Although Week 18 in the NFL — as of publishing this on Wednesday morning — will go on as scheduled (per the league), there’s absolutely zero doubt that everyone involved, from players to coaches to fans and beyond, will be thinking of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
There’s no easy way to transition into looking at the power rankings ahead of the final week of the 2022 regular season, but know that we’re not callously forgetting that while concentrating, for the moment, on a game.
With 11 of the 14 postseason spots claimed, that leaves three bids for seven remaining teams. Home-field advantage and a Wild Card bye also remains unresolved in each conference, leaving contenders few guaranteed opportunities to rest starters and begin looking ahead.
Across 16 games, the league has separated itself into “haves,” “have-nots,” and a creamy middle of teams capable of looking like world beaters one week and crashing into the earth’s surface like a Dwayne Johnson-anchored superhero movie the next. That, in turn, has led us to our latest vain attempt to rank these franchises 1-32 based on what we’ve seen on the field.
As a programming note, the holidays kept us from publishing the week after Christmas, so “Last Week’s Rank” is really from Week 15. Here’s how every team stands following Week 17.