| Rnk | LW* | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Denver Broncos | 13-3 | A road team winning in Mile High in January will not be easy. |
| 2. | 4. | New England Patriots | 12-4 | Brady and Manning, just like old times. |
| 3. | 7. | San Francisco 49ers | 11-4-1 | Harbaugh remains all in with Kaepernick. |
| 4. | 3. | Atlanta Falcons | 13-3 | Getting no respect, nor should they really based on past playoff failures. |
| 5. | 5. | Seattle Seahawks | 11-5 | Can rookie Wilson continue to play at a high level in the playoffs on the road? |
| 6. | 2. | Green Bay Packers | 11-5 | Face off against the Vikings for the third time in 6 weeks. |
| 7. | 9. | Indianapolis Colts | 11-5 | Is a playoff letdown possible after unlikely, emotional regular season run. |
| 8. | 6. | Houston Texans | 12-4 | Lost 3 of their last 4 to blow the bye. |
| 9. | 8. | Baltimore Ravens | 10-6 | Need Flacco to put up or shut up. |
| 10. | 10. | Washington Redskins | 10-6 | Worst to first. |
| 11. | 11. | Cincinnati Bengals | 10-6 | Pass rush makes them dangerous. |
| 12. | 12. | Minnesota Vikings | 10-6 | Purple Jesus finished 9 yards short of Dickerson's all-time single season rushing record. |
| 13. | 13. | Chicago Bears | 10-6 | Starting 7-1 and missing the playoffs cost Lovie his job after 9 seasons. |
| 14. | 16. | New York Giants | 9-7 | Couldn't overcome Super Bowl hangover. |
| 15. | 21. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 8-8 | No offense counts on one player more than they do on Roethlisberger, not even the Vikings with Purple Jesus. |
| 16. | 18. | Carolina Panthers | 7-9 | Newton showed he could handle adversity and rebound. |
| 17. | 20. | San Diego Chargers | 7-9 | Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free [from AJ and Norv] at last!" |
| 18. | 14. | New Orleans Saints | 7-9 | Can finally put bounty-gate in the rear view mirror with Payton officially signing an extension. |
| 19. | 15. | Dallas Cowboys | 8-8 | Romo failed again when it mattered most, not a shock. |
| 20. | 22. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 7-9 | Schiano experiment has to be considered a short term success. |
| 21. | 17. | Miami Dolphins | 7-9 | Have the cap room to add much needed offensive skill position players. |
| 22. | 19. | St. Louis Rams | 7-8-1 | Need to turn the draft picks they got for RGIII into young talent. |
| 23. | 23. | Tennessee Titans | 6-10 | Munchak is the early favorite to be the first coach fired next season (because I can't envision Mullarkey surviving the hiring of a new GM). |
| 24. | 28. | Buffalo Bills | 6-10 | Favorite for coaching job appears to be Whisenhunt. |
| 25. | 24. | New York Jets | 6-10 | Need to find a GM willing to work with Ryan. |
| 26. | 25. | Arizona Cardinals | 5-11 | Inability of Graves to find Whisenhunt a QB cost them both. Reid expected to be up next which could help Kolb. |
| 27. | 26. | Cleveland Browns | 5-11 | Can they talk Saban into leaving college? Will they settle for McDaniels if not? |
| 28. | 27. | Detriot Lions | 4-12 | Schwartz survived in part because Ford didn't want to buy out the final 3 years of his contract. |
| 29. | 29. | Philadelphia Eagles | 4-12 | Flirting with Kelly. Will his system work in the pros? |
| 30. | 30. | Oakland Raiders | 4-12 | Allen will be on a short leash in his second season. |
| 31. | 31. | Kansas City Chiefs | 2-14 | Decision to retain interim coach Crennel heading into this season doomed them from the start. Will they make the same mistake with Pioli or will a strong coaching hire be allowed to make front office changes? |
| 32. | 32. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 2-14 | Lost only 4 games as an expansion team, previously the worst season in franchise history. |
*Last week's ranking