| Rnk | LW | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Kansas City Chiefs | 11-1 | Run defense continues to look suspect. |
| 2. | 4. | New England Patriots | 10-2 | Just keep winning, although they are a running game away from dominance. Goal line stand in the final minute showed incredible intestinal fortitude. |
| 3. | 5. | Philadelphia Eagles | 9-3 | Remember back when they lost their first two home games and Limbaugh was calling McNabb overrated. That seems like a long time ago. |
| 4. | 2. | Tennessee Titans | 9-3 | Had an opportunity to take the first step toward putting away the Colts on Monday night and came up woefully short. The division title can still be won on the field, but the chance of securing the ever important first round bye seems remote. |
| 5. | 3. | Indianapolis Colts | 9-3 | A championship caliber team would have scored a TD after getting the ball first and goal on the 2 with 59 second remaining down by 4. Got lucky the Titans took the Jets lightly on Monday night. |
| 6. | 6. | St. Louis Rams | 9-3 | A healthy Faulk makes them very dangerous. |
| 7. | 9. | Miami Dolphins | 8-4 | Won in a very difficult situation in Dallas on Thanksgiving after having played the previous Sunday night. Things don't get any easier in New England. |
| 8. | 12. | Seattle Seahawks | 8-4 | Just a completely different team at Seahawks Stadium. Badly need to win a road game this week against the struggling Vikings. |
| 9. | 7. | Dallas Cowboys | 8-4 | Looked like pretenders, not contenders before a national television audience on Thanksgiving. Should still be able to get a wild card with a schedule that gets much softer after this weeks difficult trip to Philadelphia. |
| 10. | 8. | Carolina Panthers | 8-4 | Have lost 2 straight and suddenly see the Saints coming up in the rear view mirror. |
| 11. | 13. | Cincinnati Bengals | 7-5 | Kitna has miraculously stopped making the big mistake at the wrong time. |
| 12. | 14. | Denver Broncos | 7-5 | Don't really have a legitimate shot to win the division, but desperately need a home win over the Chiefs to stay in the wild card race. |
| 13. | 16. | Baltimore Ravens | 7-5 | Get the Bengals at home in a game that will in all likelyhood determine the NFC North. |
| 14. | 10. | Green Bay Packers | 6-6 | Not the first team to be ambushed by the Lions on Thanksgiving. Vikings collapse has kept them in the hunt for a divisional crown. |
| 15. | 11. | Minnesota Vikings | 7-5 | Did not even belong on the same field as the Rams. The NFC North might actually be worse than the AFC North. |
| 16. | 18. | New Orleans Saints | 6-6 | Still hanging by a thread. Need to reverse trend under Haslett of falling apart in December and win 4 straight to get a wild card. |
| 17. | 19. | New York Jets | 5-7 | Vastly improved with Pennington at the helm. |
| 18. | 15. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 5-7 | Getting rid of Keyshawn was apparently not the solution to all of Gruden's problems. |
| 19. | 17. | San Fransisco 49ers | 5-7 | Embarrassed in Baltimore. Will be home at the start of January because of a complete inability to win on the road. |
| 20. | 21. | Houston Texans | 5-7 | A franchise LT and stud defensive playmaker away from serious contention. Not bad for a team in only their second year of existence. |
| 21. | 24. | Buffalo Bills | 5-7 | Should feel a bit better about themselves despite a season filled with disappointment after spanking the Giants at the Meadowlands. |
| 22. | 25. | Chicago Bears | 5-7 | Suddenly in the race behind the stumbling Vikings and Packers. |
| 23. | 27. | Detriot Lions | 4-8 | The Lions and Turkey.... Perfect together. |
| 24. | 20. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 4-8 | Cowher insists that his only goal is to win games despite being mathematically alive by only the slightest margin. The refusal to use the remainder of the season to evaluate the youngsters is a galling yet not unexpected development. The really sad thing is that the poor play of some of the veterans makes it hard to envision the youngsters doing worse. |
| 25. | 22. | Cleveland Browns | 4-8 | Turn out the lights, the parties over. |
| 26. | 23. | New York Giants | 4-8 | Stick a fork in Fassel, he's done. |
| 27. | 26. | Washington Redskins | 4-8 | Have lost 3 straight by 8 points combined. |
| 28. | 30. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 3-9 | Del Rio clearly made the right decision keeping Leftwich as his starter over Garrard. Leftwich responded to the show of faith by playing error free football. |
| 29. | 28. | Oakland Raiders | 3-9 | Callahan was probably right when he called his players stupid. It just shouldn't have been articulated through the media. |
| 30. | 29. | Atlanta Falcons | 2-10 | Belated return of Vick at least should make them interesting to watch down the stretch. |
| 31. | 31. | Arizona Cardinals | 3-9 | Made Kordell look like the second coming of Montana. |
| 32. | 32. | San Diego Chargers | 2-10 | Gotta feel bad for Tomlinson. |