We lost a Super Bowl contender last week in the Green Bay Packers (perhaps temporarily) and are about to lose an entire tier altogether.
But Denver Broncos fans will finally enjoy reading these ALLCITY NFL Power Rankings!
Well, maybe.
Here’s how the power rankings and tiers look going into a fun Week 16:
Super Bowl contenders
While more teams can still join the party, these teams appear to have enough to make a run to Santa Clara.
1. Los Angeles Rams (Last Week Ranking: 1) (11-3) – The Rams impressively turned on the jets to deliver a big blow to a Lions team that still feels dangerous.
2. Buffalo Bills (3) (10-4) – Josh Allen is safely the best quarterback in the league right now, and he’s never had a more open path to the Super Bowl than now.
3. Denver Broncos (6) (12-2) – Bo Nix looked outstanding against a good Packers defense. Welcome to the Super Bowl contender tier, DNVR.
4. Seattle Seahawks (2) (11-3) – I’m not sure if I’ll ever get over my Sam Darnold concerns, and that wasn’t exactly an impressive performance against the Colts.
5. New England Patriots (5) (11-3) – The Pats missed a big opportunity to close the door on the Bills in the AFC East.
More to prove
These teams can’t be ruled out yet, but they have at least one major weakness and need to prove they are serious contenders.
6. Chicago Bears (7) (10-4) – A 60-minute performance against the Packers this weekend will launch the Bears into the Super Bowl contender tier.
7. Green Bay Packers (4) (9-4-1) – The Packers didn’t drop down a tier because they lost to the Broncos. They dropped because they lost Micah Parsons and now need to prove they can win without him. Your move, Jordan Love.
8. Houston Texans (10) (9-5) – If you’re an AFC team, there’s no way you want to play the Texans in the Wild Card round.
9. San Francisco 49ers (9) (10-4) – The 49ers are quietly coasting towards the playoffs, but they’ll be tested by the Colts, Bears and Seahawks in these final three games.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars (12) (10-4) – It’s great to see Trevor Lawrence playing as well as he is in Liam Coen’s offense.
11. Los Angeles Chargers (11) (10-4) – With losses to the Giants and Commanders, plus a blowout loss to the Jaguars, the Chargers are definitely the weirdest good team this year.
12. Philadelphia Eagles (13) (9-5) – It wouldn’t shock me at all if the Eagles get their act back together in time for the playoffs.
13. Detroit Lions (8) (8-6) – It still feels like the Lions are better than this, but at some point you are what your record says you are. They struggle to put it all together each week.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers (15) (8-6) – Aaron Rodgers gets another chance to break Lions fans’ hearts this weekend in Detroit. Watch out.
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14) (7-7) – The Bucs barely stay in this tier by virtue of the Panthers failing to take care of business against the Saints. It’s ugly in Tampa right now.
Fatally Flawed
These teams are terribly flawed in at least one crucial area that will likely hold them back from the playoffs.
16. Baltimore Ravens (19) (7-7) – Their 24-0 win over Joe Burrow was one of the least impressive shutouts I’ve seen.
17. Carolina Panthers (17) (7-7) – The Panthers just can’t quite get over the hump and it feels very unlikely they can beat the Bucs twice.
Clinging to (false) hope
You can’t rule these teams out yet, but you also shouldn’t get too excited.
18. Indianapolis Colts (18) (8-6) – We’re down to one team clinging to false hope. Please stop pretending Philip Rivers looked good on Sunday.
It’s over
We can safely say these teams will not make the playoffs and need to have hard conversations about the future.
19. Minnesota Vikings (22) (6-8) – The Vikings are clearly the best of the eliminated teams and could play spoiler if J.J. McCarthy continues this recent upward trend.
20. Dallas Cowboys (16) (6-7-1) – Matt Eberflus is set up to be the classic Dallas Cowboys fall guy.
21. Kansas City Chiefs (20) (6-8) – A shocking season for the Chiefs ends in a worst-case scenario with Patrick Mahomes tearing his ACL and LCL.
22. Miami Dolphins (21) (6-8) – Benching Tua Tagovaiola for Quinn Ewers reminds me of when Marc Trestman benched Jay Cutler for Jimmy Clausen. It’s weird, but it should also serve as a fair warning that it’s probably time to move on.
23. Atlanta Falcons (24) (5-9) – I still can’t believe the Falcons’ first-round pick is going to the Rams.
24. Cincinnati Bengals (23) (4-10) – Someone please save Joe Burrow and get him out of Cincinnati. We can’t lose him.
25. New Orleans Saints (26) (4-10) – Is Tyler Shough good? Because it kind of seems like he might be good.
26. Washington Commanders (29) (4-10) – Smart move to shut Jayden Daniels down. It should have already happened.
Race for No. 1:
There’s not much left to say about these teams. At this point, securing the No. 1 overall pick matters the most.
27. Cleveland Browns (25) (3-11)
28. Arizona Cardinals (27) (3-11)
29. New York Jets (28) (3-11)
30. New York Giants (30) (2-12)
31. Tennessee Titans (32) (2-12)
32. Las Vegas Raiders (31) (2-12)
Adam Hoge is the ALLCITY NFL Analyst and covers the Chicago Bears for CHGO. You can email him at hoge@allchgo.com and follow him on X @adamhoge.