In terms of parity, the 2024 NFL season has been one of the most uniform in recent memory.
21 teams currently sit with either two or three wins. There are only two undefeated teams and zero winless teams. Trying to decipher who’s good and who’s fraudulent has never been more difficult, but let’s give it a shot:
1 – Chiefs
What Kansas City was missing from their resume was a blowout performance. While Monday Night’s performance against the Saints may not look like one on paper, the Chiefs smothered New Orleans on defense and doubled them on total yards. Poor red zone efficiency is the only thing holding this team back, even with all the injuries. They’ll sit atop the rankings for a while.
2 – Vikings
The only undefeated team outside of the Chiefs, Minnesota’s momentum has slowed a bit in their last three halves of football. Great teams win bad games though, and Minnesota has done nothing but take care of business. Hopefully, for their sake, Sam Darnold‘s performance was just a hiccup caused by the Jets’ defense and not a sign of regression.
3 – Commanders
The Commanders are a wagon. Not only are they on a four-game win streak with the third-highest point differential in the league, but their wins continue to age well. All three of the Giants, Cardinals and Bengals put up great performances in Week 5. Jayden Daniels is currently in MVP conversations.
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4 – Ravens
The Ravens have seemingly found their groove again, recovering from their Ravens-esque loss to the Raiders. The Bengals spotted them a comeback in Week 5. Lamar Jackson is having yet another MVP-level season and Baltimore’s offense is humming, but the defense needs some work, as it’s currently allowing 25.2 PPG.
5 – Lions
Bye weeks make power rankings more difficult because they deform the standings. The Lions can sit comfortably at No. 5 after their offensively dominant performance against the battered Seahawks in Week 4. But two road games against Dallas and Minnesota in the coming weeks will tell us where this team truly stands.
6 – Texans
The Texans are 4-1 with a -12 point differential. They have yet to look dominant versus any team, but their only loss came against the Vikings in Minnesota. Nico Collins leads the league in receiving yards but exited in the first quarter last week when he reaggravated a hamstring injury. Houston has yet to play their best football game, but seemingly can’t stop shooting itself in the foot.
7 – Bills
What looked like a juggernaut that had figured everything out after Week 3 has plummeted back down to earth. Josh Allen played arguably his worst game since his rookie year on Sunday, going 9-for-30 passing the ball. Without him playing like Superman, this team is left with just about nothing. They need Khalil Shakir to return, badly.
8 – Buccaneers
The Buccaneers should have put their Thursday Night bout with Atlanta away twice, but they didn’t. They will have a tough battle to stay atop the NFC South, but they’re currently the only team to beat both the Lions and Commanders, which will matter a lot for seeding. If they can shore up their secondary somehow, they’ll be alright.
9 – Falcons
The Texans of the NFC, the Falcons have found ways to win games that don’t feel particularly replicable. Kirk setting the franchise record for passing yards in a game is a great sign for his Achilles, which isn’t hampering him anymore. If this team wins a few games handily they’ll start to be taken seriously.
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10 – Packers
Green Bay has a bevy of talent, they just need to align all of it. That starts with Jordan Love, who will toss a 50-yard seed in the same game that he throws a pick-6 from his endzone. Xavier McKinney looks like one of the best free-agent signings of the offseason, having recorded an interception in all five games this season.
11 – Broncos
One of the highest risers right now, the Broncos are putting the pieces together. Bo Nix is getting better each week. The defense has stars at every level, particularly in the secondary, although Jonathon Cooper has been a monster on the edge. This team has potent playoff potential and could become more than that if the offense starts to match the defense.
12 – Seahawks
Most pundits looked at the Seahawks as they came out of their Monday Night Football loss to the Lions as they had improved in their eyes. The offense looked dynamic, and the defensive issues were chalked up to injuries and the Lions’ dominance. Sunday’s loss to the Giants wiped those notions clean. This team has talent, just not in the trenches. It’s hard to be great when your offensive and defensive lines fail. Playing the 49ers on a short week will not help with those issues.
13 – Cowboys
Escaping from Pittsburgh while losing the turnover battle 0-3 is very tough. Dallas’ offensive produced on nearly every drive against the Steelers. Even though Dak Prescott had all those turnovers, he ultimately came through. Their defensive injuries will likely become an issue soon, but Pittsburgh’s offense could not capitalize on them.
14 – Steelers
Conversely, winning the turnover battle 3-0 and still not winning the game is a bad sign for the Steelers. This offense looks only slightly improved from last season, and their defense was exposed by Dallas. Mike Tomlin likely knows what buttons to push to clean things up, but the team’s ceiling looks limited. Maybe we’ll see DangeRuss soon after all.
15. Bears
Two wins at home versus the Rams and Panthers shouldn’t be worth too much, but the Bears’ defense is playing lights out, and Caleb Williams is quickly becoming comfortable behind his O-Line. D’Andre Swift has woken up and received support from Roschon Johnson. Chicago’s Week 8 matchup with Washington will be fun to watch.
16. Saints
The Saints are spiraling a bit, but two losses on their three-game losing streak are by a field goal or less to solid teams. Unfortunately, their loss to the Chiefs on Monday was disheartening. If they put up another stinker against the Buccaneers next week, they’ll fall much further in these rankings. With Derek Carr hurting his oblique, it looks like it’ll be up to Spencer Rattler to rally the Saints.
17. Giants
Sound the alarm, the 2022 Giants might be back. Daniel Jones has run the offense well, as opposed to ruining it. He’s proven he can connect with more receivers than just Malik Nabers. The run game with Tyrone Tracy was humming, and the Giants controlled the time of possession all game long against Seattle. Dexter Lawrence has been the best interior defensive lineman in football this season.
18. 49ers
A second-blown 10-point fourth-quarter lead is alarming, and they both occurred in divisional games. While the 49ers typically round into form later in the season, the beginning of their schedule was the easiest. Ten out of their twelve remaining games are against teams with winning records. The two that aren’t are Arizona, who just beat them, and Miami.
19. Cardinals
They should realistically be ahead of the 49ers because they just beat them, but Arizona still has more to prove. Hanging around at 2-3 with their schedule so far is respectable. Unlike San Francisco, only five of their remaining twelve games are against teams with a winning record. They easily have the ceiling to put together a playoff push.
20. Eagles
The Eagles’ chance to turn themselves into a threat is right now. Coming out of the bye week they have the Browns, Giants, Bengals and Jaguars coming up next. They need to go at least 3-1 in that stretch or they’ll fall out of contention for the division. Last place in the NFC East isn’t out of the question anymore.
21. Chargers
It likely is in the Chargers’ benefit to lose more games this season. Keeping Herbert healthy and developing their younger plays should be a priority. That’s not how Jim Harbaugh operates though. Expect the Chargers to be a difficult out most weekends.
22. Raiders
The Raiders weren’t necessarily supposed to be good, but it’s a shame how bad they look on the defensive side of the ball. If there was any inspiration and hope for this team it was that they would be a lockdown defense that played angry, since that’s how it felt like Antonio Pierce was being advertised. Instead, they’re getting gashed on every level by teams that aren’t even good. They’re clinging to the Ravens’ win as far as rankings go.
23. Colts
Joe Flacco is still a fun watch and a better option to win a game right now than Anthony Richardson. He produced the fourth-highest QB rating of Week 5. Unfortunately, those who want to see Indianapolis win this year must study Anthony Richardson for at least the rest of the year before forming their thesis.
24. Jets
Having fired Robert Saleh, this is the make-or-break moment for the Jets. A win on Monday Night Football over the Bills in Interim Head Coach Jeff Ulbrich‘s first game could push this season in the right direction. The Jets have four primetime games from weeks 6-11, so for everyone’s sake, let’s hope they start to play good football.
25. Bengals
The Bengals’ body of work is still putrid. They’re a better team than their record, but what does it matter when you’re 1-4 and on the verge of being eliminated? The defense is porous and there’s no way to fix it. Joe Burrow can play as well as he wants, but everything else around him and Chase is crumbling.
26. Rams
Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford will give the Rams a chance to win any game, but this team is too banged up to be properly analyzed beyond that. At least Jared Verse and Braden Fiske look good so far.
27. Dolphins
Jaylen Wright will be a fantasy monster when it’s finally his time. He and Achane would create one of the best dual-threat RB rooms in history if the Dolphins can find consistency at QB.
28. Titans
No Will Levis in Week 5 was tough for NFL meme culture. He’ll be looking to bounce back in Week 6.
29. Jaguars
Good for Trevor Lawrence, Doug Pedersen and the rest of Jacksonville. They needed that win. Leave it to the Colts, who are 0-10 in the last 10 games in Jacksonville, to be the ones to fall to the Jags. Brian Thomas showed that he is also ready to replicate his LSU success in the NFL, punching in one of his signature deep-ball touchdowns, this week for 85 yards.
30. Patriots
Drake Maye is finally slated to start. It likely wasn’t the preconceived plan to wait until Week 6, but with Jabril Peppers getting arrested and a mutiny potentially brewing in the Patriots’ locker room, it looks as if it was time for the spark.
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31. Panthers
This year’s two-week Andy Dalton run was fun. Now we’re back to reality. The Panthers’ point differential is 29 points worse than the second-worst team.
32. Browns
Cleveland will live at the bottom of the power rankings until the bench Deshaun Watson. It may not be Stefanski’s choice, but someone is allowing this to happen, hurting everyone around them.
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