NFL Power Rankings, Week 13: Biggest risers and fallers after Week 12

24. Carolina Panthers (3-8)

The Carolina Panthers came out of their bye week and gave the Kansas City Chiefs some fits.  If there was ever such thing as a good loss, this was it.  There is no shame in playing the Chiefs close enough that they need to kick a walk-off field goal to win the game, and if there was such thing as a bad loss, it’s what the Chiefs did today.

The Panthers may have something here with their new coaching staff headlined by Dave Canales, and Bryce Young isn’t playing terribly, but the Panthers may find themselves in a weird spot.  Will Young keep playing well enough for the Panthers to at least think about the possibility of passing up on a QB in the 2025 NFL Draft?

That’ll be interesting to watch unfold.  Carolina does drop to 3-8 on the season and are obviously not making the postseason, but there was a lot to like about this team in Week 12 of the 2024 NFL Season.

23. Cleveland Browns (3-8)

Playing on Thursday Night Football, the Cleveland Browns beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at home and handed them a pretty tough divisional loss.  That was the type of game that most definitely was going to be a nasty divisional battle.

Jameis Winston largely played well in the win, and the Browns can perhaps play some spoiler down the stretch this season.  They travel to Denver to face the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football this coming week, so that’ll be quite the game.

After that, the Browns are in Pittsburgh for their second game in three weeks against the Steelers.  Cleveland’s season went off the rails when it became apparent that Deshaun Watson was totally washed, but if Watson had been able to figure out this QB thing, the Browns record may have been flipped at this point in the season.