking at selecting their next franchise leader.