NFL Week 13 power rankings: Ravens, Broncos, Seahawks rise as 49ers, Commanders, Texans drop

The Jacksonville Jaguars demonstrated they are the worst team in the NFL during the Week 12 bye. Not firing head coach Doug Pederson is inexcusable. You saw how this Jaguars locker room felt about Pederson when reports emerged he’d be fired after Week 11 if the team lost and then Jacksonville lost 52-6. We thought Pederson and Trent Baalke were the Jaguars’ biggest problems. In reality, it’s owner Shahid Khan and his interest in running a serious operation.

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The New York Giants are tanking, it’s that simple. It’s just a shame that the current situation leaves rookies Tyrone Tracy Jr (4.7 yards per carry) and Malik Nabers (6 receptions for 64 yards) underutilized and stuck in a losing culture. There were plenty of NFL rumors coming into the week about Brian Daboll‘s job security. Another blowout loss certainly pushes him closer to getting axed, but we know the Giants organization won’t make that call until after Week 18.

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Well, at least the Las Vegas Raiders showed a little fight against a division rival. It doesn’t change the fact that this organization set itself up to fail, creating a deeply-flawed roster with glaring holes at critical positions and a Raiders coaching staff that was in over its head. Las Vegas needs a complete restart and yes, that means firing both coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco.

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Drake Maye is still delivering all the flashes of a franchise-caliber quarterback. Unfortunately, the supporting cast the New England Patriots put around him is a recipe for multiple disaster games. That’s what happened on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. It’s going to be a long few weeks until the season ends, but Maye’s emergence is all that matters heading into an offseason where New England will have all the cap space it needs to start building a strong cast around the quarterback.

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The Carolina Panthers are starting to look like a team that will be playing the role of spoiler for the rest of the season. It took a game-winning field goal as time expired for the Kansas City Chiefs to escape with a victory in Week 12. From a long-term perspective, the Panthers’ draft position improved with the loss and Bryce Young (263 yards, 7.5 ypa, 92.9 QB rating) is really beginning to look like a starting-caliber quarterback, at least for 2025.

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Sunday’s stunning win over the Houston Texans rests on the shoulders of Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon. Tony Pollard (129 scrimmage yards, 1 TD) is thriving in this offense and Calvin Ridley (5 catches for 93 yards) came through with a big game as well. We must also credit his feisty Titans defense, which keeps proving why it’s underrated nationally. There’s also a small tip of the cap to Will Levis, who overcame his baffling pick-six to lead the Titans to victory.

Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas are gone. The head coach who served as the architect for one of the league’s best defenses and was then fired, leading to a massive drop off, and the general manager who drafted Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner, Braelon Allen, Breece Hall, Will McDonald and landed both Quincy Williams, C.J. Mosley and D.J. Reed have left the organization. Aaron Rodgers, based on a variety of NFL rumors, won’t be back in 2025. The Jets have Woody Johnson left standing and that’s an awful place for a franchise to be.

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Credit where it’s due, everyone expected the Dallas Cowboys to get their doors blown off against Washington with so many starters missing. Instead, Cooper Rush (247 yards, 2-0 TD-INT, 117.6 QB rating) played like Dak Prescott and two kickoff-return touchdowns (KaVontae Turpin and Juanyeh Thomas) made the game-changing plays in this NFC East duel. The win doesn’t change the rest-of-season outlook for the Cowboys and Mike McCarthy will still be let go in January, but this does turn down the pressure for a week in Dallas.

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Facing one of the league’s top defenses, quarterback Anthony Richardson showed more than enough flashes to remain very hopeful long-term. Now, the Indianapolis Colts certainly need to work with him on not lowering his head before running through defenders and there’s room for improvement with his decision-making of when to throw the ball away. Still, the last two weeks have to leave the Colts coaching staff and fan base feeling a lot better about Richardson and that’s what matters for the rest of the season.

The little things are once again costing the Chicago Bears. In Week 12, it was another blocked field goal and a dumbfounding mistake on a punt return that gift-wrapped 10 points for the Minnesota Vikings. Remarkably, with less than 2 minutes left, Caleb Williams played like the No. 1 overall pick with 11 unanswered points in 116 seconds. The problem is this Bears coaching staff, but Chicago won’t fix that until the offseason.

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The Cleveland Browns pulled off the shocker in Week 12, defeating a Pittsburgh Steelers team that was riding high on a five-game win streak. Moving to 3-8 doesn’t push the Browns into the NFL playoff picture right now by any means, but it’s always nice to beat a rival and see Nick Chubb lead the way. It’s still going to be a very long offseason for Cleveland as this Browns roster needs an overhaul.

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The New Orleans Saints schedule out of the Week 12 bye isn’t particularly friendly. Matchups against the Raiders and Giants are winnable, but New Orleans seems destined to lose to the Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, Washington Commanders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If that comes to fruition, this is an 11-loss team with an awful salary-cap situation and no clear long-term plan at quarterback. It’s tough to be optimistic.

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The true shame in the 2024 season for the Cincinnati Bengals is it feels like things could get worse next season. Tee Higgins won’t be back and there are enough NFL rumors circulating to at least suggest Trey Hendrickson could be moved. It’s one thing to lose Joe Burrow’s 1B receiver, but the potential departure of the lone game-changing player on this Bengals defense would be devastating long term. If those departures are going to happen, Cincinnati might as well find an upgrade at head coach because Zac Taylor has long since proven he’s not the one making this offense function.

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Just too many injuries to overcome. The San Francisco 49ers have a top-heavy roster, making them entirely reliant on their All-Pro talent to carry this roster. Unfortunately for Kyle Shanahan, there’s just no way for this team to win against even league-average teams when Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk, Trent Williams, Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw and Nick Bosa are all out. This has been a disastrous season and what makes it worse is some of the veterans are now on the wrong side of 30.

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The Los Angeles Rams simply lost to a much better team on Monday Night Football, that was expected. Instead, the issue for Los Angeles is that losses to Miami and Chicago earlier in the season put this team in a position where it’s in must-win territory. The upcoming Rams schedule includes matchups against the Bills, Cardinals and Seahawks, putting the Rams in very real danger of missing the playoffs and finishing with a losing record.

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The final score from Week 12 doesn’t even tell the full story of how easily the Miami Dolphins dominated the Patriots. Defensively, Miami feasted on the Patriots’ offensive line (4 sacks, 5 TFLs and 8 QB hits) with the dominance up front also creating 2 takeaways. On offense, Tua Tagovailoa just peppered Jaylen Waddle, De’Von Achane and Jonnu Smith with targets in a cruise-control win. From 2-6 to 5-6, the Dolphins schedule provided a path to playoff contention and this team is taking full advantage of it.

Further drops in the NFL power rankings feel like destiny for the Atlanta Falcons. The same team that barely defeated the Dallas Cowboys and then lost to the Saints and Denver Broncos is in for a gauntlet of tests. The upcoming Falcons schedule – vs Chargers and at Vikings – probably will add two more losses onto Atlanta’s record. Another might come against Washington (Dec. 29). If the Falcons lose all three games, there’s a very real chance this team will miss the playoffs completely.

It’s time to sound the alarm bells with the Houston Texans. The blame certainly starts up front with an offensive line that allowed 9 tackles for loss, 6 QB hits, 4 sacks and allowed just 1.6 yards per carry to Joe Mixon. There’s also the undeniable second-year woes from C.J. Stroud (2 interceptions), who was outplayed by Will Levis. Now, Houston has a new problem. The Texans’ defense allowed 369 total yards to Tennessee and it could’ve been worse if Levis didn’t gift them a pick-six.

That’ll pump the brakes on the Arizoan Cardinals’ hype train. Lost in the four-game winning streak was the fact that this same team also lost to the Commanders, Bills and Packers by 14-plus points. That shouldn’t takeaway from the second-year leap this team has taken under Jonathan Gannon especially defensively. We still view the Cardinals as a Wild Card contender, but the upcoming schedule (at Vikings and vs Seahawks) could change that in a hurry.

It’s beginning to seem like the Washington Commanders will fall victim to the Kliff Kingsbury effect. In the first half of the season, this looked like one of the best NFL teams this year. Then the second half of the schedule came and, as Kingsbury’s offenses have done throughout history, the second-half collapse is a sight to behold. Based on the team’s performances during this three-game winning streak, there’s a legitimate chance Washington loses to Tennessee in Week 13 and then heads into its bye with a 7-6 record after entering the second week of November at 7-2.

Just a cakewalk for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Far more important than the blowout victory is the return of Mike Evans, who proved his impact on this offense instantly upon his Week 12 return. Tampa Bay moves to 5-6 and the upcoming Buccaneers schedule (at Panthers, vs Raiders, at Cowboys, vs Panthers) gives this team a legitimate chance to steal the NFC South from the Falcons.

Mike Macdonald’s defense is starting to put it together and that could make the Seattle Seahawks a treat to watch down the stretch. Seattle’s defense took complete control of this game, saving an offense that is still being brought down by its offensive line. We’re never going to view Seattle as one of the upper-echelon teams in the NFC because of this offensive line, but the Seahawks can absolutely win the NFC West.

The Denver Broncos won’t be awarded any style points for their Week 12 victory, but winning fancy isn’t necessary for Sean Payton. Bo Nix is making a push for Offensive Rookie of the Year and this Broncos defense is still one of the best units in the AFC. No one could’ve predicted a 7-5 record coming, but Denver is firmly in the mix as a playoff contender even if the end result is a first-round exit. One thing is clear, we were very wrong about Nix and Payton deserves endless credit for nailing the evaluation.

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The Los Angeles Chargers are a very good team, just not good enough yet to be in the upper-echelon of playoff contenders. It starts with the offensive weapons, as drops continue to plague this receiving corps and show outside of Ladd McConkey that Justin Herbert doesn’t have true reliable weapons. With that said, the Chargers are far ahead of where everyone expected them to be in 2024 and it’s pretty safe to bet this will be one of the best NFL teams for years to come.

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The Green Bay Packers delivered the win at home against a short-handed 49ers’ team in Week 12 and the margin of victory would’ve been even bigger if not for a Christian Watson touchdown drop. Green Bay has solidified its standing in the NFC but if it’s going to overtake the likes of the Minnesota Vikings, Jordan Love and Co. need to show up on a short week against a scorching hot Dolphins team. Considering the Packers’ advantages, beating Miami on Thanksgiving night is very doable.

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The Minnesota Vikings were essentially gifted 10 points from the Chicago Bears and that was the difference in the closing 2 minutes as Minnesota led 27-16. Then, the Vikings did an impression of the Metrodome roof with a catastrophic collapse that allowed the Bears to take this to overtime. We had positive takeaways from the Vikings before the collapse – Aaron Jones’ first 100-yard game since Week 3 – but the implosion once again re-ignites concerns about just how capable this team is of making a playoff run.

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Despite what George Pickens said, snow isn’t to blame for that Thursday Night Football loss, there’s no excuse for dropping that game. It’s a brutal loss for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as it puts them two-plus games back of the No. 1 seed in the AFC and the AFC North race is now open again. It’s also a reminder that for as great as this defense is, there isn’t enough offensive firepower to win multiple playoff games in January.

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We might’ve reached a turning point in the Kansas City Chiefs’ season. For almost the first two months, the Chiefs defense did the heavy lifting to lead this team to an undefeated record. Since the injury to cornerback Jaylen Watson, however, this pass defense has imploded. The one bright side for Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes and this Chiefs offense are finally starting to turn things around and Isiah Pacheco could be close to a return.

The numbers put up against the Baltimore Ravens defense certainly could’ve been worse if not for drops by the Chargers’ receivers. With that said, Baltimore still looks better defensively over the last two weeks and that can be a game-changer moving forward. Even a league-average Ravens defense would take pressure off Lamar Jackson, who is still playing at an MVP-caliber level. Baltimore will seemingly always have trouble with the Steelers, but it matches up well against the rest of the AFC.

The Buffalo Bills are the best team in the AFC. What should be even more concerning for clubs like the Ravens and Chiefs is that we’re likely just weeks away from Spencer Brown, Keon Coleman, Dalton Kincaid and Matt Milano all returning to the lineup. Buffalo’s passing offense and defense make it a better team than the Ravens and it beat the Chiefs head-to-head. Outside of the Detroit Lions game (Dec. 15), we think there’s a real chance Buffalo wins out to finish 14-3, earning the No. 1 seed.

Thorough domination by the Philadelphia Eagles. Credit for the one-year turnaround starts with Howie Roseman and the work he did this offseason. Philadelphia hired Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator, added Saquon Barkley and Zach Baun all while drafting Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. Everything has worked out perfectly for Philadelphia. Even more remarkable, this win came without DeVonta Smith. The Eagles are unmistakably the second-best team in the NFL right now.

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The Detroit Lions walked out of Indianapolis with another decisive win, but it might’ve come at a cost. David Montgomery left the game with a shoulder injury and offensive tackle Taylor Decker also got banged up. These are injuries to monitor on a short week, with Detroit playing on Thanksgiving, but there are no real long-term concerns as of now. As long as that holds, the Lions are the best team in the NFL.