NFL Power Rankings: Final rankings before 2024 regular season

18. Chicago Bears

How can you not be a little excited about the Chicago Bears?

Bears general manager Ryan Poles may have been gifted a mulligan with the #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft after trading it away last year, but he’s made good on the picks he’s been working with and the Bears have a lot going for them right now.

Caleb Williams is going to eventually be a stud. We saw some good and some bad in the preseason, as you would expect from a rookie, but the high moments were just breathtaking. Williams has elite receivers and playmakers at his disposal, and a defense that is going to get him a lot of opportunities with the ball.

The Bears’ ascent defensively is a major development for the team as a whole, and that could be the best area of this team in 2024.

17. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars are probably better than the 17th-best team in the NFL right now, but they have a lot of work to do in terms of just getting the sour taste out of everyone’s mouth from last season. The Jaguars started off the year 8-3 and managed to somehow completely miss the playoffs after that.

We had a combination of defensive collapse as well as Trevor Lawrence dealing with an injury, and it was an ugly end to the season, paving way for the Houston Texans to sort of hijack the Jaguars’ hype train in the AFC South.

A healthy, well-paid Lawrence has a lot of new weapons, and the Jaguars are going to have a new defensive scheme under coordinator Ryan Nielsen. I think there are a variety of reasons to expect this team to return to the playoffs in 2024.