Don't Be Fooled, AP Owns the Bears: Week 13 Fantasy Football Running Back Rankings

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

The Chicago Bears are terrible against the pass, and own the NFL's fifth-best run defense. An amateur would look at these figures and take Adrian Peterson down a few steps due to the matchup. The problem is that Peterson is special. He's only really had one off-game all year -- an aberration against the Saints on Monday Night Football where he was completely bottled up by a terrible defense. Other than that, he's had at least 77 yards on the ground in each game, and averaged at least 4.4 yards per carry.

Oh yeah, and -- as the title laid out -- he does own the Chicago Bears. In three career starts, he's compiled downright stupid numbers against them. I'm talking about 423 yards on 62 carries and seven touchdowns. In three games. So his average game against the Bears is 141 ground yards and a couple of scores. And a yawn.

Um, yeah, he's gonna blow up.

More notes after the rankings.

1. Adrian Peterson, vs. CHI
2. Joseph Addai, at CLE
3. Marion Barber, vs. SEA
4. Thomas Jones, vs. DEN
5. Marshawn Lynch, vs. SF
6. DeAngelo Williams, at GB
7. Chris Johnson, at DET
8. Michael Turner, at SD
9. LaDanian Tomlinson, vs. ATL
10. Frank Gore, at BUF
11. Clinton Portis, vs. NYG
12. Matt Forte, at MIN
13. Maurice Jones-Drew, at HOU
14. Steve Slaton, vs. JAX
15. Warrick Dunn, vs. NO
16. Ronnie Brown, at StL
17. Brandon Jacobs, at WAS
18. Ryan Grant, vs. CAR
19. Larry Johnson, at OAK
20. Justin Fargas, vs. KC
21. Darren McFadden, vs. KC
22. Brian Westbrook, vs. ARI
23. Jamal Lewis, vs. IND
24. LenDale White, at DET
25. Pierre Thomas, at TB
26. Mewelde Moore, at NE
27. Ricky Williams, at StL
28. Leon Washington, vs. DEN
29. Fred Taylor, at HOU
30. Derrick Ward, at WAS
31. Tim Hightower, at PHI
32. LeRon McClain, at CIN
33. J.J. Arrington, at PHI
34. Willie Parker, at NE
35. Willis McGahee, at CIN
36. Kevin Faulk, vs. PIT
37. Antonio Pittman, vs. MIA
38. Peyton Hillis, at NYJ
39. Kevin Smith, vs. TEN
40. Sammy Morris, vs. PIT
Wild Cards: Reggie Bush, Steven Jackson -- these guys are must-starts if they play. At this point in the week, however, we don't have enough information to judge. Just don't forget about them.

- I see three tandem backfields set to torch their opposition. The Titans, Dolphins and Jets have incredibly favorable matchups in terms of real-life potential to win the game and fantasy potential because of terrible run defenses. The Titans (Chris Johnson, LenDale White) and Dolphins (Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams) will respectively use both backs the entire game to control the clock and garner some nice stats. The Jets will mix in Leon Washington while leaning on Thomas Jones. All six of these guys are quality starts to varying degrees.

- I see another who won't be taking part in a blowout, yet will be running all game in a close one. Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew are going to be the Jags' offense.

- The Packers run defense is terrible, and if the Panthers want to stay in the game, DeAngelo Williams will play a huge role.

- With Matt Forte, I realize the Vikes' run defense is really stout. He's just too big a part of the Bears game plan to completely disappear. He's a must-start every week in nearly every league at this point.

- My deep sleeper -- which I nailed last week thanks to Darren McFadden -- is J.J. Arrington. He won't get goal-line carries, but the Cardinals are looking to him more and more in the offense.