Week 16 of the 2021 NFL season is complete, bringing us closer to the end of the regular season and start of the playoffs. Of course, this year is the first season with a Week 18, meaning we still have two weekends to figure out the playoff picture and get teams locked into the postseason tournament.
The extra week of football means a lot still has to be decided in both the AFC playoff picture and over on the NFC side. Teams that were dominating early in the year have fallen off, while teams with poor starts to the year have suddenly climbed into playoff contention. On the AFC side, the Kansas City Chiefs are in the top spot, while the Tennessee Titans are second, the Cincinnati Bengals are third, and the Buffalo Bills are in the fourth spot. The three Wildcard teams right now are the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots, and the Miami Dolphins.
The Chiefs are the only AFC team with a clinched playoff berth, having claimed the AFC West division title.
On the other side of the bracket, the NFC playoff picture has the Green Bay Packers on top, the Dallas Cowboys in the second position, followed by the Los Angeles Rams, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The three Wildcard spots are currently held by the Arizona Cardinals, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
In the NFC, the Packers, Cowboys, and Buccaneers have all clinched their respective divisions, while the Rams have clinched a playoff berth.
Normally, our power rankings are a combined effort between Kevin Nogle and Josh Houtz. They alternate picks in a draft style as they answer “Who can win the Super Bowl?” This week, however, the power rankings and Phinsider Radio conflicted, so Houtz was not able to join the draft this week. That left Nogle to do his first solo rankings of the year – or as Houtz would say, he was Hans Solo this week.
- Green Bay Packers (Last week: 1)
- Kansas City Chiefs (2)
- Dallas Cowboys (5)
- Los Angeles Rams (4)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3)
- Buffalo Bills (10)
- Indianapolis Colts (9)
- Cincinnati Bengals (13)
- Tennessee Titans (8)
- New England Patriots (7)
- Miami Dolphins (12)
- San Francisco 49ers (14)
- Arizona Cardinals (6)
- Los Angeles Chargers (11)
- Cleveland Browns (18)
- Philadelphia Eagles (16)
- Las Vegas Raiders (22)
- Minnesota Vikings (21)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (19)
- Baltimore Ravens (15)
- Atlanta Falcons (25)
- Denver Broncos (20)
- New Orleans Saints (17)
- Chicago Bears (27)
- Seattle Seahawks (24)
- Houston Texans (30)
- Washington Football Team (23)
- Detroit Lions (28)
- Carolina Panthers (26)
- New York Jets (29)
- New York Giants (31)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (32)