Week 14 NFL Power Rankings

The Eagles move up into the top-3, while the Chargers fall, despite winning last week

For more info you can find the archive of previous Power Rankings posts, including the initial offseason rankings that detail much of the methodology of coming up with the Week 1 rankings, which only carry roughly 2% weight at this point in the season.

TEAM OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE STRENGTH

*Downloadable power ratings/rankings available in the paid subscriber Google sheet.

I revamped this plot below to only factor in 2024 numbers. It’s a clearer delineation of how teams have performed so far this year, knowing that I also add in some 2023 priors and injury adjustments, primarily at quarterback.

The Detroit Lions have still been the best team in the NFL this season, with the Buffalo Bills gaining this week, along with the Philadelphia Eagles. I was ahead of the curve on the Eagles for several weeks, but perhaps a little behind the curve on them in last week’s power rankings. You’ll see below that they made a further move up after beating the Baltimore Ravens in Week 13.

Other teams in the higher reaches of performance this year are the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. The Packers have the better offense, which plays into how we project going forward and their relative rankings.

The Kansas City Chiefs have fallen into the second tier in terms of 2024 performance, though they still get a slight bump up versus the competition based on their quarterback (Patrick Mahomes is still head-and-shoulders above the rest of the NFL in my Bayesian projections).

UNEXPECTED POINTS POWER RANKINGS