Power Rankings After Week 17
1. Green Bay 15-1 (1st)
2. New Orleans 13-3 (2nd)
3. San Francisco 13-3 (3rd)
4. New England 13-3 (5th)
5. Baltimore 12-4 (6th)
6. Pittsburgh 12-4 (4th)
7. New York Giants 9-7 (7th)
8. Houston 10-6 (11th)
9. Atlanta 10-6 (12th)
10. Philadelphia 8-8 (13th)
11. Detroit 10-6 (10th)
12. Dallas 8-8 (8th)
13. Arizona 8-8 (14th)
14. Miami 6-10 (15th)
15. Seattle 7-9 (16th)
16. San Diego 8-8 (18th)
17. Cincinnati 9-7 (17th)
18. New York Jets 8-8 (9th)
19. Kansas City 7-9 (23rd)
20. Tennessee 9-7 (21st)
21. Denver 8-8 (19th)
22. Oakland 8-8 (20th)
23. Carolina 6-10 (22nd)
24. Chicago 8-8 (26th)
25. Cleveland 4-12 (27th)
26. Buffalo 6-10 (24th)
27. Washington 5-11 (25th)
28. Jacksonville 5-11 (28th)
29. Indianapolis 2-14 (30th)
30. Minnesota 3-13 (29th)
31. Tampa Bay 4-12 (31st)
32. St. Louis 2-14 (32nd)
-Previous week’s rankings in parenthesis;
On Top Til They’re Knocked Off. It turns out that the Packers are a pretty good team even when their stars aren’t in the lineup. Perhaps we already knew this, as Green Bay won the Super Bowl last year despite not having great luck with injuries. Just to be sure, the Packers proved it again last week.
With nothing to play for and many of their key players taking the day off, the Packers won at home in a shootout against the Lions, 45-41, keeping Detroit from earning the #5 seed in the NFC.
The Packers finished the season with the best record in football at 15-1 and they are the top team in my rankings for a 15th consecutive week. They have to be considered the top team in the NFL going into the playoffs and they are the #1 team in my final rankings.
Silence of the Lams. The St. Louis Rams finished the season with a 34-27 loss at San Francisco on Sunday. That final score was a bit misleading, as the Rams scored a couple of meaningless TD’s in garbage time.
Unfortunately for St. Louis, the Colts failed to win a 3rd consecutive game, meaning the Rams also lost out on the #1 pick they could so dearly have used to try and rebuild.
It gets worse for St. Louis (even if they don’t know it), as they are the bottom team in my rankings for a 2nd consecutive week.
Tampa Bay’s collapse was so severe and so complete it almost led me to place them below the Rams.
But in the end it had to be St. Louis. The Rams are the #32 team in my final rankings.
A Final Good Shuffle but Everything Falls into Place. You might think I would only be tweaking my rankings after 17 weeks of play but it didn’t turn out that way. After several weeks of relative calmness, my rankings went through one final week of change.
24 of 32 spots in my power rankings experienced change this week. 14 teams moved up at least 1 position in the rankings, while 10 teams moved down at least 1 spot in the rankings. Of the 14 teams going up the rankings, 7 moved up more than 1 spot. Of the 10 teams going the wrong way in my rankings, 7 fell more than 1 spot.
So there was more change than I expected this week. In addition, those changes were more drastic than I thought they would be. However, after 17 weeks, I do feel like I have every team where they should be. Or at least, I have more confidence/conviction behind my final rankings than I’ve had behind any previous set of power rankings this season.
Finishing Strong. 4 teams climbed more than 2 spots in my rankings this week, but only 1 team rose more than 3 places. The Kansas City Chiefs pulled out a win in Denver to finish the season 7-9 and they made the biggest climb in my rankings this week. KC moved up 4 spots in my final rankings, going from #23 to #19.
Final Fall. There were 2 teams that fell more than 2 spots in my rankings this week and both of those teams were still alive for the playoffs when week 17 began.
The Dallas Cowboys were beaten soundly in their winner-take-all game with the Giants for the NFC East title, falling 14-31 in New York (or New Jersey). They lost 4 of their final 5 games to finish the year 8-8. The Boys dropped 4 spots in my final rankings, falling from #8 to #12.
But the team taking the biggest plunge in my rankings this week was that other consistently overhyped team. The New York Jets weren’t eliminated from the playoffs going into week 17 but they needed a lot of help. In the end, it didn’t matter, as the Jets couldn’t even take care of their own business, losing 17-19 to the Dolphins in Miami. They lost their final 3 games to finish 8-8. The Jets plummeted 9 spots in my final rankings, dropping from #9 to #18.
Other Notes. The Green Bay Packers finished the season as the only 1-loss team in the NFL…The Colts and Rams finished the season as the only 2-win teams in the league…The Dolphins finished the season as my highest ranked team with a losing record at #14. At 6-10, the Fins were also easily my highest ranked 10-loss team…At #20, the 9-7 Titans finished as my lowest ranked team with a winning record…The Lions are my lowest ranked 10-win team at #11…The 9-7 Giants are my highest ranked team with fewer than 10 wins at #7…The Eagles are my highest ranked 8-8 team at #10. They are also my highest ranked non-playoff team…The Bears finished as my lowest ranked 8-8 team at #24…The Broncos are my lowest ranked playoff team at #21.
More Notes. Only 2 teams were ranked #1 in any of my 18 sets of power rankings this season (including the preseason power rankings). The Patriots were the #1 team in the first 3 editions of the power rankings; the Packers were the #1 team in my final 15 power rankings.
5 different teams were ranked #32 in at least 1 of the 18 editions of my power rankings. The Cardinals (preseason), the Broncos (after week 1), and the Seahawks (after week 2) were each the #32 team in my rankings for 1 week. The Rams were the #32 team in my rankings for 5 consecutive weeks from week 3 through week 7; and then again for the final 2 sets of power rankings for a total of 7 weeks at #32. The Colts spent the most weeks at #32 in my rankings this season, holding down the bottom spot for 8 consecutive weeks from week 8 through week 15.
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