NFL Power Rankings: Chicago Bears are 2-2 and moving down

After winning two straight prime time games on the road, the Chicago Bears were flirting with a few top 10s in last weeks power rankings. After losing to the hated Green Bay Packers at home by 21 points, the Bears are sure to drop.

SB Nation moved the Bears down to 16th, but let's peruse a few of our sister sites, starting with Bleeding Green Nation.

13) Chicago Bears (LW: 8) - That Bears defense is not looking so hot.

The defense is looking a bit suspect, but when we take a look at the season stats, Mel Tucker's unit has shown a wee bit of improvement.

• In average total yards per game, the Bears currently allow 372.8, which is 22nd in the NFL. Last year they allowed 394.6. Yay!
• In passing yards per game, Chicago is at 250.2, which is 20th. Last year they were at 233.1. Boo!
• In rushing yards per game the Bears' ranked 20th at 122.5. In 2013 that number was a league worst 161.4. Go Mel go!
• Last season the Bears allowed teams to convert 42% of their 3rd down tries, which was 25th in the NFL. This year they are 16th at 44%. Yuck...
• Points allowed per game this year is 25, and last year it was 29.9 and second to last. That's progress...
• Last season the Bears were last with only 31 sacks, while this season they already have 9, which puts them on pace for 36. That is an improvement.

Overall, it's better than last year, but this group still has a long way to go.

Back to the Power Rankings.

Bears down to 21st according to Cincy Jungle.

We learned the Bears secondary is awful. Not good when you play in a division with Rodgers and Stafford.

I think a pass rush would help those guys out, but without one against the Packers, their secondary was struggling.

The Washington Post has the Bears down to 17th after being number 8 last week.

That wasn't much of a performance against the Packers. And now the Bears must take to the road for two straight and four of the next five games, beginning Sunday at Carolina.

The Bears remain at 16 according to Newsday.

Pitiful defensive effort from the Bears, who had no answers for Aaron Rodgers. Wasn't much better on offense in a 38-17 blowout loss at home.

The USA Today is the first Power Rankings I found that mentions Jay Cutler.

Amazing they could churn out 235 rushing yards and still lose by three TDs. That'll happen when Bad Jay Cutler gets the start.

They even recycled the Good/Bad moniker from when it was used on Rex Grossman.

Yahoo's Shutdown Corner has the Bears moving up?

12. Chicago Bears (2-2, LW: 13)
Players don't change after eight seasons. There was no reason to believe Jay Cutler's ninth season would be any different, other than he's collecting a bigger paycheck.

A quick scan of their entire power ranking tells me the only other QB deserving of a rib was Kirk Cousins. I guess only two QBs made mistakes during week 4.

Pete Prisco of CBS Sports dropped the Bears 3 to 15th.

That defense is an eyesore. It can't stop anybody, which puts a ton of pressure on the offense.

His CBS Sports cohort, Pat Kirwan, has it like this.

12. Bears (8): The old Bears showed up last week in the loss to the Packers and it creates doubt about Jay Cutler. The Bears are a solid team but they just can't get past Green Bay. Cutler as the Bears QB is 1-9 against the Packers.

Is "QB record" really a thing that people point to?

I seem to recall plenty of mainstream and regional media types dismissing a QBs won/loss record whenever it's brought up to make a point that counters one of their own.

I generally don't agree with using that "stat", because there are a lot of other factors that go into a team's win besides just QB play. I just get perturbed when someone picks and chooses when to reference the "stat" so it benefits their argument.

What are your thoughts on where the Bears stand this week?