NFL Power Rankings, Week 14: Bears reach new heights, while Lions fall out of top 10

I checked the manual, and it turns out that Super Bowl contenders are allowed to lose close, late-season games on the road to teams fighting for their playoff lives. It's never encouraged, of course, but also not prohibited. Still, the Panthers did expose some potential weaknesses for these Rams. If you can harass Matthew Stafford into making some bad throws, have success running the ball and hit on some key third and fourth downs, you can beat this team. The Rams were actually rolling offensively for most of Sunday, but their drives all seemed to end in either a touchdown or a turnover. Carolina played Russian roulette and won. What can you do? That's now three losses for Los Angeles this season, by 13 total points. Sunday's defeat dealt a blow to the Rams' hopes of earning the NFC's top seed, even if that remains very much within reach. Everything largely boils down to that huge, short-week game at Seattle in Week 16. Despite the loss, the Rams remain atop this pecking order.

Five takeaways, four sacks, zero points allowed. Even against a quarterback making his first NFL start (Minnesota rookie Max Brosmer), that's a tremendous effort from Seattle's defense. The defensive front just mauled a beat-up Vikings offensive line, and it's the kind of unit that will give even playoff-caliber opponents trouble. But there have been some issues in the Seahawks' passing game at times, and Sunday exposed a problem that hadn't really emerged prior. The Vikings' hell-for-leather blitzing in the first half caused all kinds of chaos for Seattle's offensive line. Sam Darnold had only been sacked 11 times in the first 11 games, but the Vikings got him four times in the first half, including a strip sack that could have been costly had the 'Hawks not gotten a pick-six a few plays later. They still have a couple more games to get everything in order up front before the titanic rematch with the Rams.

Perhaps we should start looking at Denver's late-game heroics as a feature, not a bug. I know it's difficult when you see a team living as dangerously as the Broncos are, but no one has been able to make them pay for their mistakes since mid-September. They've won nine straight games now, seven of those by one score. The past four victories came by a total of 10 points. Can they keep living on the razor's edge? Well, these Broncos seem to thrive amid the danger, perilous as it might feel. Sunday night's 27-26 overtime win at Washington nearly slipped away from them a few times, and they were on the right end of some fortunate calls, but the results are ultimately what matter most. The Chiefs won nine straight last season in similar fashion and ultimately got to a Super Bowl. Who's to say the Broncos are not capable of a similar outcome, even with the doubt they cast?

Monday smelled like a potential trap game coming in, but the Patriots quickly dispelled that notion with a dominant first-half showing against the Giants, taking a 30-7 lead into the locker room. Drake Maye earned more "M-V-P" chants, the defense held New York to 239 total yards and Marcus Jones housed another punt. If Maye wins MVP, it's because he's been consistently good (or better) in pretty much every game since the Week 1 loss to Las Vegas, which certainly will go down as one of the most shocking results of the season. Ever since then, the Pats have improved vastly, becoming a complete football team. They might not dominate in a lot of areas outside of Maye making tougher plays look easy, but they also don't have many glaring weaknesses. Injuries have sunk their teeth into the starting lineup a bit, but the replacements really stepped up on Monday night.

Matt LaFleur has taken some heat from Packer backers, but he coached a near-perfect game against the Lions and now has his team on a strong vector not only toward the playoffs but also to a division crown. Yes, the Pack must deal with the Bears twice and keep the Lions at bay, but things are lining up pretty well for Green Bay heading into the home stretch. Jordan Love delivered a gem of a game in Detroit; if he and the offensive line can play up to that level from here on out, the Packers are going to be a very tough team to deal with come January. The defense has had its hands full a few times but has kept scores relatively low and delivered some knockout performances. There aren't too many complete teams in the league in 2025, but the Packers are pretty close to that ideal at their best.

The day after last Thanksgiving, Chicago fired Matt Eberflus after the Bears completely flubbed the end of a loss to the Lions. The day after this Thanksgiving, they proved they're for real with four quarters of dominance over the Eagles in Philadelphia. I suspect this was the first time a lot of folks outside the Midwest sat down to watch a whole Bears game this season, and they had to be impressed with Ben Johnson's team. Chicago's offensive line looked something like a Macedonian phalanx, plowing its way to a 281-yard rushing game. I agree with Caleb Williams' assessment that the Bears still haven't hit their pinnacle, with the passing game capable of more. Exciting times in the Windy City, considering the Bears currently own the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. But they're still in a dogfight for the NFC North, so they must continue rounding into form, starting in Sunday's massive game at Green Bay and continuing into a possible winner-takes-all tilt in the Week 16 rematch vs. the Pack in Chicago.

The bare facts are that the Colts have lost three of four, their quarterback is playing on a broken fibula and the hope is that their star cornerback, who suffered a calf strain in Sunday's loss to the Texans, can return before the end of the regular season. What started as a dream year for the Colts has devolved into a fight for their playoff lives. All of this leads into Sunday's massive battle for AFC South supremacy against the Jaguars in Jacksonville, where the Colts last won in 2014. Gulp. Give Daniel Jones some credit for playing through pain, but his numbers were pedestrian, and after the Colts got a stop and worked their way into Houston territory, Jones' final three pass attempts fell incomplete, with the last throw resulting in a turnover on downs with less than two minutes left. A few calls might have gone against Indy in this game, but it's impossible not to notice the team's backslide. Can Shane Steichen stop the bleeding?

Not taking anything away from Kyle Shanahan, but I really think Robert Saleh hasn't received the proper praise he's due for keeping the 49ers' defense in the shape it's in. After losing arguably their three most irreplaceable defenders -- Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Mykel Williams -- for the season, the Niners have played far more respectably on defense than not. They might have allowed 42 points to the Rams in Week 10, but the past three 49ers opponents have only totaled 39. And so, with wins over Arizona, Carolina and Cleveland, San Francisco finds itself in prime playoff position with four games left -- serving a well-deserved bye this week to get a little healthier. Brock Purdy followed up his three-INT game in Week 12 with a zero-turnover performance in the poor weather at Cleveland, as the Niners' offense, defense and special teams all delivered big plays. All signs point toward a return to the postseason.

If you look at what Buffalo did offensively without its two starting offensive tackles, that was a pretty strong effort in Pittsburgh, all things considered. The Bills' pass game hasn't really been pretty this season, outside of some occasional Josh Allen magic and a few big YAC plays. So, for Buffalo to run the ball for 249 yards and control the clock for 42 minutes -- out-Steelering the Steelers in their stadium -- it was a character victory on offense. Eight runs of 10-plus yards and 16 rushing first downs. Defensively, it was even more impressive, arguably the Bills' best performance of the season. The game turned at the start of the third quarter on Joey Bosa's strip sack, which was run back for a touchdown by Christian Benford, who added a pick on the next series. Winning games without Allen going nuclear isn't always a bad thing, folks. The Bills have their foot in the playoff door, occupying the final wild-card spot, and the division isn't lost yet. We'll see you in Foxborough in two weeks.

We haven't seen a repeat divisional champ in the NFC East since the Eagles won their fourth straight crown in 2004, and this year's Philly team is doing everything it can to extend the drama as long as possible. A few weeks ago, the Eagles looked like shoo-ins for continued East supremacy, but the Cowboys are trying to somehow crash the party. It's still the Eagles' division to lose, but something is going to have to change on offense for them to have any shot of truly defending their Super Bowl title. Even the tush push doesn't feel like a team strength now. There are multiple issues with this offense, but the bottom line is that Jalen Hurts must play better. The presumption is that the Eagles have the defense to make a deep playoff run, but the way they defended the run vs. Chicago suggested this unit isn't nearly as impregnable as its reputation suggests.

A painful Thanksgiving loss to Green Bay included an early ankle injury for Amon-Ra St. Brown, and it was followed by the news that Frank Ragnow wouldn't be coming out of retirement after all, spoiling Detroiters' holiday season that much more. The hyperaggressive Lions once again suffered from fourth-down failures, and they just haven't been able to replicate last season's magic against a brutal schedule. Jared Goff gamely tried to rally the Lions without his top receiver but just couldn't get it done, resulting in their third one-score loss since the Week 8 bye. The postseason remains possible, and beating the Cowboys and Rams in the next two games would go a long way toward making that happen, but we must brace ourselves for the possibility Detroit ends up on the outside looking in come playoff time.

The good news: The Jaguars won easily, even in a sloppy performance. The bad? Jacksonville's health situation is a bit dicey right now. Travon Walker, Arik Armstead and Patrick Mekari were inactive against the Titans, and the Jags lost Walker Little and Parker Washington on offense and long snapper Ross Matiscik to injuries during the game. The timing couldn't be worse, with the suddenly slumping Colts coming to town with the AFC South hanging in the balance. The Jaguars have earned the opportunity to play in meaningful December games, but how healthy will they be this week and for the final kick toward the postseason? A Jacksonville win over Indianapolis would put the team in the division driver's seat, but Trevor Lawrence, who played well on Sunday, might need to repeat that level of performance in Week 14 for it to happen.

By winning four straight and five of their past six, the Texans have climbed two games over .500 and back firmly into the playoff race, even keeping their division-title hopes alive. After missing three games due to a concussion, C.J. Stroud looked rusty early, watching the Colts take the lead after his overthrown interception. But he battled back and was sharp on third downs, leading the Texans on two time-consuming scoring drives after halftime to seize control of the game. They had a chance to truly step on the Colts' necks late, if two tush-push tries hadn't come up short, but the stout Houston defense finished things off. It was the first time since Week 2 that the Texans didn't force a takeaway, but they still held the Colts to 281 total yards, including just 86 rushing. This was good, complementary football from Houston, a sign this team could be trouble for other contenders in January -- if the Texans make it there. 

The Ravens remain AFC North favorites heading into Sunday's showdown against the Steelers, but what does that really even mean? It's a division that's devolving into a war of attrition, and the winner could end up below .500. The Ravens' Thanksgiving performance gave me serious pause about them as legitimate playoff contenders, and yet someone has to win this division. If Lamar Jackson could snap his fingers and get out of his slump, magically curing his myriad lower-body injuries in the process, I might re-evaluate Baltimore, even after a defensive showing against Cincinnati that represented a step backward following a month or more of progress on that side of the ball. Still, it was the five turnovers that really cost the Ravens last Thursday night, and they can't afford anything close to that again, with the margin for error so slim now.

Kimani Vidal's 59-yard TD run seemed to help wake up the Chargers and vault them to a big second half in the much-needed win over the Raiders. It wasn't a terribly impressive performance, all things considered, and Justin Herbert's fractured left hand provides the latest dose of hold-your-breath drama, although it appears he's going to do everything he can to play in Week 14. Interestingly, the Chargers went 100 percent shotgun even after the injury, with Herbert throwing just 15 times from the second quarter on. He also was sacked three times on 23 dropbacks, meaning the Bolts' most indispensable player suffered additional carnage. The Chargers can still win the AFC West, and they still have a better chance than not of making the playoffs, but Herbert's health remains a stark concern.

Fresh off the most thrilling five-day stretch of the Cowboys' 2025 season -- during which they beat both participants in this past February's Super Bowl -- Dallas is officially in the playoff mix. The 'Boys probably can't lose another game, and they now have to travel to Detroit on a short week, but perhaps they're catching the Lions at the right time. Dak Prescott was dealing on Thanksgiving, and the defense continued its recent ascent, forcing four straight Chiefs punts and getting another big stop early in the fourth quarter. No matter how this ends, both Jerry Jones and Brian Schottenheimer have helped their causes. Even if the Micah Parsons trade remains unpopular, the Quinnen Williams acquisition is looking like a home run, and Dallas has won three straight games since the bye. The NFL is more interesting when the Cowboys are competitive. 

I'm not going to get crazy hyped about the Bucs snapping their three-game losing streak, because it ended in a three-point home win against a three-win club. There were still too many missed connections in the pass game, too many empty drives on offense and too many big plays allowed defensively, especially vs. a tame Cardinals attack. But getting the win helps push Tampa Bay a few inches closer to the playoffs, with the Bucs hanging on to their division lead over the surging Panthers by an eyelash. Baker Mayfield dealt with his shoulder injury and made enough plays, and he should have something close to a full complement of receivers quite soon. It also helps that the Bucs' schedule is quite manageable, though the two Panthers matchups are likely what the division will boil down to. Tampa has gotten hot the past two Decembers; that trend might need to carry to a third year if the Bucs are to finish off the race and clinch a home playoff game.

I'm not sure if there's a stranger team résumé -- or one that is more difficult to interpret -- than that of Carolina. The Panthers could end up as an 11-win team, yet their point differential currently sits at minus-50. And look at the results of their past three home games: a 31-point loss to the Bills, a 10-point loss to the Saints ... and an upset win over the red-hot Rams -- nominally the best team in a completely wide-open field -- with Carolina missing two offensive linemen and three key defenders. Over the past three weeks, Bryce Young went from red hot against the Falcons to ice cold at San Francisco, then back to hot in the win over Los Angeles. Did I mention Sunday's 31-point output was Carolina's highest of the season? I'd ask someone to make it make sense, but we're well past that point. Right now, the Panthers are a total wild card finally taking their bye, but the one thing we can make sense of is that their playoff chances almost wholly depend on how they fare against the Bucs in Weeks 16 and 18. The rest can be figured out by someone smarter than I am.

The road loss to the Cowboys all but made it a must-run-the-table situation for the Chiefs. OK, there might be a one-loss avenue to the playoffs, but let's start with whether this team is capable of ripping off five straight to close out the regular season. The Chiefs won five of six games earlier this year. They had win streaks of nine and six games last season. We know they're capable. Just look at the point differential (plus-73) or their touchdown differential (10 more than their opponents). But will they do it? Close games have not been their friend this season after it was their lifeblood a year ago. Which is why we can't assume they can replicate anything of 2024 magnitude this time around, with three tough games left. I'll never truly bury the Chiefs, and they're better than their record would indicate, but it's going to take a heroic effort from the future Hall of Fame trio to prevent us from not seeing them in the playoffs for the first time.

"Fire Tomlin" chants are hardly novel in Pittsburgh, but Sunday's vitriol felt personal and different. The AFC North crown and a home playoff tilt are there for the taking, and with the Steelers having seen the Ravens lose on Thursday, they proceeded to go limp after taking an early lead and holding the Bills scoreless for the first 29 minutes of the first half. Aaron Rodgers and Mason Rudolph turned the ball over twice in the span of five offensive plays, and the defense was eventually ground into a fine paste. Here's how the Steelers' key second-half possessions ended: fumble, interception, punt, turnover on downs. A win over the Colts and a beatdown of the Bengals bought the Steelers some brief credibility, but they have now lost five out of seven games heading into Sunday's crucial showdown with the rival Ravens. Both teams are limping into it, as are both quarterbacks, with Rodgers flat-lining recently and leaving Sunday's game with a bloodied nose. You can understand the fans' frustration.

There are still a few wacky scenarios in which the Dolphins make the playoffs, though getting to 10-7 -- which they can shockingly do by winning their final five games -- surprisingly wouldn't guarantee a punched postseason ticket. Still, the Dolphins have now won four of their past five contests, and they've done so with a stout ground game and an opportunistic defense. The run-heavy approach is nothing new; that's how they've operated since Tyreek Hill's season-ending injury at the end of September. But the defense coming up with seven turnovers in the past three games, in spite of selling off Jaelan Phillips at the trade deadline, has been an unexpected development. Minkah Fitzpatrick's two-point return and a subsequent fourth-down stop were two other huge plays to close out the Saints. Four of Miami's final five opponents have playoff aspirations, making the Dolphins excellent spoiler candidates at the very least.  

Last week's debate about whether Joe Burrow should come back is dead, thank goodness. Sure, he could suffer another injury this season, but the argument that Burrow can't do enough to help this downtrodden team win took a major blow following the Bengals' thrashing of the Ravens in Baltimore on Thanksgiving night. If they can beat the Bills and Ravens (again) over the next two games, then we can discuss their playoff chances. In the meantime, can we talk about the improvements this much-maligned defense has made over the past couple weeks? Perhaps it won't hold up, but it was impossible not to notice the difference in effort and execution against the Patriots and Ravens. It's also impossible not to wonder what might have been had the Bengals simply beaten the Jets and Bears, or even New England. Then we wouldn't have to wait a few more weeks to speculate on their playoff chances.

Two straight overtime losses won't be salve for a lost season, but it could be an indication that this team will be competitive down the stretch and, with Jayden Daniels expected to return shortly, perhaps capable of winning a few games. No one chooses to play the role of spoiler, but that's exactly what the Commanders can be, finishing the season with two games against the Eagles sandwiched around one versus the Cowboys. That also can serve another purpose heading into the offseason. The Commanders need to know how close they are to competing. With reduced draft capital, they'll be limited in what they can do to upgrade the roster, but if the Commanders show they can compete, it could help shape the offseason plan accordingly. Against Denver, the offensive line did a fairly excellent job, and the receivers made plays, giving the impression that this attack once again can be dangerous in a similar form next season.

Kirk Cousins threw the ball pretty well again. Bijan Robinson had a huge statistical game -- again. Atlanta had a season-low one penalty and controlled the clock. And yet, the Falcons lost -- again -- in disappointing fashion, the details of which were fairly predictable. Playoff chances were pretty much gone before Sunday's loss to the Jets, and they're even more remote now. It's shocking to think how far and fast this thing has fallen apart since the post-bye win over Buffalo, even amid all the injuries. The Falcons have a lot of young players starting, and there will be some early auditioning for 2026 jobs from here on out. The talent is still strong, and the shocking number of critical special-teams mistakes -- including on Sunday -- suggest a turnaround could be possible with a more buttoned-up approach next season. But it also speaks to the lack of discipline Atlanta has shown in 2025, dropping to 1-5 in one-score affairs.

If J.J. McCarthy struggled in his first six games as Minnesota's QB, Max Brosmer really labored in his initial NFL start. A brutal decision on his pick-six started the ball rolling toward a humbling four-INT, four-sack performance. Give Jalen Nailor credit for his hustle play, stripping and recovering the ball on one of those Brosmer picks. And hat tip to Justin Jefferson for not staging a mutiny in what has been the most frustrating season of his career. But even Kevin O'Connell's reputation has taken a hit this season with the team's collective struggles at quarterback, a position he deftly managed a few years back with a game of musical chairs. This has been a maddening season of injury and ineffectiveness all across the offense, and the Vikings are steaming toward a fascinating offseason. What that unit will look like a year from now is anyone's guess.

That's now seven straight losses in one-score games for the Cardinals, who can move the ball but have trouble getting into the end zone. Over its past eight games, Arizona is averaging 370.6 yards -- only six teams have averaged more per game on the whole season -- but just 22.9 points. Two Cardinals turnovers in Tampa territory and a missed field-goal try put the game firmly in the Bucs' hands. The Cards tried to rally but were undone by two fourth-quarter turnovers on downs. I'm not sure what this offense will look like next season, much less who'll be playing quarterback, but no matter what, this franchise might try to find ways to finish off drives and games. Arizona has been outscored by 40 points in the fourth quarter this season.

Hey, the Jets won a game against a team people thought was good at one point. And going back to the London contest in Week 6, this team's effort largely has been a strong suit. The execution tends to waver quite a bit, but the Jets erased a fourth-quarter deficit against Atlanta and engineered (if you can say that) a game-winning drive in the final minute, giving their long-embattled fans something to cheer about. Granted, many of those fans also realize what the win meant: Their chances of earning the No. 1 overall pick just went down. But for a franchise that has been cloaked in hardship for multiple decades now, seeing a strong effort this late in the season also matters. Furthermore, Adonai Mitchell had his best game as a pro after two duds with the Jets. Perhaps he's a nice little sweetener from the deadline deals that landed the Jets a war chest of draft picks.

This likely wasn't the follow-up performance Shedeur Sanders and the Browns were hoping for following his successful first start. That said, there were promising developments, and Sanders was far from poor in windy conditions -- plus, the rest of the offense did him no favors. In the Browns' only possessions of the second half, they punted twice, lost a fumble and turned it over on downs twice, continuing their trend of playing mostly terrific defense and still losing. The 49ers did go 11-for-17 on third downs, but their three TD drives spanned 16, 32 and 18 yards. Not sure how the defense can take any blame for that. Kevin Stefanski is now guaranteed to have a losing record for the fourth time in six seasons; he won Coach of the Year the other two. It's going to be interesting to see how patient this franchise is in the coming offseason. 

The Giants fell behind 17-zip early, then made it interesting for a bit, but they ultimately couldn't make up enough ground in Jaxson Dart's much-awaited return. Dart took a few big shots early and hung in there as best he could, hitting Darius Slayton on a pretty catch-and-run touchdown. But New York's special teams came unglued on Monday night, allowing a 94-yard punt-return TD and then authoring the strangest non-FG attempt of the season. (Seriously, watch for yourself.) Even still, Dart coming back serves as a reminder that this should be a coveted head-coaching job in the offseason. The Giants have a decent wealth of higher-end talent, even if a few positions need overhauls and the overall depth remains lacking.

Head coach Kellen Moore arrived this year with the reputation of being an offensive whiz, and yet the Saints haven't scored more than 19 points since Week 5, and they've only surpassed that mark twice all season. They did nothing offensively in the first half at Miami, with two Tyler Shough turnovers giving the Dolphins good field position. Shough woke up, however, throwing for 196 yards and two scores after halftime. New Orleans also received a 56-yard field goal from Northern Ireland import Charlie Smyth, who had the folks back in Mayobridge all abuzz, and were poised to tie the game with 78 seconds left. But Shough's two-point try was picked and returned for a four-point swing, and then, even after the Saints recovered the onsides kick, Shough was stopped on a fourth-down sneak with a chance to steal one. Credit Shough for battling back, but if he wants to put an early stamp on New Orleans' QB battle next year, he's going to have to start finishing off more of these games.

It was a disappointing game Sunday for, well, all of the Titans, but especially their precocious rookies. Cam Ward took another three sacks and some big hits, and Chimere Dike had a critical fumble that led to a 15-3 Jacksonville lead just over 15 minutes in. That was pretty much the game right there. The Titans' defense wasn't terrible, honestly, but the offense took a step back after a promising outing against Seattle one week prior. That's how things tend to go in 1-11 seasons where the one win came in absurd fashion. The Titans really need a sharp commander in their next head coach, and they have to have a better plan for protecting Ward and unlocking his talents more. His toughness isn't in question -- he keeps peeling himself off the turf, ready for more -- but his effectiveness is.

The Raiders played a spirited first half that included two huge red-zone stops, but the familiar descent began when they missed a few tackles and allowed a 59-yard TD run early in the third quarter. The Chargers scored on four of their five second-half drives, and the Raiders countered with two three-and-outs and two turnovers on downs (along with one TD march). That's how you turn a 7-7 halftime game into a blowout loss. Brock Bowers scored two touchdowns, including a Catch of the Year candidate, and had more than 40 percent of the Raiders' offensive yards. He needs some help, folks. Pete Carroll fired Chip Kelly after the Week 12 loss to Cleveland, but the offensive coordinator might not have been the source of all problems. If things don't sharpen up fast, Carroll might soon run out of assistants to fire. Losing seasons are seldom fun, but this Raiders campaign has also had ample doses of painful and ugly, too.