The 2026 NFL season is going to be one of the most exciting and drama-filled in recent memory. It's hard to think back to a time where the league was this loaded from top to bottom, and the competition for every division around the league will be fierce.
For NFC teams that won their respective divisions in 2025, finding a way to repeat is going to be a rather brutal task.
Teams have made major coaching and roster changes this offseason, setting up for some teams to potentially take over. But which teams have the best chance to steal division titles away from last year's champions in the NFC?
Our latest NFL Power Rankings will take a look at the biggest threat to every NFC division champion from last year based on the improvements they've made on paper this offseason, and rank them worst to best.
NFL Power Rankings: Reigning NFC division champions in trouble ahead of 2026 season
4. NFC North: Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions were a massive disappointment last year, but it's hard to believe that's going to be the case again in the 2026 season.
At the end of the 2024 season, it really looked like the Lions were more on their way to being a perennial Super Bowl contender than a possible Super Bowl fraud, but that's exactly what happened as they slipped from having one of the best records in the league in 2024 (15-2) to just 9 wins in 2025.
Dan Campbell was feeling the effects of all the Lions had lost last year when Ben Johnson took over the Chicago Bears' operation, and not only weakened Detroit's offense by leaving, but simultaneously put the Bears on top of the division. Campbell had to take offensive play-calling away from John Morton last season as things started to get really rough, but the combination of coaching changes, injuries, and inconsistency were too much to overcome in the end.
If anyone is going to take the NFC North back from the Bears, it feels like it will be Detroit. This is still a very similar team to the one that won 15 games just two years ago, and with Drew Petzing calling plays, the Lions could be back in business as an offensive powerhouse. But they're ranked 4th on this list because the NFC North might be the toughest division to steal out of them all.
3. NFC East: Dallas Cowboys
The Philadelphia Eagles won the NFC East last season, but they didn't have much competition at all.
The New York Giants were a mess last year, the Washington Commanders were one of the most snake-bitten teams in the NFL when it comes to injuries, and the Dallas Cowboys had a defense that will live forever in infamy with the fan base.
This year should be different for the Dallas Cowboys' defense, however. The Cowboys are in a much better spot this year with Christian Parker calling the defense, and the personnel on that side of the ball has been given an absolutely massive boost.
Since trading Micah Parsons to the Packers, the Cowboys have added Quinnen Williams, Rashan Gary, 1st-round pick Caleb Downs, 1st-round pick Malachi Lawrence, safety Jalen Thompson, and a host of others.
It's been a pretty good series of moves to revamp the defense for Dallas, and the offense for the Cowboys is good enough to overtake the division even if the defense is only league average this coming season.
2. NFC West: Los Angeles Rams
I've put the Los Angeles Rams in the 2nd spot on this list for a couple of reasons. Of course, the Rams might be the best overall team in the NFL right now, but that doesn't mean they necessarily have the best chance of overtaking their own division crown.
The Seattle Seahawks are not only the reigning NFC West champions, but the reigning Super Bowl champions. The Rams have a huge task in front of them to not only take over this division from Seattle, but to also fend off a 49ers team that has another shot to hopefully stay healthy and make a run at this division themselves.
But the Rams are simply too good, on paper, to not be considered as one of the biggest threats in the entire league to take a division crown from last year's champion. It took 14 games to win this division last season, and that's something the Rams are obviously capable of doing themselves.
It's hard to spot a roster weakness for this team as we sit here in the middle of the NFL offseason.
1. NFC South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It feels like the easiest division to "steal" in the 2026 season is going to be the NFC South. That feels true when you stack it up against not only the other NFC division races, but the AFC division races as well.
The Carolina Panthers won the NFC South last year with a record of 8-9, and it took a collapse of epic proportions by the Buccaneers to help make it happen.
The Bucs were obviously a massive disappointment last season, but they have a lot of pieces in place to be able to make another run at the division again this year. And they addressed arguably their biggest roster need -- pass rush -- with one of the biggest steals of the entire 2026 NFL Draft: Rueben Bain.
The Bucs are set up for another run at it this season even without Mike Evans or Lavonte David. If Baker Mayfield can bounce back, they're going to. be able to coast through the season and win this division race.