NFL power rankings, Week 12: Bears fall to No. 8 after loss to 49ers

The Chicago Bears are now at 7-3 on the season, which is much better than many figured they'd be at this point in the season, but they still have lost two straight games now. Those games were to two of the NFL's best though, as Chicago lost to the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers.

Still, they find themselves falling down the weekly power rankings. Joel Thorman of SB Nation posted his Week 12 rankings, and he has the Bears at No. 8, which is down five spots from last week.

8. Chicago Bears (LW: 3, 7-3): Blame the fact that the Bears only scored seven points in Monday's game on Jay Cutler getting hurt and a backup quarterback stepping in. But blame the Bears defense for imploding and making Colin Kaepernick look like Steve Young.

It's true that Chicago was expected to struggle with Jason Campell in at quarterback, but San Francisco put up 30-plus points against a Bears defense that was supposed to be one of the best in the NFL. They've been the best in the NFL at creating turnovers, and they failed to create any against what was essentially a rookie quarterback in Colin Kaepernick.

San Francisco, the team that just beat Chicago, comes in at No. 3 on Thorman's rankings, while the Texans, who bested them the week before, are in at No. 1. When you take that into consideration, the Bears' losses don't look so bad, but come playoff time, those are the games that Chicago will need to win.