None of the three Super Bowl favorites (the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs) added wins to their tally last week, which goes to show how open the championship race is in Week 8. There is still time for teams further down the pecking order to either make up ground on the frontrunners or surpass them entirely in the divisional and Wild Card standings before the postseason hunt really heats up in the second half of the campaign.

That means the Cincinnati Bengals have ample opportunities to take command of an AFC North that might surprisingly be the most competitive division in football. On the other hand, the clock is ticking much faster on the Houston Texans than anyone thought possible heading into the season.

A plethora of top-tier Super Bowl contenders will go head-to-head this week, which will either separate the most formidable title hopefuls from the rest or cloud the picture even further.

Here are the latest trends in the Super Bowl race heading into Week 8.

Super Bowl odds entering Week 8

Odds via DraftKings, +2000 or better

• 49ers: +580
• Bills: +700
• Chiefs: +900
• Seahawks: +1000
• Rams: +1100
• Jaguars: +1200
• Ravens: +1300
• Bears: +1400
• Bengals: +1600
• Vikings: +1700
• Patriots: +1900
• Broncos: +1900

Stock up: Joe Burrow's excellence ignites Bengals

It took until Week 7 for them to earn their first divisional win, but that was all it took for the Bengals to become the AFC North favorites for the first time this season. At halftime, when they trailed the Ravens, 13-0, it looked as though they were bound to fall to 0-2 in the uber-competitive division. But then Joe Burrow happened. The superstar quarterback posted a perfect passer rating across the third and fourth quarters when he completed 16 of 18 passes for 249 yards and four touchdowns. It was perhaps the best half of his terrific career.

The offense has been consistent throughout the first two months of the year and now has back-to-back games with at least 31 points. The defense has shown flashes of improvement following multiple years of misery, but it has yet to string together strong showings. If that comes by season's end, the Bengals will be a complete team with a top-flight quarterback and a sometimes unstoppable offense. That defensive unit has to prove itself before Cincinnati can be taken seriously as a Super Bowl contender, but again, the signs are there. It stifled Tyler Huntley in a shutout second half on Sunday and, in Week 2, held the Texans to just six points.

Burrow showed last week that he can still make up for many of the defense's shortcomings. He did so a week prior with four touchdowns in an eerily close game against the Miami Dolphins, too. Cincinnati is getting peak Burrow right now. It needs to capitalize.

Stock down: Texans' resurgence reaches screeching halt

The Texans' chances of becoming the second team in NFL history to bounce back from an 0-4 start and reach the playoffs took a major hit. Allowing J.J. McCarthy to log the third-best start of his maligned young career (by passer rating) was the latest example of how a defense expected to be the league's best has regressed into a state of unexplainable dysfunction. The two long runs in overtime — Cam Skattebo and Devin Singletary broke off to win the game for the New York Giants — were uncharacteristic of the kind of rushing plays Houston is wont to surrender, too.

DeMeco Ryans' defense was the stingiest in the NFL last season by yards allowed and ranked second in scoring. This season, the unit stands in the bottom half of the league in both metrics. If it held up its end of the bargain, imagine where the Texans would be. C.J. Stroud is playing his way to a massive contract extension but cannot get a lick of help on the other side of the ball. A year ago, the story was the complete opposite. It is hard to make sense of why this role reversal has occurred, given that the roster is mostly the same as in 2025 and the coaching staff did not experience any meaningful turnover either.

Long shot of the week: Cowboys (+3200)

Until they show that they can slow their opponents down more effectively, the Dallas Cowboys will remain only a fringe contender for a deep playoff run. They still have yet to hold a team under 20 points. Even the depleted Philadelphia Eagles reached the end zone three times against them.

But something clicked offensively for the Cowboys on "Monday Night Football" and rejuvenated a unit that had been anemic the previous two weeks. Javonte Williams has leveled up this season and is now the NFL's rushing touchdown leader after a 155-yard explosion against the bitter-rival Eagles. CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens accounted for three touchdowns in the road win and might be back in form as a terrorizing duo at receiver. If that was the start of a dominant run for an offense capable of competing among the NFL's best, then Dallas might be the team to beat in the downtrodden and wide-open NFC East.

Week 8 games to watch

Ravens at Bills

Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS, stream on Paramount+

The ongoing uncertainty surrounding Lamar Jackson's ankle places a dark cloud over the Ravens and their potential to reach the playoffs. Even if he returns in Week 8, his team will be in great danger of dropping a third consecutive game. The Bills enter the showdown off a bye and will be positioned well to outduel the Ravens in a shootout should two of the NFL's last three MVPs go head-to-head in a Jackson vs. Josh Allen classic. And if the Bills see Tyler Huntley instead, the shakiness of their defense might not matter much.

Bears at Seahawks

Monday, 8:15 p.m., ESPN, stream on Fubo

This is an inopportune time for the Bears to meet the defending Super Bowl champions. The Seahawks just put together their most overwhelming defensive performance of the season and rendered the league's rushing leader, Kenneth Walker III, completely ineffective. Their run defense ought to play with extreme confidence when they meet a Bears team that ranks first in rushing offense. The game plan will need to be a bit different since Chicago poses more of a threat with its wide receivers than Kansas City, but expect Mike Macdonald to dial up another effective strategy to bottle things up at the line of scrimmage.

Chiefs at Broncos

Sunday, 4:25 p.m., CBS, stream on Paramount+

Going on the road to Denver is never an ideal spot for a bounce-back effort (especially now that the Broncos have offensive momentum), but it might just be the matchup the Chiefs need to get their run game moving again. It was highly obvious in Week 7 that if Walker is not the focal point of the offense, they cannot move the ball. The Broncos rank 28th in rushing yards allowed per game, so the Chiefs should be able to find far more balance this week than they did on "Sunday Night Football." The winner will take the AFC West lead.

Vikings at Lions

Sunday, 1 p.m., Fox, stream on Fubo

There might not be a more dramatic difference in styles in any matchup this season than the one between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. It perfectly encapsulates the "unstoppable force meets immovable object" theory with Minnesota's impenetrable defense squaring off against a Detroit offense that ranks second in scoring and yardage. And on the other side of the ball, is this the game where the Lions finally slow an opponent down, or will Kyler Murray break out of the doldrums against the league's worst defense? This is a battle of extremes, and one that will either deliver clarity in the NFC North with the Vikings pulling away at 7-0, or muck it up even further by pulling them back into the pack.