After beating the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints to start the season, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 16-15 at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to move to 3-0 and claim the top spot in the NFC West.
San Francisco didn’t look great, but without Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle, and without Nick Bosa for most of the game, they did just enough to squeak out a last-second victory off of an Eddy Pineiro 35-yard field goal as time expired.
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Through three weeks, NFL analysts like USA Today’s Nate Davis still weren’t buying in on San Francisco, playing the 49ers 12th in his Week 3 power rankings. After this win, Davis has dropped the 49ers down a spot to No. 13.
“A 3-0 start is obviously nice,” Davis wrote. “But when you’re winning by an average of 3.3 points then lose Pro Bowl DE Nick Bosa (torn ACL) for the duration? It’s got the potential to become fool’s gold awfully fast.”
The teams ahead of San Francisco at this point are the Seattle Seahawks (No. 12), Indianapolis Colts (No. 11), Kansas City Chiefs (No. 10), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 9), Washington Commanders (No. 8), Baltimore Ravens (No. 7), Detroit Lions (No. 6), Green Bay Packers (No. 5), Los Angeles Rams (No. 4), Los Angeles Chargers (No. 3), Buffalo Bills (No. 2) and Philadelphia Eagles (No. 1).
Seattle is the team that jumped the 49ers after beating the New Orleans Saints in Week 3. However, this move is interesting to note, considering San Francisco downed the Seahawks 17-13 in Week 1.
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A win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 4 and moving to 4-0 should move the 49ers up a bit next week, but if they keep losing significant players, their journey to the postseason will keep getting harder.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: NFL power rankings: Where are 49ers after Week 3 win vs. Cardinals