A weekly examination of the 49ers’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:
Preseason ranking: 3 | Last Week: 2 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002
What a week for Jim Harbaugh. First, his team beats the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 and Harbaugh is allowed to have a little verbal fun at the expense of Green Bay’s Clay Matthews. Now, to kick off a huge rivalry week with NFC West foe Seattle, Harbaugh has been afforded some more ammo. His 49ers are the No. 1-ranked team in ESPN’s Power Rankings, and those Seahawks are No. 2.
Does Harbaugh care? Oh, probably not. But you never know what’s going through that ever-working mind of his. But the No. 1 ranking was no gift. The 49ers earned the spot. In beating the Packers, the 49ers were more impressive than Seattle (last week’s No. 1 team) was in its win at Carolina.
So it’s setting up to be No. 1 versus No. 2 in Week 2. As if we all needed more motivation to be excited for this one.