Power Rankings After Week 15
1. Green Bay 13-1 (1st)
2. New Orleans 11-3 (2nd)
3. San Francisco 11-3 (4th)
4. Pittsburgh 10-4 (3rd)
5. New England 11-3 (5th)
6. Baltimore 10-4 (6th)
7. Dallas 8-6 (10th)
8. New York Jets 8-6 (7th)
9. New York Giants 7-7 (8th)
10. Houston 10-4 (9th)
11. Atlanta 9-5 (12th)
12. Detroit 9-5 (11th)
13. Philadelphia 6-8 (15th)
14. Arizona 7-7 (17th)
15. San Diego 7-7 (18th)
16. Denver 8-6 (11th)
17. Miami 5-9 (19th)
18. Seattle 7-7 (22nd)
19. Cincinnati 8-6 (20th)
20. Oakland 7-7 (21st)
21. Tennessee 7-7 (13th)
22. Carolina 5-9 (23rd)
23. Washington 5-9 (24th)
24. Kansas City 6-8 (25th)
25. Buffalo 5-9 (26th)
26. Chicago 7-7 (16th)
27. Cleveland 4-10 (27th)
28. Jacksonville 4-10 (28th)
29. Tampa Bay 4-10 (29th)
30. Minnesota 2-12 (30th)
31. St. Louis 2-12 (31st)
32. Indianapolis 1-13 (32nd)
-Previous week’s rankings in parenthesis;
Mercury Rising Somewhere to Annoy Everyone. Thanks a lot, Packers. You scored 11 points against the Kansas City Chiefs, allowing Mercury Morris and the other Dolphins to celebrate their overrated 17-0 season of 1972 once again.
Green Bay got stunned by the Chiefs on Sunday for their first loss of the season, bringing an end to their 19-game win streak that had lasted a full calendar year. While the injuries, the defensive questions, and the inexplicable loss to KC are worrisome, it wasn’t enough for me to drop the Packers out of the top spot. At 13-1 they are my #1 team for a 13th straight week.
Costly Victory? The Indianapolis Colts stunned the Tennessee Titans on Sunday for their first victory of the season. On the one hand this was a huge win for the Colts, as it eliminated the possibility of a historically dubious 0-16 campaign. On the other hand, their win could open the door for other painful distinctions in the future.
I don’t think the Colts front office is foolish enough to allow one win to determine the fate of head coach Jim Caldwell. Whether they decide to fire him or keep him on, I doubt last Sunday’s result will be the deciding factor. But you can’t really say for sure how much something like that could sway things, even if the Colts aren’t actually aware of it. 1-15 seasons do happen. 0-16 is almost impossibly bad.
In my opinion, the Colts need to move on and find a head coach who is a difference maker (in a good way). This is still a “coaches league,” so it may seem strange to say that a team could be consistently good/great without a top notch guy running the ship. And I’m actually not making the case that the Colts have been able to achieve all that they have over the last decade plus without a top notch guy running the ship. I’m just saying “that guy” was the quarterback; not the coach (or coaches as it were).
If Caldwell retains his position due to the team avoiding the “oh-fer,” I believe it will hamper them in the years to come. And that would make last Sunday’s win pretty damaging. But the much larger issue is obviously the #1 pick in the draft. The Colts had the #1 pick all but sewed up heading into last week’s games. It had been a foregone conclusion for over a month. With their victory over Tennessee the Colts opened the door to the possibility that they might lose that #1 pick.
Think about the impact this could have on the Colts and the rest of the NFL, specifically Minnesota and St. Louis. The Vikings could get good again really quickly if they have an Andrew Luck-Adrian Peterson combo in the backfield. Few teams need a QB less than the Rams, as they are all in on Sam Bradford, who could still be great if he had any kind of a team around him. Speaking of the lack of talent surrounding Bradford, who needs more “pieces” than the St. Louis Rams? If they got the #1 pick they could hold half a dozen teams for ransom and make a killing by selling that pick off to the highest bidder. With the new rookie salary scale, everyone who needs a QB would be in on the bidding.
And of course if the Colts don’t end up with the #1 pick, they could be in for a lengthy stay at the bottom of the standings. But then, in a strange way, some longtime Colts fans might find comfort in not being faced with being “forced” to take Luck (awkward sentence but I like it). If the Colts don’t have Andrew Luck sitting there staring them in the face, they can draft one of the other two highly regarded QB prospects and sit them if Peyton Manning wants to attempt a comeback from this neck injury.
That scenario would allow them to avoid the horribly uncomfortable situation of pushing Manning out. And perhaps they’d be able to avoid that confrontation without sacrificing their future.
Anyway, the Colts first victory wasn’t enough for me to move them out of the bottom spot in my rankings. In my opinion, this is much more debatable than keeping the Packers in the top spot. There are several other candidates for the bottom spot; namely: the Rams, the Vikings, the Buccaneers, and the Jags. However, I want to see what happens this week before I move the Colts from the bottom position. The 1-13 Colts are my #32 team for the 8th consecutive week.
Another Week of Changes. Once again this week there was quite a bit of change in my power rankings. 22 of 32 teams moved at least 1 spot up or down this week. The difference this week was that most of the changes were slight. 14 teams moved up in the rankings this week while 8 teams moved down. However, of the 14 teams moving up the rankings only 6 moved up more than 1 spot. Of the 8 teams moving down the rankings only 3 moved down more than 1 spot.
I’m Coming Up…With Annoying Puns. Three different teams moved up 3 spots in my rankings this week. After 2 weeks of horror, the Cowboys whipped the Bucs and moved up 3 spots in my rankings from #10 to #7. San Diego and Arizona stayed hot and moved up 3 spots from #18 and #17 to #15 and #14 respectively.
The team making the biggest jump in my rankings this week was Seattle. The Seahawks put a beat down on the Ravens to get to 7-7 on the year and they vaulted 4 spots in my rankings from #22 to #18.
Way, Way Down. Three teams took major dives this week. Denver got blowed out by the New England Patriots, snapping their improbable run of pluck and luck. The Broncos fell 5 spots from #11 to #16 this week. I will admit that I’m probably a bit biased here, as I fucking hate Tim Tebow. And yes, I’m saying that I literally hate him. The record will show that I’ve never “hated” on his play. I hate the player, not the play.
Of course the Tennessee Titans took an even bigger spill in my rankings this week. The Titans were still in contention for the postseason last Sunday, yet they somehow managed to lose to the winless Indianapolis Colts. Tennessee plummeted 8 spots in my rankings from #13 to #21.
And yet there was one team that fell even further than the Titans this week. The Chicago Bears are done. They got demolished by the Seahawks on Sunday for their 4th consecutive defeat. They have lost their “star” quarterback and their star running back. Their best WR is lucky to be alive and kicking today. Their backup running back runs out of bounds when simply falling down on the field of play would virtually ice the victory. Their backup quarterback is quite possibly the worst QB to start for a franchise famous for having shitty QB’s. And their special teams captain thinks he’s Scarface. The Bears dropped 10 spots in my rankings from #16 to #26.
Other Notes. There are no remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL. There are no remaining winless teams in the NFL…The Philadelphia Eagles remain my highest ranked team with a losing record. They are my #13 team at 6-8. The Cincinnati Bengals are 8-6 and they are now my lowest ranked team with a winning record at #20…The 7-7 New York Football Giants are my highest ranked .500 team at #9. The Tennessee Titans are also 7-7 and are my lowest ranked .500 team at #21.
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