Your favorite NFL team might have made the playoffs last season, but some of the teams that made the playoffs are overrated heading into 2025, including some teams that might surprise you.
The old saying goes "you are what your record says you are" and while that may be true in a lot of ways, there are also plenty of indicators that teams could take a significant step back in 2025 and people might be surprised by it.
Which teams made the playoffs in 2024 and are already being overrated for 2025?
3 most overrated NFL Playoff teams from 2024 season
3. Minnesota Vikings/Detroit Lions
I've been pretty hard on the top two teams last season in the NFC North, but I think it's justified. The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings might be equal parts overrated at this point, which is why I lumped them together.
The Lions won a whopping 15 games last season and the Vikings won 14. Kevin O'Connell was the NFL Coach of the Year and these two teams established themselves as powerhouses in the NFC, but faltered in the playoffs.
The Vikings are having to replace starting quarterback Sam Darnold this year with 2024 first-round pick JJ McCarthy. While the decision to play Darnold was met with skepticism in the first place, you can't help but wonder if/when the clock is going to strike midnight on this Vikings team. And maybe it won't. But with an inexperienced QB coming off of a major injury and a secondary with holes, the Vikings have been overrated a bit this offseason.
The same is true of the Lions, whose roster is great but there are asterisks. This team didn't upgrade off the edge. They lost guys on the interior offensive line. The most underrated losses might be their coordinators on both sides of the ball, and virtually nobody is talking about it.
This might be the year for the Packers or Bears to swoop in and take the North.
2. Los Angeles Chargers
Every year, the Chargers find a way to let everyone down in the playoffs. And only two or three months later, it seems like everyone is jumping right back on the wagon after whatever moves the Chargers made in the offseason.
Whether it's through free agent acquisitions, the draft, or coaching changes, folks in the NFL media world find ways to hype up the Chargers every offseason. They always just made a move or two to put themselves over the top.
Part of this is that I feel Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert gets vastly overrated. Herbert is frequently lumped in the same category as players like Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes, but he's not on that level.
Herbert can go toe-to-toe with those guys in certain instances, but he's not proven to be that same caliber of a player at the quarterback position. There's something missing there, but folks don't seem to see it. Herbert has all of the physical talent in the world, and he's a really good player. But he's not making the same weekly impact of the elite QBs in the NFL.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
I want to simultaneously pay proper respect to the Kansas City Chiefs while also honestly pointing out their flaws as a team.
It doesn't seem the Chiefs' fan base accepts any combination of those two things. You have to bow down and revere this team in their eyes. But the unfortunate reality for Kansas City is that this team has struggled offensively.
Yeah, struggled all the way to an AFC title and modern-day dynasty!
The Chiefs have found ways to dominate in situational football. They have found ways to be clutch when they need to be. They have played elite defense. But the offense has ranked 15th in the NFL each of the last two seasons, and the offensive line got worse this offseason with the departure of Joe Thuney. They've got guys with serious struggles off the field. Key weapons on offense are injury-prone. Travis Kelce is not the same player he once was.
Kansas City is just presumed as a favorite in the AFC and AFC West again, but should they be? There are signs pointing to this team being one of the most overrated in the NFL, not that they've had to care thanks to their results on the field.