NFL Power Rankings, Week 17: Cowboys inch toward playoffs, Chiefs clinch home field

A clearer playoff picture accompanies the Week 17 NFL Power Rankings

The playoffs are right around the corner as we get ready for the final week of football in the 2020 season. And with Week 17 on the horizon, and a playoff picture becoming clear, we start to have an easier time sorting teams out in our weekly 2020 NFL Power Rankings.

Week 16 was one that went as right as possible for some teams — such as the Dallas Cowboys. America’s Team won their game over the Philadelphia Eagles while the opponents they needed to see lose were dealt defeats.

The Washington Football Team fell to the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants lost to the Baltimore Ravens. Now, Dallas needs a win of their own in Week 17 and a loss from Washington, against Philly, and they’re in.

While that was all positive for them, the same couldn’t be said for the Cleveland Browns. Nearly everything that could go wrong for them did as they went from the five seed to the No. 7 team in the AFC after losing to the New York Jets. Now, Cleveland has to get a win against the Steelers in Week 17, or their season will end without a playoff berth yet again — and they will have to wait until 2021 to try and end the longest playoff drought in NFL history.

With all that being said, we dive into this week’s NFL Power Rankings, which starts with the team that secured the No. 1 pick in the draft next season, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

So the Jacksonville Jaguars finally won on Sunday. No, they didn’t win their game as the Chicago Bears made it look easy against them. The Bears dropped 41 points as the Jags finished with just 17 in the lopsided victory.

What they did win, however, was the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Their loss dropped them to 1-14 on the season and the New York Jets won against the Cleveland Browns to improve to 2-13. With the Jets’ strength of schedule being better than the Jags, that means the top pick will be owned by Jacksonville.

There’s also no question what they’ll do with that pick. Jacksonville has yet to find their franchise leader and with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence looking to be a once in a generation talent, taking him is a no-brainer.

From there, the question will be whether or not they can surround him with the talent he needs to be successful in the NFL.