NFL Power Rankings

Season tracker

Most weeks at No. 1 Los Angeles Rams 1 of 2 weeks

Season climber Las Vegas Raiders ▲23 since debut

Season slider Houston Texans ▼20 since debut

These 2026 NFL power rankings sort all 32 teams into five tiers, from the true Super Bowl contenders down to the teams just hoping to win a game. Rather than a straight 1-to-32 list, we group teams by realistic expectations for the season, backed by Vegas win totals, 2025 records, and offensive and defensive rankings. For the full team-by-team breakdown, read our complete 2026 NFL power rankings analysis.

No. 1 this week Kansas City Chiefs

Biggest riser Las Vegas Raiders ▲23

Biggest faller Houston Texans ▼20

This edition 32 ranked · 6 tiers

Cream of the Crop

3 teams

Elite coaches, elite talent, and shy of the Seahawks’ hiccup against the Commanders, all three look set for a long season. The 49ers just keep winning games while the injuries pile up.

#1 ▲2 Kansas City Chiefs Logo

Kansas City Chiefs

#2 = Seattle Seahawks Logo

Seattle Seahawks

#3 ▲14 San Francisco 49ers Logo

San Francisco 49ers

Is That MFer Real?

6 teams

A reference to a meme Kevin Wildes keeps shouting on the show. The Rams and their shaky start. The Raiders at 3-1 after taking the Chiefs to the brink. The Ravens, a few shaky games before handling the Titans. The Bills started hot and are fortunate to be 1-1 over their last two. The Jags smashed the Pats and then beat the Bengals. And the Bears without Caleb Williams, where Ben Johnson is making a coach of the year case winning different kinds of games with different quarterbacks.

#4 ▼3 Los Angeles Rams Logo

Los Angeles Rams

#5 ▲23 Las Vegas Raiders Logo

Las Vegas Raiders

#6 ▲1 Baltimore Ravens Logo

Baltimore Ravens

#7 ▼2 Buffalo Bills Logo

Buffalo Bills

#8 ▲11 Jacksonville Jaguars Logo

Jacksonville Jaguars

#9 ▲2 Chicago Bears Logo

Chicago Bears

Michael Myers

5 teams

They won’t die. You’re ready to bow out on the Cowboys and they come back on the Texans and send them reeling. The Bengals started faster than normal, then looked rough for two weeks and started picking up big injuries. Panthers, Patriots, Lions, all with mixed results so far.

#10 ▼2 Dallas Cowboys Logo

Dallas Cowboys

#11 ▲12 Carolina Panthers Logo

Carolina Panthers

#12 = New England Patriots Logo

New England Patriots

#13 ▲1 Cincinnati Bengals Logo

Cincinnati Bengals

#14 ▼1 Detroit Lions Logo

Detroit Lions

Chex Mix

8 teams

The rest of the teams that will make the playoffs. Not all of them, obviously, but one or two of these, maybe three, will end up actually being pretty good and playing in January. The rest, trash.

#15 ▲1 Minnesota Vikings Logo

Minnesota Vikings

#16 ▼12 Denver Broncos Logo

Denver Broncos

#17 ▲10 Atlanta Falcons Logo

Atlanta Falcons

#18 ▲2 Pittsburgh Steelers Logo

Pittsburgh Steelers

#19 ▼10 Philadelphia Eagles Logo

Philadelphia Eagles

#20 ▲2 Indianapolis Colts Logo

Indianapolis Colts

#21 ▲5 New Orleans Saints Logo

New Orleans Saints

#22 ▲3 New York Giants Logo

New York Giants

Desperate

5 teams

It’s getting late early for these teams. The Browns have a couple of wins, but unless Deshaun Watson has truly turned back the clock, and I don’t think he has, they’re going to struggle in this upcoming stretch.

#23 ▲7 New York Jets Logo

New York Jets

#24 ▼3 Washington Commanders Logo

Washington Commanders

#25 ▼10 Green Bay Packers Logo

Green Bay Packers

#26 ▼20 Houston Texans Logo

Houston Texans

#27 ▲4 Cleveland Browns Logo

Cleveland Browns

Despair

5 teams

The trash bag water of the NFL. I’d love to put the Titans last, and they deserve it, considering they’re actually trying to field a team and are this bad. At least the thought going into the year was that the Dolphins would be bad.

#28 ▲1 Arizona Cardinals Logo

Arizona Cardinals

#29 ▼19 Los Angeles Chargers Logo

Los Angeles Chargers

#30 ▼12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Logo

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

#31 ▼7 Tennessee Titans Logo

Tennessee Titans

#32 = Miami Dolphins Logo

Miami Dolphins

No. 1 this week Los Angeles Rams

This edition 32 ranked · 5 tiers

NO NOTES

8 teams

The real contender list is probably closer to four, but if you told me any of these eight hoisted the Lombardi, I'd buy it without blinking. The Rams are my #1 even over the champs: they added Myles Garrett, might get Aaron Donald back, and returned basically everyone. It's genuinely open though. Cowboys, Ravens, whoever, nobody here would shock me.

Los Angeles Rams

Seattle Seahawks

Kansas City Chiefs

Denver Broncos

Buffalo Bills

Houston Texans

Baltimore Ravens

Dallas Cowboys

THE HOT SEAT

9 teams

Reach the Super Bowl or somebody's getting fired, or a quarterback's getting replaced. The Patriots are the exception; short of a real backslide, this is a free roll for them. Everyone else is on the clock. How many more years do Herbert and the Chargers get to come up short? The Eagles spent all last year in drama and supposedly cleaned it up, so a bad year is a real problem. Then the Bears with Caleb, and the Bengals, who've slipped and need to actually go somewhere.

Philadelphia Eagles

#10

Los Angeles Chargers

#11

Chicago Bears

#12

New England Patriots

#13

Detroit Lions

#14

Cincinnati Bengals

#15

Green Bay Packers

#16

Minnesota Vikings

#17

San Francisco 49ers

ON THE CLOCK

6 teams

Not quite Super Bowl-or-bust, but everyone here needs a good season for their own reasons. Tampa's had noise all offseason, and a bad year validates all of it, probably costing Baker money in a lame-duck season for him and Todd Bowles. The Jags should feel more heat than they do, but nobody really cares. And the Colts and Panthers are just desperate for a quarterback who can finally deliver on the talent around him.

#18

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

#19

Jacksonville Jaguars

#20

Pittsburgh Steelers

#21

Washington Commanders

#22

Indianapolis Colts

#23

Carolina Panthers

MEASURING STICK

4 teams

Nobody here is expected to do much, so a playoff berth would blow you away and count as a full success. Tennessee brought in a lot: Robert Saleh, a defensive-minded success story, and Brian Daboll as OC, which I didn't love at first but came around on, plus a real weapon in Carnell Tate to grow with Cam Ward. Let's see it. Same question for the Giants and Saints: last year was a nice little pop, but was that the ceiling, or is something actually cooking with Jaxson Dart and Tyler Shough?

#24

Tennessee Titans

#25

New York Giants

#26

New Orleans Saints

#27

Atlanta Falcons

THE COPE

5 teams

Outside of Carson Beck in Arizona, there's not much to get excited about. Playoffs aren't the conversation; winning a game is. Is it Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders in Cleveland, and does it matter when the camp news is bad either way? Will Malik Willis physically survive the year? And how long until we see Mendoza, or do the Raiders shock everyone, ride Kirk Cousins to a real season, and barely play him at all? Unlikely, but it'd be outstanding for Vegas.

#28

Las Vegas Raiders

#29

Arizona Cardinals

#30

New York Jets

#31

Cleveland Browns

#32

Miami Dolphins

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