8. San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers beat the snot out of the Arizona Cardinals and are 7-4 on the year, officially crossing their win total from the entire 2024 NFL Season. If the Niners can continue to get healthy, there is a shot that the NFC West title can be won.
Even with the LA Rams looking as good as they do, it really just takes one or two slip-ups, but the 49ers do feel destined for a Wild Card spot this year, and that's a huge testament to the coaching job that Kyle Shanahan has done given the amount of injuries he has had to deal with.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers have some concerns on the defensive side of the ball, which is never a good thing. I am not sure Tampa is a slam-dunk to win the NFC South like many of us thought they would be earlier in the season. Baker Mayfield might have to will this team to the division title down the stretch, as the defense is turning into a liability.
Tampa has seemingly gone from contender to pretender in a few short weeks. They are no. 7 in our power rankings.
6. Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions have lost twice the amount of games they did in 2024. Now already a four-loss team, Detroit is a full game behind the Chicago Bears in the NFC North and a half game behind the Green Bay Packers. It's clear that losing Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn in the offseason is having an impact as we get later into the season.
5. Green Bay Packers
Are the Green Bay Packers great or not? They are most definitely a good team, if nothing else, but beating the New York Giants by seven points isn't exactly that impressive. The Packers are in a decent spot to win the NFC North this year, but this team just isn't really clear to me - they have just three losses on the year, but can we trust them late in the season to close this thing out and win the division?