There’s one week left in the 2025 NFL regular season. It’s a doozy.

Sure, there will be your standard assortment of backups making spot starts in place of stars skipping meaningless games. Some showdowns will be a more expensive version of the UFL games we’ll quickly forget are happening this spring. But in the midst of death, we are in life; specifically through three different divisional title games, two of which are win-or-go-home propositions at the gates of the 2026 playoffs.

That leaves us with one more week to sort the wheat from the chaff — even if this week’s power rankings uncover much more chaff than we’re used to. 2025 has been remarkable in its lack of outright dominant teams. Everyone is beatable. You could talk yourself into a dozen teams capable of winning Super Bowl 60. That’s the parity dream the NFL has spent decades building. And while it’s great for fans, it makes these already subjective power ranks even more difficult to sort.

Foolish as we are, let’s try anyway.

32. Las Vegas Raiders

Last Week: 32

Las Vegas is winning through losing; getting stomped by the Giants leaves the Raiders one loss away from the top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Fernando Mendoza, learning from Geno Smith in a Pete Carroll offense with Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers? That could work.

31. New York Jets

Last Week: 29

The Jets told Jay Glazer they fully intend to bring 3-13 first year head coach Aaron Glenn back for 2025. Given the way this defense has looked, uh… why?

30. Arizona Cardinals

Last Week: 31

Michael Wilson’s emergence as a fantasy hero may be the only interesting thing about the 2025 Cardinals. Well, that and the promise of Calais Campbell one day playing as a card-carrying AARP member.

29. Tennessee Titans

Last Week: 27

Cam Ward has shown enough proof of concept to earn the benefit of the doubt in Tennessee. Now the Titans need to build around him. His competence made that a skootch tougher now that Tennessee (probably) won’t have a top-two draft pick to auction off. Still, there have got to be some better receivers out there than Van Jefferson and (Division III legend) Mason Kinsey.

Last Week: 28

Jaxson Dart ran in two touchdowns and limited the Giants’ ability to build around him with Sunday’s win; a loss would have almost certainly locked in the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. That’s OK though; getting Andrew Thomas, Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo back should be enough of a rising tide to lift his ship. The question is whether he can stay healthy long enough to pilot it to calmer waters.

Last Week: 30

Shedeur Sanders may not be the Browns’ future, but he has enough high level traits to stick around in a developmental role as Kevin Stefanski tries to shave away the bad habits that make him so untrustworthy. In Week 17 he ruined Pittsburgh’s chance to clinch the AFC North by completing eight of 10 passes to travel at least 10 yards downfield, showcasing the deep and intermediate chops that make him tantalizing (even if his one touchdown was an underthrow that made Harold Fannin Jr. look like the star he is).

More importantly, he only lost two yards via sack.

26. Washington Commanders

Last Week: 26

They gave Josh Johnson a nice home (his 14th in the NFL, albeit for the second time) and for that we are grateful. We also got the Bill Croskey-Merritt breakout we were promised, merely weeks after the fantasy owners who invested in him had been eliminated from postseason contention. Toss in a Johnny Newton breakout game and we’ve more or less hit all the Week 17 high points for the Commanders.

25. Kansas City Chiefs

Last Week: 25

Sure, the Chiefs may have fallen precipitously from their perch as a perennial AFC title game participant. They also hosed the state of Kansas for $1.8 billion to build a new stadium they’ll technically “rent” from the state but also have the latitude to spend that money on facility improvements and employees. Surely, no one will regret this in the Sunflower State after Patrick Mahomes retires.

24. Atlanta Falcons

Last Week: 22

The Falcons will look to dim the Rams season juuuuust slightly with a Week 17 win on Monday Night Football.

23. Minnesota Vikings

Last Week: 24

The Vikings are on the brink of a winning season, even despite a rotation of some of the league’s worst quarterbacks. Will that speed up their timeline for evaluating JJ McCarthy, who will finish his second season as a pro having played in nine of a possible 35 games? Or will it give the young QB a longer leash knowing Minnesota can survive some truly dire play behind center?

Last Week: 19

Joe Burrow still has it and one of the league’s most deficient pass rushes chalked up four sacks. It’s tough to be too impressed with a meaningless win, but it’s never too early for Cincinnati to start building toward next season’s disappointment.

Last Week: 17

Tampa Bay has gone from 6-2 to 7-9 and stuck hoping Baker Mayfield’s significant backslide is a product of injury and not a troubling regression to his past self. Carolina’s loss to the Seahawks means the Bucs still have a chance to win the NFC South. I’m not sure anyone is going to have much faith in a team capable of losing to Quinn Ewers.

20. Detroit Lions

Last Week: 15

The Lions were eliminated from the playoff race by virtue of a loss to a divisional rival who threw for 14 net yards in the second half. It may be time to wonder about how badly the departures of Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn affected this team.

19. Dallas Cowboys

Last Week: 20

Dak Prescott gets one more game before heading to an offseason where Jerry Jones will devise a plan to finish wasting his prime as a quarterback. At least that Packers’ first round pick gleaned from the Micah Parsons trade is looking better and better (even if it won’t crack the top 20).

18. New Orleans Saints

Last Week: 21

That’s four straight wins for Tyler Shough — three of which involved game-winning fourth quarter drives. His ability to improve as games progress and work outside of his game script makes him a more appealing prospect than his raw numbers suggest. But he’s also going to turn 27 before next season begins, so how much better can he get?

17. Miami Dolphins

Last Week: 23

Quinn Ewers has done enough to at least push for a starting job next preseason, even if beating a freefalling Buccaneers team isn’t the accomplishment it was back in October. Both of his touchdowns Sunday came on throws that traveled at least 10 yards downfield, leaning on guys like Theo Wease and Greg Dulcich to lock down a win over a potential playoff team. Next up is a Patriots defense looking to rumble to the top seed in the AFC; if Ewers can handle his business again, it could be the reprieve embattled head coach Mike McDaniel needs.

16. Indianapolis Colts

Last Week: 18

What looked like a career-saving rally for head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard could instead be a losing season despite a 7-1 start. Indianapolis hasn’t won a playoff game since Andrew Luck was quarterback. While Daniel Jones’ injury created a bit of breathing room for the coach/GM to get a chance and run things back, it’s hard to see 2025 as anything more than another mediocre season in a binder full of them for the post-Luck Colts.

15. Carolina Panthers

Last Week: 13

Bryce Young was good for -0.51 expected points added (EPA) as a passer against the Seahawks. That means he cost his team a touchdown’s worth of expected production every dozen passing plays — especially concerning in a game Carolina trailed for the bulk of the second half. The Panthers are capable of impressive swings, but their lack of a floor suggests any playoff appearance this winter will be short-lived.

14. Pittsburgh Steelers

Last Week: 12

Pittsburgh heads into a do-or-die AFC North title game without DK Metcalf or Darnell Washington (and possibly Calvin Austin, who’s been pretty forgettable even when healthy). While the Ravens’ limited pass rush will give Aaron Rodgers more time in the pocket and less fear of getting smashed into pieces by metahuman Myles Garrett, it’s unclear who he’ll actually be throwing to who can make a difference. And if Derrick Henry continues to churn out yards and grind clock, he’s gonna need someone to step up and push the Steelers to their god-given right of a Wild Card playoff loss.

Last Week: 14

Green Bay can explain away some of its two-game losing streak due to injuries. That doesn’t quite cover the deja vu of watching a dominant running back run right the hell over them on a cold Lambeau Field night. The Packers’ run defense remains suspect, and their only path to a postseason win may be through fireworks from a healthy Jordan Love.

Last Week: 16

The Ravens are Jason Voorhees; every time you think they’re dead, they jolt back to life and claim a few more victims. While the credits reliably wind up rolling over their corpse in the postseason (complete with a ? at the end), Baltimore continues to be impossible to count out. Shredded by injury? Fielding their worst offense in years? It may not matter, because they’re one win over a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers away from hosting a playoff game.

11. Los Angeles Chargers

Last Week: 9

The Chargers’ offensive line remained a fatal flaw in Week 17 against the Texans. A date with the Broncos’ top-two pressure rate remains in Week 18, and four top-15 pass rushes will be waiting on the AFC side of the playoff bracket. Justin Herbert is going to have to be superhuman to get LA’s first playoff win since 2018, and that may not even be enough.

10. Buffalo Bills

Last Week: 7

Buffalo badly needs playmakers for Josh Allen, even if he continues to shoulder on oversized load on a weekly basis. He got highlight reel catches from Tyrell Shavers and Brandin Cooks downfield, but Philadelphia’s five sacks helped highlight the lack of open targets in his passing game. With Keon Coleman a ghost, the 2026 offseason will be predicated on finding the reigning MVP some much needed help.

9. Houston Texans

Last Week: 10

C.J. Stroud had a passer rating of 149.3 on deep throws vs. the Chargers. He had a rating of 30.7 on throws 10 yards downfield or closer. That… sums up the 2025 Stroud Experience ™ pretty effectively.

Last Week: 11

Philly’s defense is good enough to win against the reigning MVP in a game where its offense failed to complete a pass in the second half. The Eagles’ 16 yards of third/fourth quarter offense couldn’t slow down their latest win streak, but it was enough to keep fans clamoring for the public defenestration of offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo — a man friends in southern New Jersey assure us will “never see the gates of heaven.”

7. New England Patriots

Last Week: 6

The Jets snuck away with wins the previous two seasons to end the Bill Belichick era and help make the Jerod Mayo one a single year engagement. Mike Vrabel had no interest in falling into the same valley, screaming his defiance in the form of a game the Patriots led 42-3 midway through the third quarter. Just like that, New England was back atop the AFC East for the first time since Tom Brady donned red, white and blue — and still in the running for the conference’s top seed.

6. Chicago Bears

Last Week: 2

Caleb Williams continues to show how he’s special, even in a dramatic last-second loss to the Niners. The 2024 first overall pick has absolutely remarkable arm talent that allows the ball to explode from his arm and teleport exactly where it’s supposed to be downfield. The Bears may still need more seasoning, but there’s reason to believe there’s actual fire in Chicago rather than a few stoked embers left behind for a fanbase that’s spent nearly four decades in the cold.

5. Los Angeles Rams

Last Week: 4

The Rams cannot win the NFC West, but they can bolster their playoff seeding with a Week 17 win over the Falcons on Monday night.

4. San Francisco 49ers

Last Week: 8

Brock Purdy knew there were questions whether he was worth his $245 million extension after a few efficient games from Mac Jones. He’s returned from injury as an absolute star, racking up 13 touchdowns his last three games to put the Niners within one win of the NFC’s top seed. San Francisco’s defense remains a concern, but its offense is equipped to win a shootout.

Last Week: 3

Carolina dragged Seattle into the muck just long enough to make things interesting — and give us more reason to doubt Sam Darnold. The Seahawks have won six straight games, but Darnold has an 8:8 touchdown:interception ratio in his last seven and has fallen off the MVP pace he’d cut earlier in the year. After slumping to a finish with the Vikings last fall, it’s fair to wonder if another collapse is imminent from the veteran QB.

Last Week: 5

It was yet another sweat from Bo Nix and company, but a late touchdown polished off, uh, Chris Oladokun and the Chiefs. Denver has a tremendous amount of talent that never seems to all click at the same time, but if 75 percent of the roster is living up to its potential the Broncos are difficult to beat.

Last Week: 1

The Colts tried to play spoiler in Week 17 the way the Jags had tripped them up in the past. In years prior, Jacksonville may have fallen into that trap. But Liam Coen has turned Trevor Lawrence into a dual-threat dynamo with MVP upside and his defense continues to rally to the ball — it’s given up only 15.6 points per game the last seven weeks. This team is dangerous.