The San Francisco 49ers suffered their first loss of the 2023 season in Week 6, but their dramatic defeat to the Cleveland Browns has not changed the overall impression of a team many expect to be playing for the Lombardi Trophy in February.

San Francisco is still the betting favorite to win Super Bowl 59 in Las Vegas, per betonline.ag, and, even after Jake Moody's missed would-be game-winning field goal, condemned the Niners to a 19-17 upset, they remain at the top of Sports Illustrated's power rankings.

SI writer Conor Orr said in his blurb for the 49ers:

"I don’t think we can punish the 49ers for a game in which they barely missed three different touchdowns, a game-winning field goal and had their star running back and receiver get hurt. The 49ers are not going to be the 1972 Dolphins, and nor would we want them to be. The ’72 Dolphins are incredibly annoying. It’s a bit like listening to someone recount their high school athletic accomplishments, which doesn’t happen all that often anymore because…people realize how annoying it is! Anyway, it’s prayer circle time. Even if you are not a fan of San Francisco, you should be a fan of this team operating at full strength into the playoffs, like a kind of Thanos (without the whole academic overpopulation argument thing)."

Orr's reluctance to ding the 49ers for a narrow defeat in which they lost Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel to injury is shared by our own Destin Adams in his latest power rankings, though the order at the top of his list has changed somewhat following a week defined by upsets.

Yet with injuries to McCaffrey, Samuel and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams thought to be short-term problems that might not see any of the trio miss time, there isn't any reason to move the Niners significantly down the order.

Great teams can win when they don't play well. The 49ers would have done so in Cleveland had Moody found his accuracy when it mattered most, but the fact San Francisco was that close to pulling out the victory after a very poor display illustrates why the Niners are worthy of remaining at the summit of the power rankings.

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