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Sports Illustrated

Sport

Conor Orr

NFL Power Rankings: Rams Hold Steady While 49ers Surge After Big Win

49ers Rams NFL Panthers Bills Chiefs San Francisco (Organization) ”Flores Seahawks Bears

Welcome back to the season’s penultimate power rankings. I would venture to say that this season has been more fun than years prior, where we simply had to be creative about moving the Eagles, Bills and Chiefs around. I’ve mentioned this before, but there is truly an energy that comes with stepping off the plane and jumping into the void.

Anyway, enough chit-chat. Every single person in my house has a 100-plus fever, strep throat and the flu. But when games are on the line, you must play hurt.

1. Los Angeles Rams (11–5)

Last week’s ranking: No. 1
Last week’s result: lost to Falcons, 27–24
This week: vs. Cardinals

I think we’ve graduated to the point where a strange outlier loss doesn’t knock a team out of the top spot. I’ll get into this more on the next team’s blurb, but the Rams have a Super Bowl steadiness about them that I’m still searching for in Seattle.

2. Seattle Seahawks (13–3)

Last week’s ranking: No. 2
Last week’s result: beat Panthers, 27–10
This week: at 49ers

The Seahawks had a dropped pick early against the Panthers and a major momentum swing on a face-mask penalty when Carolina was getting its juice back in the second half. While the Seahawks deserve credit for steadying the ship and getting back into their game, this happens more than you’d think.

3. New England Patriots (13–3)

Last week’s ranking: No. 5
Last week’s result: beat Jets, 42–10
This week: vs. Dolphins

Drake Maye has all but buttoned up the MVP award—a stunning development just a season after New England was staring down a total identity crisis.

4. Denver Broncos (13–3)

Last week’s ranking: No. 9
Last week’s result: beat Chiefs, 20–13
This week: vs. Chargers

While I despise the statistical industry that works overtime to produce a certain set of numbers that then produces one person who has done this in a specific timeframe, Bo Nix being the only quarterback to throw for 7,500 passing yards, 50-plus touchdowns and log 20-plus wins in his first two seasons feels significant.

5. San Francisco 49ers (12–4)

Last week’s ranking: No. 11
Last week’s result: beat Bears, 42–38
This week: vs. Seahawks

The one thing about Sunday’s 49ers-Bears epic that stood out to me a few days later? On the final play of the game, with San Francisco’s defense absolutely gashed and beaten, not a single Chicago player was open. And Ben Johnson is one of the best situational play-callers in football.

6. Chicago Bears (11–5)

Last week’s ranking: No. 6
Last week’s result: lost to 49ers, 42–38
This week: vs. Lions

I agree with the great Danny Parkins, who said that this was one of his favorite Bears losses of his lifetime. This team is built differently and can knife an opponent more quickly and more devastatingly than any other team atop these power rankings. I like the possibilities of a deep playoff run.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars (12–4)

Last week’s ranking: No. 7
Last week’s result: beat Colts, 23–17
This week: vs. Titans

A fun bit of oddity from Action News Jacksonville: The Jaguars’ quarterback leads the team in rushing touchdowns and its running back leads the team in receiving touchdowns. It’s certainly not the way any of us drew it up, but who is standing in front of this train right now?

8. Houston Texans (11–5)

Last week’s ranking: No. 8
Last week’s result: beat Chargers 20–16
This week: vs. Colts

If we’re droning on about strength of schedule as it pertains to the Patriots, can we talk about the fact that Houston beat the Chiefs when that team was good, the Colts when that team was good, and the 49ers, Jaguars and Bills? This is an SEC-type road to the playoffs for the Texans.

9. Philadelphia Eagles (11–5)

Last week’s ranking: No. 4
Last week’s result: beat Bills, 13–12
This week: vs. Commanders

An impressive victory over the Bills, no doubt, but this is now more than one game for Philadelphia in which a second-half pass was not completed. I understand there are some complicating factors here, but for a modern NFL system, this is pretty incredible. And, obviously, not sustainable.

10. Buffalo Bills (11–5)

Last week’s ranking: No. 3
Last week’s result: lost to Eagles, 13–12
This week: vs. Jets

My one lingering thought on the Bills’ finale was wondering whether too much had been heaped onto the plate of Josh Allen on that last play. We’re asking the man to be Hercules—or Sisyphus, I guess, in this metaphor—and then call a touch throw that involves a totally different gear than the one Allen was currently in. Say he missed an open receiver. Fine. But let’s take the workload into account before that pass.

11. Los Angeles Chargers (11–5)

Last week’s ranking: No. 10
Last week’s result: lost to Texans, 20–16
This week: at Broncos

If all holds and the Chargers continue with the plan to rest Justin Herbert, a first-round matchup against New England in Foxborough is on tap. I think that may end up being the best opening round tilt on the AFC side.

12. Green Bay Packers (9-6-1)

Last week’s ranking: No. 13
Last week’s result: lost to Ravens, 41–24
This week: at Vikings

This is an oddity capable of happening to any team, but that doesn’t make it any less damning. Of the 11 games in which a team did not punt this season, those teams are 8–3. The Packers have all of the losses.

#WILD 11 times this season a team went the entire game with 0 punts. Those teams went 8-3

The Packers have ALL 3 of those losses…
(vs Panthers, Bears, and Ravens) pic.twitter.com/gaDFGs5pUg
— Hogg (@HoggNFL) December 28, 2025

13. Baltimore Ravens (8–8)

Last week’s ranking: No. 16
Last week’s result: beat Packers, 41–24
This week: at Steelers

My column on Lamar Jackson about what we really get out of questioning someone who isn’t playing through an injury.

14. Pittsburgh Steelers (9–7)

Last week’s ranking: No. 14
Last week’s result: lost to Browns, 13–6
This week: vs. Ravens

My column on the absolutely inexcusable Steelers loss to Cleveland on Sunday.

15. Detroit Lions (8–8)

Last week’s ranking: No. 12
Last week’s result: lost to Vikings, 23–10
This week: vs. Bears

Ahead of a disappointing and meaningless Week 18, Dan Campbell praised DC Kelvin Sheppard and said that Jared Goff is going nowhere. The big question, as has been the case since January, is how the Lions will fill the Ben Johnson void.

16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7–9)

Last week’s ranking: No. 17
Last week’s result: lost to Dolphins, 20–17
This week: vs. Panthers

It appears Tristan Wirfs is back for a loser-go-home tilt against the Panthers on Sunday. Will the tailwind from that news be enough to stop a runaway train to nowhere?

17. Carolina Panthers (8–8)

Last week’s ranking: No. 15
Last week’s result: lost to Seahawks, 27–10
This week: at Buccaneers

As I mentioned in the Seahawks blurb, I think this Panthers team was two plays away from having this game tied in the final moments—or close to it. That doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day except for the fact that I might favor them a bit over Tampa Bay this weekend.

18. Minnesota Vikings (8–8)

Last week’s ranking: No. 19
Last week’s result: beat Lions, 23–10
This week: vs. Packers

Brian Flores masterfully played his way into coordinator free agency. With the Vikings’ defense aging out and other teams looking for a shutdown coordinator—assuming Flores does not get a head coaching job that he very much deserves—Flores will help define the landscape this offseason.

19. Miami Dolphins (7–9)

Last week’s ranking: No. 24
Last week’s result: beat Buccaneers, 20–17
This week: at Patriots

Mike McDaniel creating so many open looks for an efficient Quinn Ewers bodes well for an offseason in which he’ll (hopefully) be able to select the starter of his choice and run the offense the way it was meant to be run.

20. New Orleans Saints (6–10)

Last week’s ranking: No. 23
Last week’s result: beat Titans, 34–26
This week: at Falcons

I have begun my campaign to allow the Saints to be in the playoffs instead of the Buccaneers or Panthers. Tyler Shough in prime time? Who says no?

21. Dallas Cowboys (7-8-1)

Last week’s ranking: No. 20
Last week’s result: beat Commanders, 30–23
This week: at Giants

A wild stat from Ed Werder: The three highest point totals allowed in Cowboys history have all occurred in the past six years, with this year’s performance from Matt Eberflus serving as the worst. Oh, and there’s another game left this season.

22. Indianapolis Colts (8–8)

Last week’s ranking: No. 18
Last week’s result: lost to Jaguars, 23–17
This week: at Texans

Lost in the team’s feverish start to this season is the other side of the coin. I’d make an argument that, outside of Las Vegas, the Colts are the most interesting team in the NFL this offseason. Major questions at key positions. No high draft picks. New owners. What happens now?

23. Cincinnati Bengals (6–10)

Last week’s ranking: No. 21
Last week’s result: beat Cardinals, 37–14
This week: vs. Browns

Lost season? Maybe. But how much is this film session with Zac Taylor worth to you, where he explains how offensive lineman, Cody Ford, caught a 21-yard pass? I say priceless.

The Making of a Moment

Zac Taylor brought out the iPad to break down the play everyone in Cincinnati is talking about today: Cody Ford's 21 yard catch.

See more of this on our weekly Bengals Now show. pic.twitter.com/5vcR8bgL0M
— Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) December 29, 2025

24. Junction City Chiefs (6–10)

Last week’s ranking: No. 32
Last week’s result: Lost to Broncos, 20–13
This week: at Raiders

I know this isn’t technically Chiefs related, but did you know that Taylor Swift runs the equivalent of eight miles for every Eras Tour performance?

#WPMOYChallenge Travis Kelce #ChiefsKingdom
“6 months before rehearsals began, I trained daily on a treadmill, running at each song’s tempo while singing aloud. By the end of an Eras performance, it adds up to roughly eight miles. But I'm not an athlete.” pic.twitter.com/nZHYQapOFU
— Band-aids don't fix bullet holes (@Rep_TnT) December 30, 2025

25. Atlanta Falcons (7–0)

Last week’s ranking: No. 22
Last week’s result: beat Rams, 27–24
This week: vs. Saints

Will Monday night’s win over the Rams save Raheem Morris’s job in Atlanta? Probably not. But now that we know consulting firms are involved, we can guarantee it will be the most head-scratching outcome regardless.

26. Cleveland Browns (4–12)

Last week’s ranking: No. 26
Last week’s result: beat Steelers, 13–6
This week: at Bengals

While we try not to be prisoners of the moment, Sunday’s game proves that the Browns should be doing everything they can to keep Kevin Stefanski from the market. Even a mediocre offense with this defense is playoff-caliber in the unraveling AFC North.

27. Tennessee Titans (3–13)

Last week’s ranking: No. 27
Last week’s result: lost to Saints, 34–26
This week: at Jaguars

One thing I’ll say about any new Titans head coach: They need to keep John Fossil aboard. He told reporters Monday he wants to stay and in a rapidly changing special teams landscape, his expertise is invaluable.

28. Washington Commanders (4–12)

Last week’s ranking: No. 25
Last week’s result: lost to Cowboys, 30–23
This week: at Eagles

Speaking of Brian Flores, wouldn’t the Commanders going all-in for the Vikings’ soon-to-be free agent coordinator be an excellent way to kick off the 2026 season and erase the taste of 2025 from their mouths?

29. Arizona Cardinals (3–13)

Last week’s ranking: No. 28
Last week’s result: lost to Bengals, 37–14
This week: at Rams

The Cardinals have now gone 16 consecutive weeks without scoring 30 points as an offense. While I think Jonathan Gannon made a lot of progress in cleaning up a mess he inherited, there is still such a long way to go.

30. New York Giants (3–13)

Last week’s ranking: No. 29
Last week’s result: beat Raiders, 34–10
This week: vs. Cowboys

As we noted in our future head coaches list, Marcus Freeman was always a little bit of a pipe dream for the Giants. But it’s clear after this Raiders win that the club is in need of a full-on culture reset.

31. New York Jets (3–13)

Last week’s ranking: No. 31
Last week’s result: lost to Patriots, 42–10
This week: at Bills

I have not seen a coach lose his grip on a possible Year 2 as rapidly as Aaron Glenn has in New York. This went from not being a conversation to being a conversation that must responsibly be had.