Every NFL team that finished in last place last year would love to have the same type of success as we saw from the Washington Commanders in 2024. The Commanders went from last place in the NFC East to contending for a division title and losing in the NFC Championship Game.
The tide completely turned for that franchise in the blink of an eye.
Not everyone is going to get themselves a Jayden Daniels year over year, but every team is going to be hoping for that turnaround regardless. Where do last year's last-place NFC teams stand here in the 2025 offseason and which ones might be able to have a Commanders-like turnaround?
Our latest NFL Power Rankings will be a mini-list of last year's last-place NFC teams and ranking them worst to best after the 2025 offseason.
NFL Power Rankings: Last-place NFC teams ranked worst-to-best for 2025
4. New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints might end up with the worst record in the NFL in 2025. You never know what will happen with other teams due to injuries, but this is not the same type of "new head coach, rookie quarterback" situation as we saw for the Commanders last year with Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels.
Kellen Moore is getting a shot after helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl last year and he's going to likely have to cycle through a number of quarterbacks this coming season. The Saints have question marks on the offensive line, and they might end up being the most active team at the NFL trade deadline this year trying to acquire future assets to rebuild and reload this roster.
3. New York Giants
Part of me believes that the Giants can maybe put a little something together this coming season. Part of me...
The Giants have a long-term issue at the quarterback that is unsettled, but they might have something in Jaxson Dart. Beyond the quarterback question, I don't think this Giants roster is all that terribly constructed. They might have one of the best defensive fronts in football this coming season.
The question will be how far the offense can take them, and I'm not sure it's going to be all that far.
2. Chicago Bears
Ben Johnson was arguably the top head coach hire of the 2025 offseason and the Bears have an impressive collection of young talent on both sides of the ball.
Chicago's success in 2025 will depend almost entirely on the progression of young quarterback and former #1 overall pick Caleb Williams. Williams struggled as a rookie for a variety of reasons. The Bears had a shaky offensive line, the offensive coordinator changed in the middle of the season, the coaching staff seemingly had one foot out the door all year, and Williams wasn't processing well.
There's a lot that Ben Johnson is going to have to fix, but the offensive line has been improved significantly, and Williams should benefit from someone like Johnson coaching him up.
1. San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers have not had the greatest offseason in the world, but I'm not completely abandoning ship here just yet.
I've wavered back and forth between feeling like the 49ers are going to take a massive step back to maybe believing a bit in the "addition by subtraction" in a number of areas. While this team isn't as talented on paper as they have been in the past, the 49ers are always well-coached under Kyle Shanahan and Robert Saleh will get the best out of a young, reworked defense.
The Niners still have their core intact. It sounds like Christian McCaffrey looks outstanding at OTAs. There are a lot of depth issues with this team but they are probably going to be better than the pessimistic prognosticators might think.