NFL power rankings, Week 4: Rams slouching toward the bottom

The St. Louis Rams are slipping. On the field, the offense can't find an identity, the defense hasn't lived up to its top-10 billing and the special teams play mostly consists of blocking in the back. Those struggles have led to some slippage in conventional wisdom too. Power rankings from around the internet are walking back on those early predictions of a surprise team.

At SB Nation, I moved the Rams from 20 to 22 this week.

Jeff Fisher should win some major brownie points from grumpy columnists for his refusal to use the no-huddle offense unless his team is trying to dig its way out of a 20-point hole. It's the same offensive futility that's become synonymous with the Rams since the Greatest Show ended, but with much fancier parts nobody knows what to do with, like Tavon Austin. More concerning is a much-heralded defense allowing an average of almost 400 yards and 29 points per game.

Pete Prisco at CBS, who I had in mind when I wrote that line about grumpy columnists, put the Rams at 22, dropping them from 16 last week.

So much for their big step forward in 2013. They just can't get it going, but the early schedule was tough.

Pat Kirwan at CBS (man, CBS is really nailing down the grumpy old columnists) has the Rams at 23.

The Rams didn't look like they were ready to play in Dallas. I thought the Rams defense was a lot better than how they played this week. There are questions to be answered.

Again, take all power rankings with a grain of salt. It's just conventional wisdom, in ranking form. But the Rams have left a lot of people wondering, fans and media alike, with their early seasons struggles. A win this week would go a long way toward quieting those doubts.