Even with the NFL having expanded from a 12 to 14-team playoff format years ago, it's still incredibly difficult to make the postseason in this league. One neat quirk about the NFL playoff format is that an entire division is able to make it.
We have not seen that happen yet, but that doesn't mean it can't in the 2026 NFL Season. Now that training camps across the NFL are beginning, we've decided to only continue our lengthy NFL power rankings series, this time looking at the 14 playoff teams from 2025.
For these rankings, we're going to be ranking them based on a bit of projection - how we think they will do in the 2026 season, rather than ranking them in the immediate present. Let's get started.
NFL Power Ranking: Ranking the playoff field for the 2026 season
14. Carolina Panthers
I just cannot buy into the Carolina Panthers for the 2026 season. Yes, we did see quarterback Bryce Young play the best football of his career, but he was still mediocre, only passing for 200 yards in four of his 16 starts. The Panthers went 8-8 in his starts and really didn't do much of anything well, either.
I also personally believe that Young is a limited quarterback and doesn't have much more to his game than what we saw. Sure, I could be wrong, but that's also how it goes sometimes. Overall, the Panthers don't appear to threaten you on paper and were also a losing football team in the 2025 season, so I would be careful buying into them for 2026.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers
Aaron Rodgers was average, at best in 2025 and is now a year older. He's in his final season in the NFL as well. In 2025, the Steelers were truly average on both sides of the ball but were able to keep the non-losing season streak alive and make the playoffs.
But had Tyler Loop been able to make a field goal, the playoff hopes would have disappeared. Pittsburgh is really on the fringe of being a playoff team, and the best thing that could happen to this franchise is a losing season that forces the front office to actually begin the process of a rebuild.
This team is a giant group of nothingness with no clear direction at all. They should not be a team that other opponents need to worry about this year.
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