Getting to a Super Bowl is much different than being good during the regular season. We have seen many great regular season teams who falter when the playoffs roll around and some teams who don’t perform that well during the season, but excel in the playoffs. Here are the 10 teams with the best chance to make the Super Bowl as of week 14.
Philadelphia Eagles
They are an excellent team, and now, after beating the Ravens in Baltimore, I believe they’re the best team in the league. Their defense and offense are both playing at an elite level. They have the best RB in the league, Saquon Barkley, who might be the NFL MVP and they can lean on him come playoff time.
Lions
There really is no weakness on the roster, especially if they get some of their injured players on defense back. The key for the Lions is maintaining the top record in the NFC. If they can, they’re going to be very difficult to beat. Jared Goff plays elite football at home, and it gets insanely loud in the dome. The Eagles are better than them right now, but if the two teams meet, the winner will be decided by who the home team is.
Bills
In my opinion, the Bills were the best team in the AFC before they beat up the 49ers on SNF in the snow, and they still are the best team in the AFC after it. The Bills’ defense has really come together lately; Josh Allen plays at an MVP level, he isn’t turning the ball over, and they have a lot of different contributors in the passing game.
Chiefs
They are 11-1 and have the best record in the AFC, but they don’t deserve to be higher on this list. Their record in no way is indicative of how they’re playing right now. Still, you know they are going to make the playoffs, and once they are there, they always seem to find a way to win.
Packers
They won a big game on Thanksgiving night against a Miami team that came into the week playing great football. This is about the time last season when Jordan Love turned into the best QB in the NFC, and I think it’s going to happen again. They were excellent in the playoffs last year too and will only grow from the experience that they got. They kept up with the Lions all night on TNF and showed they can compete with the big boys.
Ravens
Thanks to Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, their offense is putting up numbers that rival some of the best teams in history, and their run defense is one of the best in the league as well. Their pass defense had been a weakness, but now they have improved that, too. They still beat themselves with penalties, and their usually very clutch kicker, Justin Tucker, has the YIPS. They need to get both those things fixed if they want to make a deep run.
Vikings
They squeaked out another win, this time against a good team. They are a top-four team in the NFC but the third-best team in their own division (second-best record). In a big game, I still want Goff, Hurts, or Love over Darnold. If they can continue to stop the run as well as they have, it could lead to playoff success.
Steelers
They won a big game on the road against a divisional rival. Even more impressive, the offense looked as good as it has all season. Russell Wilson was able to go toe-to-toe with Joe Burrow, which is why the Steelers won. In the playoffs, which Russ will we get? WIll the defense perform well on the road or just at home? Too many question marks still, even though they have the necessary pieces.
Chargers
They bounced back from a tough loss last week against the Ravens. They went on the road to play a 1 pm ET game as a West Coast team and beat a division-leading Falcons team that was coming off their bye week. The Chargers defense was the big difference in the win. Justin Herbert wasn’t great, but he did enough. Ladd McConkey had a huge game. They will have to lean on their defense if they want to make a deep run.
Broncos
They head into their bye week with a playoff spot, an elite defense, and a rookie QB in Bo Nix, who is playing great football and getting better each week. Relying on a rookie QB to get to a Super Bowl is nearly impossible, still though, they are a sneaky team who can beat anyone as long as Nix plays mistake free.