At the official halfway point of the season, the league is as unpredictable as ever. The top two teams in last week’s list both lost. The Chiefs, who have been playing the best as of late, lost in their showdown against the Bills. The Packers also lost at home against the Panthers. The Patriots keep chugging along, winning their sixth game in a row. And the Cardinals may be the best five-loss team in the league.
With all this in mind, here is this week’s ranking:
Worst of the worst
32. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: The Saints remain at the bottom of this list, and firmly in the race for top pick at next year’s draft.
31. TENNESSEE TITANS: The Titans lost again and could very well have back-to-back No. 1 picks at the draft.
30. NEW YORK GIANTS: The Giants win this week’s competition for New York’s worst NFL team.
29. NEW YORK JETS: With their bye, the Jets move up one spot, switching places with the Giants.
28. MIAMI DOLPHINS: The Dolphins lost in a convincing way, at home against the Ravens last Thursday night. The loss dropped them one spot on this list.
27. CLEVELAND BROWNS: The Browns, like the Jets, gained a spot without even playing.
26. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS: Brock Bowers is a stud, and the Raiders one true weapon on offense, after trading away Jacobi Meyers to the Jaguars. But he wasn’t enough to pull out a victory this week.
Too inconsistent:
25. CINCINNATI BENGALS: This Bengals team is a tragedy. Even with Joe Flacco, they are putting up over 40 points a game. But on defense, even with Trey Hendrickson, they constantly give up over 40 points too.
24. ATLANTA FALCONS: How can an NFL QB not be able to run an offense under center, or even in a traditional shotgun formation? Setting up in the pistol, Michael Penix is 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and RB Bijan Robinson is 4 yards behind him. Thankfully, they have a solid defense, but it wasn’t enough this week against the Patriots.
23. DALLAS COWBOYS: The Cowboys lost again and are now 3-5-1. They are teetering on the edge of irrelevance. When they get behind by double digits in a game, it is a death sentence for them. Dak Prescott just hasn’t been able to lead his team to victory when they fall behind. That was the case again on Monday night.
22. ARIZONA CARDINALS: The Cardinals broke a five-game losing streak, which had them ahead in the fourth quarter of each loss. Crazy to say, but there is a scenario where they could be sitting at 8-0. And there is a very real QB controversy…the offense has been much more cohesive under Jacoby Brissett than Kyler Murray.
21. HOUSTON TEXANS: The Texans lost a tough 3-point game against the Broncos. They have had a buzzsaw of a schedule recently. They lost three weeks ago against the Seahawks.
20. WASHINGTON COMMANDERS: The Commanders lost again, and in a game that was out of reach in the fourth quarter, they also lost their QB Jayden Daniels.
Playoff hopefuls:
19. MINNESOTA VIKINGS: With second-year QB JJ McCarthy back at the helm, the Vikings managed a win at the most hostile of venues, defeating the Lions in Detroit. In possibly the most difficult division in football, the Vikings are in last place at 4-4.
18. CAROLINA PANTHERS: Don’t look now, but the Panthers won again. They managed to go into Green Bay and come away with the victory. They find themselves in second place in the NFC South, with a 5-4 record.
17. CHICAGO BEARS: The Bears have given up 12 more pts than they’ve scored this season, yet they are 5-3. Thankfully for them, they played the defensively challenged Bengals on Sunday.
16. BALTIMORE RAVENS: Starting at the bottom of the top half of this list…They’re Back. The Ravens are sitting at 3-5, and seem ready to pounce. They are still outside of the playoffs, looking in…but I have no doubt that when the smoke settles, they will be in the postseason.
15. PITTSBURGH STEELERS: The Steelers are currently atop the AFC North, sitting at 5-3. And considering HC Mike Tomlin always finishes above.500, I have no doubt they will finish with at least nine wins. Whether that’s enough to make the postseason remains to be seen. They face the Ravens twice in the final five weeks of the season, which will ultimately decide who wins the division.
14. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS: The Jaguars just traded for Jacobi Meyers in an attempt to go all-in. They are currently in the playoffs and sitting at 5-3.
How deep a run can they make?
13. GREEN BAY PACKERS: After games like this, it brings back all the same questions about Jordan Love. There is no excuse to lose at home to the Carolina Panthers, even though the Panthers have been playing better.
12. SAN FRANCISCO 49ers: Just when I was about to kill Mac Jones, saying it was time for Brock Purdy to return, Jones comes back to have a stellar game. He was an efficient 19 for 24 with two TDs and 235 passing yds. They defeated the Giants 34-24 and are now sitting at 6-3.
11. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: I said this last week about the Seahawks: they are the victim of so many other good teams. They are sitting at 6-2, tied with the Rams. They still have two games against them, which will most likely decide who prevails in the NFC West.
10. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: I wrote this a few weeks ago about the Chiefs…they are the most volatile team on this list. They began in the second spot, and fell all the way out of the top 10. They clawed back up to seventh last week, only to drop three spots. They have two more very difficult matchups coming up…after their bye, they go to Denver, and then play the Colts.
The contenders:
9. BUFFALO BILLS: The Bills won their annual regular-season matchup against the Chiefs, and are now 5-1 against them. The script is flipped in the playoffs, where the Chiefs are 4-0 against the Bills. They are now 5-5 overall against each other. Interestingly, neither team is currently winning their division…and the Chiefs aren’t even in the playoffs at the moment.
8. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: The Pats keep moving up. They are sitting here at No. 8, and have a tough matchup this week in Tampa Bay, against the Buccaneers. Winning will almost assuredly move them into the top five. A win like that will make a believer out of me. That being said, I feel compelled to throw a few bucks on The Bucs at -2.5pts.
7. DETROIT LIONS: Losing to the Vikings isn’t the story…losing to them at home is. They are now 5-3, tied with the Bears for second place in the NFC North. Thankfully for both of them, the Packers lost.
6. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS: The Chargers are 6-3, and coming off a victory against the Titans in Tennessee.
5. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: The Colts dropped out of the top spot after their 27-20 loss in Pittsburgh. In fairness, this was a tough spot for the Colts, they were facing a Steeler team coming off a two-game losing streak. They are the only team in the NFL with more than a 100-point differential.
4. LOS ANGELES RAMS: The Rams moved up an impressive four spots this week, after their victory over the woeful New Orleans Saints. They have given up the fewest pts in the NFC, and are tied with the Seahawks at 6-2.
3. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: The Eagles had a much-needed bye on Sunday, which helped an ailing Saquon Barkley. They actually moved up two spots by sitting at home.
2. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: The Bucs also moved up coming off their bye, and gained a spot in the standings due to Indy and Detroit both losing. They have a suddenly difficult matchup at home this week, with the Patriots coming to town.
1. DENVER BRONCOS: Don’t look now, but the Broncos are the latest team to ascend to the top of this list. It wasn’t pretty on Sunday, but they won a road game against a plucky Houston team fighting for their playoff lives.
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