| Rnk | LW | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Kansas City Chiefs | 9-0 | Any chance that the Chiefs will take the Bengals for granted seems to have been put to rest by all the hype suddenly surrounding the game. |
| 2. | 3. | Tennessee Titans | 7-2 | Might be playing better football than even the Chiefs at this point. |
| 3. | 2. | Indianapolis Colts | 7-2 | Could not afford the loss in Jacksonville. Either the Colts or Titans will enter the playoffs as a wild card and number five seed. Winning three road playoff games will be next to impossible. The injury to Harrison doesn't make things any easier. |
| 4. | 4. | New England Patriots | 7-2 | The week of rest could not have come at a better time. The upcoming Sunday night matchup between Belicheck and Parcells should be very interesting. |
| 5. | 6. | Carolina Panthers | 6-3 | Delhomme proved he could win a tough game through the air. Will be hard to catch after opening up a three game lead in the NFC South. |
| 6. | 8. | Dallas Cowboys | 7-2 | I will be the first to admit that I am still not a believer in the Cowboys. That said, even with the tough part of the schedule coming up it is hard to believe a Parcells coached team will totally collapse. So I guess it is time to get used to the idea of the Cowboys making the playoffs. |
| 7. | 9. | Philadelphia Eagles | 6-3 | Quietly fought their way back into the thick of the race for a first round playoff bye. |
| 8. | 10. | St. Louis Rams | 6-3 | Showed they could win with defense. A good sign. |
| 9. | 5. | Seattle Seahawks | 6-3 | Just not the same team when playing away from home. |
| 10. | 7. | Minnesota Vikings | 6-3 | Still have a two game lead in the second worst division in football despite losing their third straight. Should be able to turn things around in Oakland, but then again they really should have been able to end the losing streak last week in San Diego. |
| 11. | 18. | Denver Broncos | 5-4 | There is a huge dropoff after the top 10. I had a tough time trying to find teams to slot at 11 and 12. Almost by default the Broncos and Niners move up 7 spots each while on a bye. Mired in a 3 game losing streak the Broncos should be primed for a rebound with Plummer expected to return. Having the Chargers come to town shouldn't hurt. |
| 12. | 19. | San Fransisco 49ers | 4-5 | Not the best away from home, but tough to beat at the stadium formerly known as Candelstick Park. Garcia will miss his second straight game due to injury. Should be interesting to see if Rattay can string together two solid performances. |
| 13. | 11. | Miami Dolphins | 5-4 | Did not even belong on the same field as the Titans last week. Griese does not appear to be the answer at QB. The real problem seems to be the offensive line. And the coaching. Things could get really ugly with a loss this week at home to the QB-less Ravens. |
| 14. | 12. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 4-5 | Shouldn't their be some sort of penalty when a player guarantees a win and then his team fails to deliver? Maybe Rice should be forced to forfeit a weeks pay. He certainly didn't earn it. |
| 15. | 13. | Green Bay Packers | 4-5 | Suffered a brutal fourth quarter loss at home in the cold and rain. Still have a chance because of the recent slump by the Vikings. Need to recover quickly from Monday night for their trip to Tampa to determine which Bay can start preparing early for the offseason. |
| 16. | 14. | Baltimore Ravens | 5-4 | Held the Rams to 121 net yards offense and managed to lose anyway. The news gets worse. Boller tore a quad muscle and could be lost for the rest of the season. Boller seemed to be coming on after suffering through the growing pains that seem to affect all rookie QBs. Redman is so bad that Wright will start in his place. |
| 17. | 17. | New Orleans Saints | 4-5 | The lack of any decent middle of the pack teams in the NFC makes the Saints an unlikely contender for a wild card. For that to happen and Haslett to keep his job their recent trend of quiting down the stretch needs to be reversed. |
| 18. | 20. | Cincinnati Bengals | 4-5 | Would have been better served by C. Johnson keeping his mouth shut. |
| 19. | 15. | New York Giants | 4-5 | Turned the ball over 4 times to inexplicably lose at home to the Falcons. Fassel has been able to rally his troops before in desperate situations, but the magic seems to be gone. |
| 20. | 16. | Buffalo Bills | 4-5 | Bledsoe is simply unable to handle pressure. Sort of an expensive version of Maddox. |
| 21. | 25. | New York Jets | 3-6 | Hard to get excited about a win in Oakland over the free falling Raiders. |
| 22. | 26. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 3-6 | Winning at home against the road challenged Cardinals was not really all that impressive. However, it was a first step. The Steelers are still in the hunt because of their division. The Ravens situation at QB is a shambles. The Browns are disintegrating. The Bengals look like a solid contender in the future. Whether the future is now is a big question. Before I get too excited though I would really like to see the Steelers win a tough game. A road win on Monday night in San Fransisco would suffice. |
| 23. | 27. | Washington Redskins | 4-5 | Spurrier gave the playcalling duties to OC Jackson and the 'Skins upset the Seahawks. An interesting development. |
| 24. | 21. | Cleveland Browns | 3-6 | What a mess. Release of KJ leaves a receiver corps that is long on physical skill yet short on production. Green's drug related 4 game suspension certainly doesn't help. |
| 25. | 22. | Houston Texans | 3-6 | Capers refuses to ever let them quit, but the defense needs alot of work. |
| 26. | 28. | Detriot Lions | 3-6 | Just two short weeks ago this looked like the worst team in football. Visits from the Raiders and Bears can go a long way toward making any team feel better about itself. |
| 27. | 23. | Chicago Bears | 3-6 | Loss in Detriot probably sounds the death knell for the Jauron regime. |
| 28. | 24. | Arizona Cardinals | 3-6 | Boldin is further proof that football skills are more important than measurables. |
| 29. | 30. | Atlanta Falcons | 2-7 | Reeves finally got his 200th win in his 8th try. |
| 30. | 31. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 2-7 | KJ is a nice addition off waivers from the Browns to the developing collection of offensvie skill position talent. |
| 31. | 32. | San Diego Chargers | 2-7 | Flutie injected life into what had been a moribund passing attack. |
| 32. | 29. | Oakland Raiders | 2-7 | The collapse is total and complete. |