NFL: Power Rankings at the quarter-mark of the 2018 NFL season

22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-2)

From one Florida team to another. The Bucs were one of the biggest surprises of the early season. Fitzmagic was alive and well, the offense was explosive and they almost went 3-0 despite three first-half interceptions against the Steelers. That all kind of went away in a 48-10 demolition by the Bears. If you’ve come this far, you know how high I am on Chicago, but that is due more to their defense than Mitch Trubisky.

Mike Smith’s zone-heavy defense was continuously shredded by the second-year QB, who was criticized heavily up until that point, because of Matt Nagy’s route-concepts forcing safeties to commit and people failing to pass on responsibilities.

While the defense already was one of the worst in terms of yardage allowed, it was more disheartening to see the offense be stagnant in the first half before Jameis Winston came in when the third quarter rolled around and threw a couple of picks.

Dirk Koetter didn’t hesitate to name Winston the starter despite his defensive coordinator being completely outmatched and then he basically asked to be fired himself. That’s how quickly one of those surprise teams can possibly disappear completely again.

23. Houston Texans (1-3)

When you looked at the 2018 Texans and you saw Deshaun Watson, J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus come back from injury plus the additions of Tyrann Mathieu and some guys I really liked in the draft, you would think they could be a championship contender. Through four weeks they don’t look like it whatsoever, especially when you consider they were basically handed their only win by the Colts deciding to go for it in overtime from their own side of the field.

Some of the problems they have faced were predictable, others I didn’t expect. I named Houston’s offensive line the worst in the league before the season started and they have struggled mightily to protect their young franchise signal-caller, but that guy has looked rusty himself and made some rookie mistakes early on.

Even the defense has struggled to create pressure and get opponents off the field. However, they have all the tools to turn this thing around. The O-line might be a mess, but Watson is getting better every week, Will Fuller and Keke Coutee are emerging in the passing game and this is the first time we’ve seen J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney in full force on the field together.