After an exhaustive grind of a regular season, the NFL playoffs are finally upon us. There's no shortage of juicy narratives and Cinderellas to root for, either.
In a dream season, Dan Campbell's Detroit Lions are trying to make history and restore the Motor City to ultimate football glory. West of the Mississippi, Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs are trying to achieve something no one ever has in the NFL's modern era -- a three-peat. Venture to Western New York or the DMV area, and you see superpowers like the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens ready to upend that red and gold mission. If that weren't enough, two seasons after they bombarded the NFC, Nick Sirianni's Philadelphia Eagles are hellbent on a redemptive mission. In this playoff party, don't discount potential dark horses like Baker Mayfield's Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Matthew Stafford's Los Angeles Rams, too.
As we get set for what should be a delightfully chaotic Wild Card Weekend, let's power rank this year's NFL playoff teams. Hopefully, this sets the table for a rowdy, topsy-turvy second season.
14. Houston Texans
The Texans' receiving corps consists of Nico Collins and glorified construction workers down the depth chart. Bobby Slowik's offensive scheme has been figured out by the league, and it wouldn't be foolish to assert C.J. Stroud has taken a sizable hit to his confidence. A good, not great, Texans defense is essentially fighting a massive uphill battle to keep its team's season alive.
13. Denver Broncos
Denver's defense is flat-out excellent. Likely All-Pros Patrick Surtain II and Nik Bonitto might comprise the best coverage player and pass-rusher duo in the game. But this Broncos offense, predicated around exceedingly short Bo Nix passes, gives me pause. Denver might also possess the worst offensive skill group in the entire field. Maybe what the young Broncos have built is already good enough for a one-game upset. It's just not enough to carry them to February or anything close, for that matter.
12. Pittsburgh Steelers
It's a good thing the legendary Mike Tomlin extended his streak of winning seasons because his Steelers do not have the juice to capture this year's championship. A four-game losing streak to close the regular season -- where Russell Wilson was arguably pro football's worst starting quarterback -- says Pittsburgh's roster will likely be golfing and headed to the beach after the wild card round.
11. Washington Commanders
Jayden Daniels looks like a quarterback who can dominate the NFC for years to come. He genuinely seems that special. But the Commanders, at the very start of their ascent to contender status, do not have the horses for this sheer, unfiltered madness quite yet. Especially on defense -- diminished forms of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, and Marson Lattimore can't do it all alone.
10. Green Bay Packers
The Packers have three wins over teams with winning records all year: the Los Angeles Rams when they were bruised and battered and still "ungood," the pretender Houston Texans (who were always fake-good), and the inflated Seattle Seahawks (another fake-good squad). With a way-too-flawed quarterback (Jordan Love) and a coach (Matt LaFleur) who weirdly struggles with game management, Green Bay resembles a solid conglomerate of football players that likely won't move the needle much to thrill anyone this January.
9. Los Angeles Chargers
I don't think the Chargers are about to make a deep playoff run, but I can't deny they have the chops. Jim Harbaugh's bunch has an elite quarterback, a lockdown defense, and, all of a sudden, a reliable cadre of weapons featuring Quentin Johnston and the precocious Ladd McConkey. Harbaugh has taken an NFL team to the precipice of ultimate pro football glory many times. I wouldn't be shocked to see it happen again.
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers cannot stop anyone -- truly, look it up -- but don't discount what a rejuvenated Baker Mayfield is capable of. With a better win-loss record for his team, Mayfield would've been an MVP candidate at the helm of one of the NFL's more unstoppable offenses. And the Tampa Bay defense still has enough playmakers (hello, Antoine Winfield Jr.!) to buoy Mayfield's surgical prowess while slinging the ball to Mike Evans and Co. This is one NFC upstart the conference's superpowers do NOT want to see in the divisional round.
7. Los Angeles Rams
At a certain point, the Rams' lack of imposing talent in the trenches will probably come back to haunt them the moment they potentially run into a brick wall later this month. But a Matthew Stafford-Sean McVay operation has more than earned the benefit of the doubt against supposed "deeper" competition. Los Angeles is 9-2 in its last 11 games where it actually tried to win. There's getting hot at the right time. Then there are the Rams, running roughshod on the entire league for almost three months.
6. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings might have the top coaching staff in the entire postseason format. Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores have done so much work sanding over the rough edges of a roster that simply had no business winning 14 games. That's the rub with these Vikings. They're coached well. They have superstar talent in some places (Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at receiver, for one). But there's something still ... missing about a team that massively overachieved. Oh, and Sam Darnold is the quarterback. The bill will likely come due -- at the worst possible time -- soon enough.
5. Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens are capable of winning their third Super Bowl in franchise history next month. An MVP-caliber Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, along with a Baltimore defense finally finding itself at the end of the regular year, ensures it. But will Jackson continue his stellar regular season play, or will he wilt away in sudden-death football as he has for most of his postseason career? And do the Ravens have the gall to win in Buffalo AND Kansas City in back-to-back weeks if it comes to it?
Yeesh, I don't know ... (Nervously tugs collar.)
4. Philadelphia Eagles
Two seasons ago, the Eagles were the NFL's most complete team. They came an iffy pass interference penalty short of upsetting this generation's best player and best coach on the biggest stage in American sports. With a shot at redemption (and an arguably better roster with better coaches), the Eagles are stacked enough to hang with any remaining team on this list. It's just about whether they ultimately deliver or torture beleaguered Philadelphia fans, who are known for accepting any single morsel of failure as rationally as they can.
3. Kansas City Chiefs
In a 15-2 campaign, the Chiefs won 11 one-score games. This is not your typical, run-of-the-mill, dominant Big Red Machine. That much is certain. Still, more than anyone, the power of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid together can never be overlooked. No one is as prepared for the crucible of the postseason and what it means to win in hard-nosed playoff football as the two-time reigning Super Bowl champions. They are not necessarily the team to beat in these playoffs because of their unimpressive track record in 2024, but they will go down swinging without question. And if you swing at the king, you better not miss.
2. Buffalo Bills
Armed with a receiving group marked by a bunch of No. 2 and No. 3 options, Josh "Terminator" Allen had the finest season of his career. A first career MVP likely awaits. Once a significant question mark this time of year, continuity has paid off quite well for the Bills' stout offensive line. Throw in a disciplined Sean McDermott defense that is healthy all around with Matt Milano's return earlier last month, and the Bills are staring their franchise-long Super Bowl drought right in the face without blinking.
1. Detroit Lions
In a dream 15-2 regular season, the Lions were in the top five in offensive, defensive, and special teams DVOA. They have the NFL's third-best offense on an expected points added (EPA) per play basis. Despite a rash of injuries on defense, they finished seventh in EPA per play on that side of the ball. Genius coordinators Ben Johnson (offense) and Aaron Glenn (defense) will likely be head coaches leading their own teams before the turn of the new year, and no one has a better pulse of their team than Dan Campbell. The Lions can win games in shootouts, in mucky, grimy affairs, and are never out of it -- they won a game in which Jared Goff threw five picks this year.
Anything can happen in playoff football, but the Lions have genuine team of destiny vibes. They are so good, so deep, and so confident that I can't find a glaring fault with them.
It is their Lombardi Trophy -- the first in team history -- to lose.
