Another week, another set of rankings . . .
#32 Oakland Raiders (1-8-0, -125, LW: 31)
#31 Arizona Cardinals (2-7-0, -101, LW: 30)
#30 Buffalo Bills (3-7-0, -114, LW: 32)
#29 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6-0, -59, LW: 28)
This is a franchise that is known for low points. On Sunday they achieved something amazing. With head coach Dirk Koetter calling the plays instead of O.C. Todd Monken, the Bucs became the first team in NFL history to rack up 450+ yards of total offense while scoring three or fewer points. There really should be a trophy for this at the team’s training facility. One gets the feeling that Koetter’s time in Tampa is limited.
#28 San Francisco 49ers (2-8-0, -36, LW: 27)
#27 New York Jets (3-7-0, -46, LW: 25)
#26 Jacksonville Jaguars (3-6-0, -39, LW: 26)
#25 New York Giants (2-7-0, -51, LW: 29)
#24 Detroit Lions (3-6-0, -42, LW: 24)
#23 Cincinnati Bengals (5-4-0, -53, LW: 17)
#22 Miami Dolphins (5-5-0, -57, LW: 18)
After three weeks the Dolphins were 3-0. Since then they are 2-5 and have been outscored by 80 points in the process. Someday a team other than the Patriots will win the AFC East. It just might take another decade for that to happen.
#21 Denver Broncos (3-6-0, -8, LW: 22)
#20 Cleveland Browns (3-6-1, -45, LW: 23)
#19 Atlanta Falcons (4-5-0, -10, LW: 16)
#18 Dallas Cowboys (4-5-0, +10, LW: 21)
#17 Philadelphia Eagles (4-5-0, +15, LW: 14)
#16 Green Bay Packers (4-4-1, +7, LW: 20)
#15 Tennessee Titans (5-4-0, +17, LW: 19)
#14 Indianapolis Colts (4-5-0, +21, LW: 15)
#13 Baltimore Ravens (4-5-0, +53, LW: 12)
#12 Minnesota Vikings (5-3-1, +17, LW: 11)
#11 Seattle Seahawks (4-5-0, +27, LW: 9)
#10 Carolina Panthers (6-3-0, +9, LW: 6)
#9 Washington Redskins (6-3-0, +1, LW: 13)
#8 Houston Texans (6-3-0, +32, LW: 8)
The Texans just might have the least impressive six game winning streak of my lifetime. Nonetheless it is still six games in a row and that means first place in the AFC South. The saying is “get in and anything can happen” or something like that. They are two games out of a first round bye, so that idea is most likely out of the question. A first round game against the Chargers seems the most likely scenario.
#7 New England Patriots (7-3-0, +44, LW: 5)
#6 Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2-1, +70, LW: 10)
#5 Los Angeles Chargers (7-2-0, +54, LW: 7)
#4 Chicago Bears (6-3-0, +94, LW: 3)
So far the Bears only legit loss is to New England, where they trailed by 14 midway through the fourth quarter. Mentor’s own Mitchell Trubisky has gotten quite a bit of flack through the national media, but according to QBR he has played pretty well this year (another good indicator is he hasn’t had an Eli, a Derek, a Peterman, or a Geno yet this season). The Rams and Saints will most likely be playing each other for the NFC’s bid in the Super Bowl, but the Bears could make a little noise in January. Their defense is a championship caliber with a healthy Khalil Mack and the offense can make enough plays to cause some problems.
#3 New Orleans Saints (8-1-0, +98, LW: 4)
#2 Kansas City Chiefs (9-1-0, +113, LW: 2)
#1 Los Angeles Rams (9-1-0, +104, LW: 1)
How important is the first round bye? The top two division champions in each conference receive them and home field is dictated by seeding, meaning that the only wild card team that could possibly host a playoff game is if the five seed plays the six seed in the conference championship. A quick look back at the Super Bowl representatives and their seed:
SB 52: Patriots (1) vs. Eagles (1)
SB 51: Patriots (1) vs. Falcons (2)
SB 50: Broncos (1) vs. Panthers (1)
SB 49: Patriots (1) vs. Seahawks (1)
SB 48: Broncos (1) vs. Seahawks (1)
SB 47: Ravens (4) vs. 49ers (2)
SB 46: Patriots (1) vs. Giants (4)
SB 45: Steelers (2) vs. Packers (6)
SB 44: Colts (1) vs. Saints (1)
SB 43: Patriots (1) vs. Giants (6)
Over the last 10 seasons four teams that played wild-card weekend played in the Super Bowl, none in the last five. And that lone two seed in the last five actually hosted the conference title game because the Cowboys are the Cowboys.
Right now the Steelers and Patriots are comfortable in their divisions because the other teams in there suck. The Chiefs are just a game ahead of the Chargers, but all of them are concerned about getting week 18 off. In the NFC the Saints are Rams are just fine, both with multiple game leads in both conference and division races. So if you’re wondering, those are the only teams to look at for Super Bowl predictions.