| Rnk | LW | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 8-1 | Avoided a letdown in Cleveland thanks in part to the pregame hijinx of Gerald Warren and William Green. Surprisingly solid depth has proven to be a key. Backups like Jerome Bettis, Keydrick Vincent, Chris Hoke, Larry Foote, James Harrison and even Willie Williams have performed beyond expectations. |
| 2. | 2. | New England Patriots | 8-1 | Made Drew Bledsoe and the Bills look foolish on Sunday night. |
| 3. | 3. | Philadelphia Eagles | 8-1 | Rebounded nicely against the Cowboys on Monday night. After watching both the Patriots and Eagles dismantle their opponents in prime time this week the Steelers back-to-back wins over them seem even more impressive. |
| 4. | 4. | Indianapolis Colts | 6-3 | Peyton Manning is on pace to obliterate Dan Marino's record for touchdown passes in a season. The real key though remains the defense. |
| 5. | 5. | Atlanta Falcons | 7-2 | Still don't get alot of respect, but barring a complete collapse they should easily win their division and secure a first round playoff bye. |
| 6. | 6. | San Diego Chargers | 6-3 | Won their last 2 games by a combined score of 85-31. |
| 7. | 7. | Denver Broncos | 6-3 | Can not afford a letdown in New Orleans coming off the bye against an unpredictable team that seems to play better against tougher competition. |
| 8. | 9. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 6-3 | Surrendered a 14 point 4th quarter lead on special teams before being saved by the overtime heroics of David Garrard. Can't they ever just coast to a victory? |
| 9. | 11. | Baltimore Ravens | 6-3 | Kordell Stewart averaged 35.4 yards on 5 punts after being pressed into service due to an injury to Dave Zastudil. His 42 yard punt in overtime pinned the Jets at their own 5 and helped set up the winning score. Kordell obviously missed his calling. |
| 10. | 14. | Green Bay Packers | 5-4 | Won 4 straight since Mike Sherman took over the playcalling. |
| 11. | 16. | St. Louis Rams | 5-4 | Sweep of the season series with the Seahawks gives them a leg up in the NFC West. |
| 12. | 8. | New York Jets | 6-3 | Questionable playcalling by Paul Hackett and abysmal clock management by Herm Edwards cost them dearly against the Ravens. The playoffs could be slipping away with a tough stretch of the schedule coming up and Chad Pennington expected to miss at least 3 more weeks. |
| 13. | 10. | Minnesota Vikings | 5-4 | Deja vu all over again.... After a hot start the 3 game lead they held over the Packers just 3 short weeks ago has already evaporated. |
| 14. | 12. | Seattle Seahawks | 5-4 | Remaining schedule is incredibly easy which should make them a lock for a playoff spot in the weak NFC even though they have been performing way below expectations. |
| 15. | 22. | Chicago Bears | 4-5 | All Craig Krenzel does is win. It was true at Ohio State. So far it has been true in Chicago despite an astonishingly bad quarterback rating of 48.4. Things could get more difficult in the coming weeks for Krenzel and his teamates with Brian Urlacher forced to miss the next 4 to 6 games due to a calf injury. |
| 16. | 13. | New York Giants | 5-4 | The Eli Manning era begins this coming Sunday after 2 straight ugly losses. |
| 17. | 25. | Cincinnati Bengals | 4-5 | Seem to be rallying after a slow start much like last season. |
| 18. | 27. | New Orleans Saints | 4-5 | Inconsistency has been a hallmark of Jim Haslett's tenure as head coach. |
| 19. | 28. | Arizona Cardinals | 4-5 | Emmitt Smith is on pace to rush for over 1100 yard. Yes, you read that correctly. |
| 20. | 15. | Houston Texans | 4-5 | They faced a tough test coming off the bye with games against the Broncos, Colts and Packers. So far things have gone about as poorly as possible. |
| 21. | 17. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3-6 | Just couldn't get over the hump in Atlanta despite solid play from Brian Griese, Michael Pittman and Michael Clayton. On the bright side everybody in the NFC with more than 2 wins is still in the hunt for a wildcard. |
| 22. | 18. | Kansas City Chiefs | 3-6 | The aggressive scheme of new coordinator Gunther Cunningham has not made the defense any better. As the saying goes, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit. |
| 23. | 19. | Tennessee Titans | 3-6 | Have dug themselves an almost insurmountable hole. Winning out may not even be enough to make the playoffs in the ultra-competative AFC. |
| 24. | 20. | Detriot Lions | 4-5 | Edddie Drummond returned 2 punts for touchdowns in the 4th quarter to tie the score at 17 in regulation. Unfortunately the Jaguars did not have to punt in overtime. |
| 25. | 21. | Buffalo Bills | 3-6 | A quarterback can not play worse than Drew Bledsoe played on Sunday night. |
| 26. | 23. | Washington Redskins | 3-6 | Next 4 games are against the Eagles, Steelers, Giants and then Eagles again. Ouch. |
| 27. | 24. | Cleveland Browns | 3-6 | Butch Davis is in over his head. Both on the field and in the front office. |
| 28. | 26. | Dallas Cowboys | 3-6 | Bill Parcells has made this team older and slower with poor drafts and questionable free agent signings. Should be interesting to see whether he can get himself out of the mess that he created. |
| 29. | 29. | Oakland Raiders | 3-6 | Managed only 7 wins in the 25 games since they lost the Super Bowl to Tampa Bay. |
| 30. | 30. | Carolina Panthers | 2-7 | Jake Delhomme came alive in the second half to lead his team to a much needed victory in San Fransisco. Of course in keeping with the Panthers bad luck with injuries this season he broke the tip of his right thumb in the fourth quarter and is now listed as questionable. |
| 31. | 31. | San Fransisco 49ers | 1-8 | Blew a 17 point lead and gave up 34 second half points to the formerly toothless Pathers in large part due to 4 interceptions by Tim Rattay. |
| 32. | 32. | Miami Dolphins | 1-8 | Just biding their time until the draft in April. |