The NFL playoff chase is heating up after Week 17, and spots are filling up quickly in both the AFC and the NFC. In the AFC, all but one spot has been solidified heading into Week 18 action. In the NFC, we’ve got a little bit more drama in terms of the overall seeding.
And speaking of seeding, we have some major drama when it comes to the 2025 NFL Draft order and teams finding ways to win their way out of prime NFL Draft real estate this past weekend.
Week 17 was a wild ride, starting on Christmas Day and extending all the way into Sunday night’s epic showdown between two of the top rookie quarterbacks in the 2024 class: Michael Penix Jr. and Jayden Daniels.
There are plenty of risers and fallers in our Week 18 NFL Power Rankings, which will sadly be the final power rankings this year for the regular season. Time flies when you’re having fun. Thank you all for reading this year and let’s enjoy the final week of all 32 teams playing games.
NFL Power Rankings, Week 18: Texans falling, Chiefs back on top after Week 17
32. Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns, to me, are the worst team in the NFL. They would not be picking 1st overall if the season ended today, but they have been the least inspiring, least truly competitive team in the NFL this season.
There’s no better example than the past couple of weeks in which the Browns have benched Jameis Winston to throw Dorian Thompson-Robinson to the wolves, basically giving a free pass to the Kansas City Chiefs on their quest for the #1 seed, then to the Cincinnati Bengals who are trying to climb back into the playoff race, and the same this past weekend against the Miami Dolphins.
The Browns also restructured the contract of Deshaun Watson, ensuring his return next season. This is a dismal franchise with little to hang their hats on going forward. I have no idea what the future holds for this team and they’re not competitive at the present moment, either. Disgraceful.
This team’s stubbornness in 2024 has been difficult to witness.
31. Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are another team that is just hard to watch each week.
I mean hey, some of you out there probably had Tyjae Spears or Calvin Ridley or Chig Okonkwo in your fantasy championships this past week. We will take any sort of NFL action we can possibly get as the season trickles to a close, but the Titans-Jaguars game featuring Mac Jones and Mason Rudolph at the quarterback position?
That’s about as brutal as it gets.
We talked about the Titans a lot this offseason as a team that really seemed to be approaching this 2024 campaign as though they had found “the guy” in Will Levis. That has proven to be anything but the case as the Titans’ former second-round pick has been benched and memed more times than this team has won games this season.
Titans GM Ran Carthon has a lot of work to do this offseason. I don’t think his roster was nearly as on schedule or ahead of schedule as he assumed last Spring and he’s going to have to take a lon look in the mirror this offseason before making likely a bold move to upgrade the QB position.
The Titans are luckily in a very winnable division right now, so Carthon has every reason to be aggressive.
30. New England Patriots
Just get us to the offseason for the New England Patriots, already. The Patriots don’t even want to be out there, it appears.
New England got absolutely blown to smithereens by the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday afternoon to the tune of 40-7, and while you love the chance to get to see some more of Drake Maye as this season comes to a close, you also can’t help but worry about Maye suffering some type of needless injury and going into the offseason having to worry about that.
Just give us one more good game from Maye this year, one in which he stays healthy, and keep this Patriots team on pace for the pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. New England could be positioned to take the top non-QB on their draft board which would almost undoubtedly be Travis Hunter, and he would be such a massive difference-maker for this franchise.
There are rumors all over the map about what the future holds for a guy like Hunter at the next level but I would personally love to see him get the chance to be Maye’s WR1 in New England.
The Patriots have their QB for the future, and this offseason will be critical in properly building around him. It just so happens that they might have the top pick in every round of the draft along with a boatload of cap space.
29. Jacksonville Jaguars
If we’ve learned nothing else about the Jacksonville Jaguars this season, we’ve learned that Brian Thomas Jr. is an absolute player. Stud. Star.
All of the above.
Whenever Trevor Lawrence is healthy, and whoever is roaming the sidelines for the Jaguars as head coach for 2025 and beyond, they will be able to build an offense around this young superstar in the making at wide receiver.
The Jaguars’ issues are concerning, however. This team should have been at least giving the Houston Texans fits in 2024 and that just hasn’t been even remotely the case. Even when Trevor Lawrence was playing, the Jaguars’ regression was clear and obvious.
Are we going to get a complete overhaul of different aspects of this roster? Will the Jaguars be in “fire sale” mode this offseason and keeping just a few core pieces from the Doug Pederson era? That wouldn’t be surprising at all to see and frankly, it might be the best possible situation for this franchise because what they have right now is not working.
It’s time for fresh eyes yet again on an organization that is used to making major changes every couple of years, it seems.
28. New Orleans Saints
I don’t even know what we can really say about the New Orleans Saints at this point. It’s kind of just a waste of three paragraphs.
Watching this team each week, it’s like watching the final preseason game. Is there stuff to evaluate for the future of the roster? Possibly. Are we seeing any semblance of the future of the New Orleans Saints out there right now?
It doesn’t feel like it.
There is always going to be stuff you can take on a year to year basis when it comes to a lost season like we’ve seen from a team like the Saints, but you’re really digging for nuggets when the team has fired its head coach in the middle of the season and doesn’t even have its starting quarterback out there.
If Spencer Rattler were coming out and putting up big numbers or something, it might be a different story. But this Saints team is so far removed from the hot start we saw in the first two weeks of the season. This has been a pathetic season for this franchise and I would have to assume they’re going to blow things up in a big way in the 2025 offseason.
27. New York Giants
What we saw from Drew Lock against the Indianapolis Colts is exactly what we hoped we would see from him immediately upon being inserted into the lineup after Daniel Jones was cut and Tommy DeVito didn’t pan out.
Lock was signed to a pretty sizeable deal in the 2024 offseason to be Jones’s backup and understandably so. He had some nice moments for the Seattle Seahawks last season and earned an opportunity like the one he got with the Giants. And against the Indianapolis Colts, Lock was sensational.
He was getting everyone on the offense involved as well as putting together a tremendous drive late in the game in which he capped it off himself with a rushing touchdown. Too bad probably no one was running with Lock in their fantasy leagues.
But if you had Malik Nabers? You’re probably a happy camper today. The Giants got to see their young offensive studs make a lot of plays against the Colts on Sunday, specifically with Nabers, Tyrone Tracy, and Wan’Dale Robinson getting involved.
This will perhaps be the best example yet of what Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen can point to ownership and say, “Here’s proof of concept of what we can do when the QB plays well.”
26. New York Jets
The New York Jets’ loss against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon was really just a microcosm of the last couple of years. Disappointing, underwhelming, frustrating, maddening, and sickening if you’re a Jets fan.
Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams being on the field with Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson didn’t prevent the Jets from going to Buffalo and getting absolutely shut out. I tried to warn people all offseason that the Jets with Aaron Rodgers were not going to be a “sure thing” this coming season, but you figured if Rodgers was even competent that this New York team could contend in the AFC.
Not even remotely the case.
The Jets have embarrassed a lot of prominent NFL analysts and prognosticators out there, and it’s because of the fact that Aaron Rodgers has been complete fool’s gold. It will be interesting to see if he decides to play next year and how the Jets will approach that anyway.
As great as Rodgers has been over the course of his NFL career, he’s been a total liability and distraction since coming to the Jets.
25. Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are just pathetic this year. Hard to watch. Boring to watch, in many ways. More than anything, I think the Bears are one of the most frustrating teams to watch. This is a team that was nearly 5-2 earlier in the year and now here they are, they’ve lost 10 straight games.
10 straight games? Is that accurate?
The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus in the middle of the season, the first time that’s been done in the history of the franchise. They felt like they had such an impressive core of players going into this year that maybe they could be the NFL’s “worst to first” team in 2024. They got Caleb Williams and a boatload of talented skill players.
None of it has worked.
Caleb Williams leads the NFL in total sacks taken and we’ve been left feasting off the bread crumbs of positivity from his rookie season, left with way too many thoughts that will keep you up at night if you’re a Bears fan.
Is Williams actually the real deal? Can they build an offensive line around him? Was the defensive resurgence a mirage? Are we going to be able to hire the right coaching staff? Will this franchise ever turn it around.
Hopefully, there’s light at the end of this tunnel for Bears fans.
24. Carolina Panthers
I think it’s safe to say the Carolina Panthers were a bit overmatched on Sunday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Heck, the Bucs even had a bit of help from a 12th player on the field when a duck snuck onto the grass in Tampa Bay and the Bucs promptly blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown.
But the Panthers are obviously building something and you love to see some of the nice plays in this game from quarterback Bryce Young to Adam Thielen, who is looking like an ageless wonder out there when he’s been healthy this season.
The Panthers have a lot to hang their hats on this year. Hiring a new head coach in Dave Canales, you knew this was going to be a rebuilding/reloading year for the franchise, and they’ve discovered some cornerstone pieces and some gems on this roster.
Chuba Hubbard has emerged as a RB1 for the Panthers. Jacob Coker has been a great find. And most importantly, the development of Bryce Young after he was benched earlier in the season. Dave Canales deserves some credit for the way his team has played down the stretch, even if they are completely overmatched in a game like we saw on Sunday against the Buccaneers.
23. Dallas Cowboys
Just when I was starting to buy into the Dallas Cowboys with Cooper Rush at the helm a little bit, they go and completely lay an egg against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Not that you can really crush Dallas too much for this kind of performance against Philadelphia, but I mean, come on – the Eagles were down to their third QB, and the Cowboys simply couldn’t do anything to stop Saquon Barkley regardless of who was under center for Philly.
The Cowboys have plenty of major issues that will need to get addressed in the 2025 offseason. Most importantly, they need to figure out who is going to be this team’s head coach going forward. Any fans who had dreams of Bill Belichick coming in? Those dreams are dead.
What’s the best-case scenario for Dallas after a season like this? You obviously have to hope Dak Prescott can stay healthy, but this team was in a reloading year anyway and with the changes/losses defensively, they just couldn’t put it together for any meaningful stretch of time.
The Cowboys need to hit the reset button this offseason, but how dramatic is Jerry Jones going to be willing to be?
22. Las Vegas Raiders
You’ve got to tip your cap to Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, don’t you?
Pierce says he doesn’t care about 2025 NFL Draft order status, and he means it. Pierce has had this Raiders team playing pretty decent football over the last few weeks and they have won two games in a row.
Now, is the fan base going to be happy about that when it comes time for the 2025 NFL Draft and you look back on some of these late wins? Maybe not, but the fact of the matter is, the Raiders are playing right now without their best player (Maxx Crosby) and they have put together some nice defensive performances.
On top of that, Aidan O’Connell continues to display some intriguing traits as a year-to-year bridge starter type of guy or perhaps even a guy you might give a lucrative two-year deal to while you look to stabilize your franchise and raise the floor of quarterback play. The Raiders haven’t had O’Connell healthy for the entire season but he’s playing solid lately and has maybe given GM Tom Telesco something to think about going forward when it comes to his approach this offseason.
The Raiders have arguably the best defensive player in the NFL in Maxx Crosby and arguably one of the top 3-5 young offensive weapons in the game in Brock Bowers heading into the 2025 offseason. Those are pieces you can absolutely build around.
21. San Francisco 49ers
49ers play Monday night against Lions***
This season just did not go the 49ers’ way, and now there might be some longer-term questions to be answered beyond this year.
Here’s a hot take question – is Brock Purdy really the franchise quarterback of this 49ers team? Have we all been swindled? Purdy is coming off of a down year, there’s no doubt about it. There’s also the fact that a number of key players on this roster were injured and out for the majority of the season, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that Purdy has just 17 touchdown passes entering Week 17 compared to the 31 touchdowns he had a season ago.
His completion rate is down, his touchdown percentage is down, his yardage is down, and his interception percentage is up.
Development is not always linear in the NFL but the Niners are at a crossroads with Purdy this offseason and they may have to decide if they want to pay him a $100 million contract or if they want to perhaps just bring Sam Darnold back on a big money deal after what he has shown this year with the Minnesota Vikings.
20. Arizona Cardinals
The way this season has closed out for the Arizona Cardinals is just incredibly disappointing. This was a team that was making some serious noise around the midway point of the year, and then they just fell off a cliff.
It’s one thing to peak too early. It’s a completely different thing to pull off some kind of disappearing act since the bye week.
Entering the bye, the Cardinals were looking like a legitimate threat to win the NFC West. They were 6-4 and seemed to be on an upward trajectory. After their bye week, the Cardinals have had six games. Among those six games, they have five losses and they were eliminated from playoff contention before they even took the field in Week 17.
That’s a pretty drastic collapse for head coach Jonathan Gannon and his crew with a high-priced QB, a strong running game, and a big-time WR1 on your roster in Marvin Harrison Jr.
19. Indianapolis Colts
With the playoffs on the line, Anthony Richardson was ruled out and the Indianapolis Colts had to turn to their backup quarterback for a second straight season.
Head coach Shane Steichen has got to be wondering what in the world he did to deserve this kind of cruel and unusual punishment in consecutive years after leaving the Philadelphia Eagles to take the Colts’ job two offseasons ago.
Last year, Steichen and company had to make a playoff run with Gardner Minshew. This year, it’s been a mixture of Richardson and Joe Flacco. And the Colts just couldn’t get the job done. Flacco was spreading the ball around and making some big-time throws as we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him in this career renaissance, but he’s also been spreading the ball to the wrong team.
Flacco giveth, and Flacco taketh.
The Colts are now officially out of the AFC playoff race and out of the hair of teams like Denver and Cincinnati. They had a convoluted path to the playoffs anyway, but this officially ends it and sends them back to the drawing board in the 2025 offseason.
How committed will they be to Anthony Richardson after two injury-riddled and very tough years?
18. Miami Dolphins
We were all forced to sit through most of the Miami Dolphins’ ugly win on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns because, by some miraculous stroke of fate, this team is still playoff relevant despite all of their injuries, ups, and downs this season.
I guess that’s why they pay Mike McDaniel the big bucks to coach the team.
McDaniel, to his credit, had Snoop Huntley and some guy whose last name is “Washington” ready to play big roles in a “win or you’re out” game against Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the Cleveland Browns.
You’re not going to get any style points for the win, but it doesn’t matter when it comes to the playoff equation. If the Dolphins win this coming weekend against the New York Jets, a laughable franchise right now, they just need the Broncos and Bengals to both lose in order to get into the playoffs.
But the Broncos and/or Bengals need to spare us of what would only be fodder for those with an appetite for the macabre. The Dolphins are not a team right now that belongs in the NFL postseason. They would get dog-walked by the Buffalo Bills in round one.
To be fair, that may be the case for whoever goes to Buffalo in the Wild Card round.
17. Seattle Seahawks
Well, it wasn’t pretty, but it honestly doesn’t have to be at this time of year, does it? You just have to get the job done and stay alive. The Seattle Seahawks did just that with their win against the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football, arguably the most unwatchable game of the entire season so far.
The Seahawks definitely have weapons. They definitely offer some intrigue. But when it comes to this loaded NFC, who do we see them truly competing with in the postseason? Maybe against the Rams because they are a familiar opponent, but Seattle somehow sneaking into the playoffs would probably just give whoever they would play against a gimme in round one.
But again, this is the NFL, and you never really know.
They are going to get the chance to prove themselve as the Seattle playoffs begin in Week 18 with a road game against the Los Angeles Rams. That game will give us our best indicator yet of what this team is made of.
16. Atlanta Falcons
It felt like the Atlanta Falcons did all the right things this offseason. They signed Kirk Cousins to the massive free agent contract to get a veteran quarterback to distribute the ball to all of their playmakers. They added Darnell Mooney (who has been fantastic). They brought in veterans Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons to the defense.
And to be fair, the Falcons have a chance to win the NFC South entering Week 18, but they took a very unconventional path to getting here.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris has had to do a lot of damage control in his first year on the job with Kirk Cousins getting benched and Michael Penix Jr. taking over here late in the season. The Falcons put the fate of their season in his hands and now, a strategy that seemed so odd during the NFL Draft could end up bearing fruit for this organization and saving them from falling prey to pushing all their chips in on a veteran QB who is past his prime.
Looking at you, Jets.
Michael Penix Jr. has some ice in his veins.
15. Houston Texans
I hate to say this but the Houston Texans have got to be the biggest pretenders in the AFC playoff race. It’s almost a shame that the Texans would get in over a team like the Bengals, regardless of what happens with the Bengals in Week 18 at this point. They just look like they pose a bigger threat and could actually do something in the postseason.
The only reason Houston didn’t get shut out on Christmas Day was because the defense managed to get a safety and put two points on the board, but this Houston offense has been rather unimpressive for the majority of the season.
Yes, they’ve found ways to secure a division win for the second-straight year, but there has been something so “off” about this team for the majority of the season.
Losing Tank Dell, especially the way they did, was a brutal blow for this Houston offense. And to be fair to them, they do still have all of the pieces on this roster to come into the postseason and play spoiler. I’m still buying CJ Stroud stock. I’m buying DeMeco Ryans stock. For this team to be the 4th seed even in a “down” year two for those guys is impressive in its own right.
But the way this Texans team is playing right now? They are undoubtedly playoff pretenders.
14. Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos have lost a handful of the most gut-wrenching games this season.
A couple of months ago, they lost a back-breaker in Kansas City on a blocked 35-yard field goal attempt, a kick that has been made 92 percent of the time over the last five years in the NFL. That would have given them a win against Kansas City on the road and yet it currently counts as one of their six losses.
They lost an 11-point second-half lead a couple of weeks ago against the Los Angeles Chargers on the road.
On Saturday, the Broncos had the Cincinnati Bengals on the ropes at the end of regulation in an entertaining, back-and-forth game, but they didn’t go for two and wound up losing in overtime. And that was after getting two possessions in the overtime period…
The Broncos remain in a win-and-in situation in Week 18 with a home game against the Chiefs, who will likely be resting starters. They won’t be going into the postseason on fire, by any means, but certainly battle-tested as the 3rd-youngest roster in the NFL. Assuming they can get the job done against Carson Wentz, of course.
13. Cincinnati Bengals
Well, here come the Cincinnati Bengals, right?
The Bengals started off this season so uncharacteristically bad that it might be too little, too late. The Denver Broncos came to town on Saturday and gave the Bengals all they could handle, but Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins put on a show and they managed to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Now, they not only have to hope they can win against Pittsburgh next weekend but also get some help in the meantime.
Cincinnati is one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now and they might get left out of the playoffs. It would really be a shame from the NFL’s perspective because the league undoubtedly wants its best players in the dance, and Joe Burrow might be the best quarterback in the NFL right now.
It’s just unfortunate for Cincinnati that so many of the one-score games they have played this season have gone the other direction. And from the perspective of a team like Kansas City, who will be resting starters in Week 18, do you want even a fraction of a chance that you would see Cincinnati for your first playoff game?
Maybe the Chiefs don’t care who they play, but I don’t think Buffalo or Kansas City wants to have to face Joe Burrow for their first game. Those teams would much rather go up against a rookie QB in Bo Nix. For now, the Bengals still have a beating heart, but that could all come to a screeching halt in Week 18.
12. Washington Commanders
Jayden Daniels has been operating the Kliff Kingsbury offense at such a high level all year. The Commanders have a variety of guys – young and old – making plays for that offense and they ran the ball pretty darn well against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night. Of course, whenever they run the ball really well, it’s a testament to the running abilities of Jayden Daniels, who passed Robert Griffin III for most rushing yards by a rookie in league history vs. Atlanta.
Daniels has all but locked up NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year at this point. The question now becomes what the Commanders can do with this newfound life for their franchise.
They have everything ahead of them with an opportunity to play some spoiler in the NFL playoffs as the 7th seed, possibly the 6th seed depending on what happens with Green Bay this coming week.
You can’t help but be intrigued with this Commanders team, especially with the way they’ve played against both the Eagles and Falcons in the last couple of weeks. They have the look of a dangerous team with so many explosive offenses in the NFC this season.
11. Los Angeles Chargers
What does Jim Harbaugh do? He completely changes the culture of every program he touches. From San Diego to Stanford, from San Francisco to Michigan, and now in Los Angeles. The Harbaugh effect is real and the Chargers took care of business on Saturday afternoon against the New England Patriots to secure, at a minimum, one of the top six playoff spots in the AFC Wild Card race.
The Chargers will now await the final results of what transpires between now and the end of the season to determine where they will be headed in the Wild Card round, but it feels like a road trip to Baltimore will be in their near future.
The Chargers have done a great job of adjusting and adapting quickly to the way Harbaugh likes to manage games and the culture he builds. They have been tough defensively all year long and if that continues into the postseason, they are going to be a tough out in the Wild Card round for Baltimore.
10. Los Angeles Rams
The Los Angeles Rams have done a great job of proving me right this year. I don’t know how many times I have made NFL Power Rankings this season in which I have said that I just “can’t quit” the Los Angeles Rams.
And here they are with 10 wins and a great shot at making it to the postseason entering Week 18.
And not just making the postseason, but how about winning the NFC West?
I bring this up all the time as well, but it’s been really cool to see the Rams’ difference of strategy in team building when it comes to the team that won the Super Bowl, which was built with the “F*** them picks” mantra and this contender, which was built almost exclusively through tremendous evaluation through the NFL Draft.
The Rams are a fun team and with a Super Bow-winning coach and quarterback, I don’t know how you can count them out, even in a loaded NFC.
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baker Mayfield was on fire in a must-win situation and you love to see that kind of response from a team with the playoffs on the line. The Buccaneers came out super flat in a loss last week and they knew that couldn’t happen again in Week 17.
And it didn’t.
This is a scary team with how dynamic they have been offensively at times this season. The issue is, you just have no idea what you’re going to get out of them on a week-to-week basis. The last two weeks have been perfect evidence of that.
But my goodness, this Bucs offense can absolutely load up the stat sheet even without Chris Godwin. With the receiver injuries this team had to deal with earlier in the season, they had to adapt and adjust on that side of the ball and players like Bucky Irving really stepped up.
As well as Baker Mayfield has played this season, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Bucs make some noise in the playoffs yet again this season. Mike Evans is healthy and playing as well as we’ve seen. Bucky Irving gives defenses absolute fits. And now this Tampa Bay defense might have an added wrinkle late in the year with the arrival of Shaquil Barrett to come bring some more heat off the edge.
8. Pittsburgh Steelers
To say the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t going to be going into the postseason playing their best ball might be an understatement. When Russell Wilson was originally inserted into the lineup, it looked like a masterclass by head coach Mike Tomlin. It jolted the Steelers’ offense and Russ was cooking.
The Steelers started off the Russell Wilson “era” 4-0 and they were looking like absolute geniuses for making the change. Now, they’ve gone 2-4 in their last six games including losing three straight. They have multiple turnovers in back-to-back games – two fumbles and two interceptions by Russell Wilson.
The pressure is on Wilson in a big way to help this Steelers team do a bit more than just limp into the playoffs. They can not only finish the regular season on a high note in Week 18, but they can eliminate their division rivals in Cincinnati if they can come away with a win.
Pittsburgh just feels like a team that “peaked” at the wrong time and there is too much film out there now that teams are keyed in on defending the way Wilson plays. As it was so eloquently put on Hard Knocks, it’s three-pointers and layups. How far can that carry this Pittsburgh team?
7. Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are going to be more disappointed in themselves than anything else after going into Minnesota and not coming away with a win. Part of the problem must have been the fact that in my pivotal fantasy championship, Jayden Reed was barely targeted.
I’m just saying.
As a quick side note, hope you all had a great fantasy football season.
The Green Bay Packers made sure they made a mark in my fantasy championship by handing the ball off to Josh Jacobs, who has been sensational for them all year. They almost pulled off a tremendous comeback on the road but couldn’t finish the job.
The Packers are currently shaping up to be road warriors again in this year’s postseason after they absolutely caught fire at the exact right time last year and nearly upset their way to the NFC Championship. This year, their road would start with a tough trip to Los Angeles to face off against the Rams.
They’ve got to regroup and get back on track in Week 18 so they can go into the postseason with a much-needed head of steam.
6. Baltimore Ravens
We’re seeing a handful of AFC teams seemingly hit their stride as the playoffs approach. The Baltimore Ravens are obviously one of them.
Baltimore has so many weapons offensively and with the way Lamar Jackson has played this season, limiting turnovers and seeing the field as well as we’ve ever seen from him, how do you stop these guys in the postseason?
The Ravens appear on a collision course for a matchup against the Bills in the second round of the postseason which is a brutally tough draw for them. Even then, what you have in the AFC right now is a number of teams where you feel like whoever has the last possession will win, and having Lamar Jackson on your side is a huge advantage in that regard.
This Ravens team looks ready to exorcise some playoff demons and having the added benefit of Derrick Henry and his ability to grind off minutes from the clock is another major advantage for this Ravens group.
As multiple as the Ravens are offensively, we’ve seen that Baltimore defense turn it up significantly on the defensive side of the ball as well over the past three weeks. Since their bye week, the Ravens have played three games. They’ve allowed a total of just 254 yards per game in that timeframe and just 33 total points.
5. Detroit Lions
Lions play Monday night against 49ers***
Let me just start this off by saying I absolutely love the Detroit Lions this season. I have been an enjoyer of the positive trajectory this franchise has been on since midway through the first year of the Dan Campbell era.
And if we’re all honest, we would have to admit we enjoyed Dan Campbell from his very first press conference in Detroit.
With all of that out of the way, I can’t help but think the Lions are a little bit cooked when it comes to the playoffs. Injuries take their toll for all teams, but the Lions may have suffered one too many injuries this season or maybe like a dozen too many injuries. In the NFL playoffs, you’ve got to at least be able to play a little bit of defense, and the Lions are bordering on “patchwork” on that side of the ball.
On paper, at least.
These guys still have the offense to win a shootout with anyone, but when they need the defense to come through with a big play, do they have the guys on that side to make one over the course of four grueling quarters?
4. Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles need to be hoping that Jalen Hurts can return to the field as quickly as possible because their quarterbacks are dropping like flies these days.
Not only is Jalen Hurts down and out, but the Eagles lost Kenny Pickett to a rib injury in Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys.
It didn’t end up mattering because the Eagles just absolutely embarrassed the Cowboys with Saquon Barkley on the ground. Barkley, a free agent acquisition from the rival New York Giants, managed to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark on the ground. Barkley has just been incredible for the Eagles and even though nobody would want a repeat of what we saw with Christian McCaffrey in the playoffs a couple of years ago with the 49ers, you can’t help but wonder if the Eagles would be just fine with Barkley taking every snap.
He’s been that good.
Tanner McKee actually made a really nice couple of back-shoulder throws to AJ Brown in this game and had a touchdown to DeVonta Smith as well, and the Eagles continue to look like a well-oiled machine heading into the postseason. With things mostly locked up going into Week 18, the Eagles might have a pseudo bye week after all.
3. Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are closer to the best team in the NFL than we have seen in the franchise’s history, and I don’t think you can deny that Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is the NFL Coach of the Year at this point.
After what we saw on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, even with how close it was at the end, the Vikings came through and the one thing they have done exceptionally well under O’Connell is find a way to close out one-score games.
They get the job done.
Sam Darnold is playing at such a high level, and the Vikings have a defense that has come through with big plays for them all year. They might have the best collection of weapons in the entire NFL and a coach who understands how to exploit defenses with every single one of them, including even guys like Jalen Nailor when teams focus in on Justin Jefferson.
The Vikings look poised to go and steal the #1 seed in the NFC from the Lions, but can you imagine facing off against this team in the 1st round as a Wild Card somehow? It’s not a great “pick your poison” for whoever is the 4th seed to have to face the Vikings or Lions.
2. Buffalo Bills
Are the Buffalo Bills ready for the playoffs, or are they ready for the playoffs?
Buffalo still has one more week of the regular season standing between them and hosting as the #2 seed in the AFC, and you can’t help but wonder if we’ll see them sit some starters in Week 18. The Bills are playing so well right now that the hope is going to be that they aren’t peaking early on.
Josh Allen has been so locked in this season, and Buffalo has gotten tremendous contributions from so many different guys like James Cook, rookie receiver Keon Coleman, and unheralded guys like Khalil Shakir. It felt like this Bills team was going to have to go through a year of transition and maybe winning ugly after cutting some prominent names defensively and trading Stefon Diggs, but they have looked better than ever.
And that’s thanks largely to Josh Allen, who is making everyone around him better. It’s what superstar QBs and MVPs do.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
Entering Week 18, the Kansas City Chiefs have secured the #1 overall seed in the AFC and perhaps even a couple of weeks off here as the NFL playoffs approach. The Chiefs are expected to rest some key starters against the Denver Broncos in Week 18, which would also, in effect, pave the way for the Broncos to potentially make the playoffs themselves.
Kansas City is getting hot at the exact right time. It almost feels as though it was planned to be this way. The Chiefs have been in so many close one-score games this season, and frankly, they haven’t looked great for a lot of it. These last two games we’ve seen from them? They are hitting a stride, especially offensively.
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Patrick Mahomes doesn’t even have Rashee Rice right now and it feels like he has a full complement of top-shelf playmakers to distribute the football to. It’s been an impressive surge offensively for Kansas City lately and they look ready for a run at a three-peat. What real weaknesses have we seen in their last two games?