2026 NFL Week 7 Power Rankings: Biggest Risers and Fallers

Chicago needed Caleb Williams back, and it took all of two drives to see why. After missing three games with a hamstring injury, Williams opened 10-of-10 for 122 yards and a touchdown against Atlanta. He finished 30-of-36 for 305 yards without an interception. The Bears won 31-23, and their offense finally had its starting quarterback making the throws Ben Johnson designed it to make.

Kyler Gordon gave Chicago an equally important return on defense. Playing his first game of the season, Gordon finished with three sacks and two forced fumbles. His late strip-sack of Michael Penix Jr. shut down Atlanta’s comeback after the Falcons had cut a 31-7 deficit to eight points. Chicago had built the lead with Williams, D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson finding the end zone, then needed Gordon to protect it.

PFM’s biggest gain of the week takes the Bears from No. 8 to No. 4. That’s a real jump, and the return of their quarterback is the biggest reason for it. There is still work to do: 12 penalties for 133 yards and a fourth-quarter scare are not how Johnson wants to finish games. But with Williams healthy and Gordon back in the secondary, Chicago has more ways to win than it did a week ago.

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Arizona didn’t score a touchdown against the Rams. It won anyway. Chad Ryland drilled six field goals, including a 43-yarder as time expired, to give the Cardinals an 18-16 road victory. Mike LaFleur’s team was down 16-15 with less than a minute left after Matthew Stafford found Colby Parkinson for a late touchdown, but Arizona had enough time to get Ryland one more chance.

The Cardinals’ defense deserves just as much credit as their kicker. Josh Sweat and Budda Baker got to Stafford, Arizona forced two turnovers on downs, and the Rams struggled to move the ball for most of the afternoon. Jacoby Brissett and the offense had five red-zone trips without a touchdown, so this wasn’t the kind of win that settles any questions about finishing drives.

PFM bumped Arizona three places, from No. 31 to No. 28, after a 1.20-point Team Score gain. That makes sense for a team that went on the road and knocked off a highly rated opponent. It doesn’t suddenly make Arizona a contender. LaFleur needs to turn all those trips near the goal line into touchdowns, because Ryland won’t bail the offense out six times every Sunday.

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Carolina didn’t just take advantage of a struggling Eagles team. Bryce Young went into Philadelphia and led a 25-14 win with 281 passing yards, his fifth straight game this season with at least 225. The Panthers kept the Eagles chasing, and Young even drew a crucial fourth-down offside with his hard count to keep a scoring drive alive. Those are the little plays that change road games.

Jalen Coker caught six passes for 97 yards, and Tommy Tremble caught both of Young’s touchdown throws. Carolina also wore down Philadelphia after halftime, with the Eagles giving up more than 100 rushing yards in the second half after holding the Panthers to 24 before the break. Dave Canales got production from his quarterback, his pass catchers and a ground game that got stronger late.

The Panthers climbed from No. 24 to No. 21 in PFM’s new order. That is still the lower half of the league, and one road win doesn’t erase the defense’s uneven stretches or questions about roster depth. But this is the type of game Carolina has needed from Young: make smart throws, handle the noise and finish drives when the chance is there. The Panthers are starting to give opponents a tougher afternoon.

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Philadelphia’s biggest problem isn’t hard to find. Jalen Hurts is on injured reserve after doctors discovered a blood clot in his calf, and the Eagles are now preparing to play the rest of the season without their starting quarterback. Tanner McKee took over against Carolina, but Philadelphia managed just 14 points in a 25-14 home loss. That was the Eagles’ fourth straight defeat.

McKee threw for 215 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over, so this wasn’t about one bad quarterback play. Philadelphia rushed for only 35 yards with Saquon Barkley unavailable, and the offense kept putting itself in difficult situations. Nick Sirianni still has talent on this roster, but asking McKee to carry a one-dimensional attack while the team keeps making mistakes is asking a lot.

PFM cut Philadelphia by 3.48 points, easily the largest drop in the October 20 update, and the Eagles now sit No. 24. The score reflects more than one loss: losing Hurts changes what the offense can reasonably do each week.

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Trevor Lawrence threw four touchdowns in London. Jacksonville still lost 34-31 to Houston. That tells you where the Jaguars’ afternoon went wrong. C.J. Stroud threw three touchdowns, and the Texans rolled up 426 yards against a Jacksonville defense that entered the game among the league’s best at keeping points off the board.

Travis Hunter nearly rescued the day on both sides of the ball. He caught a fourth-quarter touchdown and intercepted Stroud in the end zone, while Cam Little’s 60-yard field goal tied the game with under two minutes left. But Jacksonville couldn’t keep Houston out of scoring range, and Ka’imi Fairbairn won it with a 49-yard field goal as time expired. Liam Coen got the late response he wanted from his offense, not the final stop he needed from his defense.

PFM dropped the Jaguars from No. 7 to No. 9. That’s a meaningful setback, not a reason to throw out a 4-2 start. Jacksonville can score with good teams when Lawrence is playing this way. The question going into the Week 7 bye is whether its defense can hold up when a quarterback gets hot and the game comes down to one final possession.

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Seattle had already climbed out of an 11-point fourth-quarter hole in Denver. Then Sam Darnold threw an interception in overtime, and the Broncos cashed it in for a 17-14 win. Darnold was picked off twice in the game and has now thrown six of his seven interceptions this season in Seattle’s three losses. It’s a pattern Mike Macdonald can’t keep watching without concern.

The frustrating part for the Seahawks is how well their defense responded. After Denver’s two early touchdown drives, Seattle allowed only two second-half first downs and helped drag the game into overtime. The offense scored just three points through three quarters, allowed five sacks and couldn’t turn that defensive effort into a victory. That’s why the loss falls on the offense more than the final score suggests.

Seattle lost 0.97 points in PFM’s update but stayed No. 3, which says plenty about the roster around Darnold. The Seahawks still have one of the highest-rated defenses in football. To remain in that conversation, they need their quarterback and protection to stop giving opponents extra chances in close games. The difference between 3-3 and a much better start isn’t hard to find.

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What Week 7 Actually Changed for PFM

The biggest change in these rankings isn’t a team suddenly forgetting how to play football. It’s the quarterback. Williams made Chicago more dangerous the moment he came back. Hurts’ absence leaves Philadelphia trying to find points with a different offense. Those are changes worth more than one final score.

Arizona and Carolina earned their gains with road wins, but neither is suddenly a finished product. Jacksonville’s loss exposed a defense that couldn’t close, while Seattle still has the defense to compete with anybody and an offense that is making life harder than it needs to be. That is what makes this week’s PFM movement more interesting than simply counting wins and losses.

Chicago is back in the top four with Williams healthy, but the Bears still need cleaner fourth-quarter football. Philadelphia has a harder problem: its offense needs a reliable run game and better protection to support McKee while Hurts is out. The full PFM board tracks all 32 clubs, not just these six.

See every Week 7 change, not just the six biggest moves.