If not for a two-game hiccup early in the season, the Steelers might be sitting atop these Power Rankings. Especially after their two most recent performances.

The Steelers dropped in the rankings after losing at Chicago and Cincinnati in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively. But Pittsburgh hasn’t lost in five games since, and it re-established itself as a strong threat to repeat as Super Bowl champion with wins over previously unbeaten Minnesota two weeks ago and, following its bye week, a huge 28-10 triumph at Denver on Monday night.

“We’re coming together,” Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, who caught two touchdown passes against the Broncos, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after the game.

Those two early losses still have the Steelers looking up at three AFC teams in our rankings, but that could change after this coming weekend. The unbeaten Colts and 6-2 Patriots play each other, and the Steelers can avenge their earlier loss to the Bengals when they host Cincinnati. None of this will settle anything in the AFC, but it will provide a good glimpse of where the power resides. And lately, much of it has been in Pittsburgh.

Here’s how Athlon Sports stacks the 32 teams through nine weeks of the NFL season.

1. New Orleans (8-0). It’s hard to lose when no team can build up enough of a cushion to counteract the Saints’ 91-18 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter.

2. Indianapolis (8-0). Halfway through the season and Jim Caldwell still doesn’t know what it’s like to lose as a head coach.

3. Minnesota (7-1). The good news: The Vikings lead the league with 31 sacks. The bad news: No more games against the Packers.

4. New England (6-2). Tom Brady has three straight games with over 300 yards passing. Yes, folks, He Who Could Do No Wrong in 2007 is on a roll.

5. Cincinnati (6-2). Some said they’d buy into the Bengals as a legit playoff contender if they beat the Ravens the first time. For the rest of you, what more do you need to see after the season sweep?

6. Pittsburgh (6-2). Think Troy Polamalu matters? The Steelers are 4-0 when he plays this season, 2-2 when he doesn’t.

7. Dallas (6-2). The win in Philly didn’t rewrite history — that 2008 playoff spot is long gone — but it does make a 2009 berth a whole lot more likely.

8. Denver (6-2). Get this: After kicking a field goal to end their first drive against Pittsburgh on Monday night, every Broncos possession thereafter ended in either a punt or an interception.

9. Atlanta (5-3). With Matt Ryan struggling a bit, Michael Turner’s re-emergence could not have been timed better.

10. Philadelphia (5-3). The Eagles are great at getting big plays, but their struggles with the short-but-important ones could be their undoing.

11. Arizona (5-3). “We didn’t let ’em off the hook,” coach Ken Whisenhunt cracked after the Cardinals’ win over the Bears. Sounds like somebody is bucking for his own beer commercial.

12. San Diego (5-3). Don’t look now, but the Chargers are only a game behind Denver, and the two teams play each other in Week 11.

13. Baltimore (4-4). It’s starting to become news if a running back does not rush for 100 yards against the Ravens.

14. New York Giants (5-4). This week on America’s Toughest Jobs: Anxious contestants find out what it’s like to work for Tom Coughlin amid a four-game losing streak.

15. New York Jets (4-4). And to think, we had the Giants and Jets 1-2 in our Power Rankings for two weeks early in the season.

16. Houston (5-4). With a bye this week, the Texans have an extra week to think about what might have been — and to ponder a rematch with Indy in Week 12.

17. Green Bay (4-4). Aaron Rodgers has already been sacked three more times than he was all last season, which puts him on pace to … let me crunch the numbers … start losing body parts by Thanksgiving.

18. Chicago (4-4). If you thought the Bears would be a .500 team, then they are exactly who you thought they were.

19. Jacksonville (4-4). A switch back to the 4-3 defense worked wonders against the Chiefs. Of course, we still don’t know if it will work against a real NFL offense.

20. Miami (3-5). The Dolphins’ schedule doesn’t offer much by way of a cushion, but the next three weeks — Bucs, Panthers, Bills — provides a bit of a breather.

21. Carolina (3-5). A week after upsetting the Cardinals, the Panthers had the Saints on the ropes … for a while. Carolina is scrappy, if nothing else.

22. Seattle (3-5). If the Seahawks could run the ball, they would. But they can’t, so Matt Hasselbeck put the team on his ailing shoulder, ignored his aching ribs and threw 51 passes — a team-record 39 of them completions — for 329 yards to lead a comeback win over Detroit. Impressive.

23. Tennessee (2-6). Two wins down, eight to go to make league-leading rusher Chris Johnson a prophet, too.

24. San Francisco (3-5). If Mike Singletary hasn’t dropped his drawers at halftime lately, I’m not sure what he’s waiting for.

25. Buffalo (3-5). Linebacker DeMeco Ryans had this to say after the Texans held the Bills to 10 points in Week 8: “It was easy. They kind of had the same formations, they didn’t give us a lot of motions and things. So it was a simple offense to go against.” We’ll see if the bye week gave the Bills a chance to come up with anything in a flavor other than vanilla.

26. Oakland (2-6). JaMarcus Russell is coming off his best week of the season. You missed it? That’s because they don’t show bye weeks on TV.

27. Washington (2-6). I wonder if Daniel Snyder visualizes a pile of money with eyes sitting in front of Albert Haynesworth’s locker while a voice says, “This is the money you could be saving.”

28. Tampa Bay (1-7). Here’s hoping the Bucs win more games this season. Just to see Raheem Morris smile.

29. Kansas City (1-7). There was a time when the Chiefs had to decide whether to give Larry Johnson or Jared Allen a pile of money. Oops.

30. St. Louis (1-7). Kicker Josh Brown has as many TD passes as Marc Bulger in the Rams’ last three games.

31. Detroit (1-7). Matthew Stafford stunk up the joint with five picks against Seattle. Just like Kurt Warner did the week before against Carolina.

32. Cleveland (1-7). If this team is improving under Eric Mangini, I haven’t seen any evidence of it.

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