| Rnk | LW | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Indianapolis Colts | 13-2 | Things have gone south in a hurry. Both on the field and off the field. Home field throughout the playoffs has been clinched. Playing the starters at least a half against the Cardinals just to get back in synch might not be a bad idea. |
| 2. | 2. | Seattle Seahawks | 13-2 | Alexander tied Holmes for the single season touchdown record at 27. Expect him to be given a chance to break the record. Especially after Holmgren failed to give him an opportunity in last season's finale to pass Martin for the rushing title. |
| 3. | 3. | Denver Broncos | 12-3 | Clinched the second seed and a bye. |
| 4. | 6. | New England Patriots | 9-5 | Peaking at the right time. |
| 5. | 7. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 11-4 | Garrard has kept them afloat. |
| 6. | 4. | Cincinnati Bengals | 11-4 | Paid for not taking the Bills seriously. |
| 7. | 9. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 10-5 | Have won the last 3 by a combined score of 80 to 12. Roethlisberger again looks comfortable despite the thumb injury. Parker and Bettis have dominated on the ground. Kudos to Parker for topping the 1000 yard mark on the season. Most importantly the defense has really turned it up a notch. They have not given up a touchdown in 8 quarters. The defensive front 7, especially the linebackers, are again playing at the high level that everyone expected at the begining of the season. And best of all the loss by the Chargers in Arrowhead Stadium means they now control their own playoff destiny with the Lions coming to town. |
| 8. | 10. | Chicago Bears | 11-4 | Could make some noise in the playoffs with Grossman at the helm. |
| 9. | 5. | New York Giants | 10-5 | Decision to throw 41 passes and hand the ball to Barber only 16 time was curious to say the least. |
| 10. | 12. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 10-5 | Simms outdueled Vick to give them the inside track in the AFC South. |
| 11. | 13. | Washington Redskins | 9-6 | Trade of Coles for Moss was a stroke of genius. |
| 12. | 14. | Dallas Cowboys | 9-6 | Jones displayed his explosiveness and playmaking ability by gaining 194 yards on 34 carries against a tough defense. Whether he can stay healthy enough to carry the load for a full season remains an open question. |
| 13. | 8. | Carolina Panthers | 10-5 | What was Smith thinking when he grabbed an official and got tossed in the 3rd quarter? The real blow came later when roughing the kicker was called on a 31 yard miss by Cundiff in the final minute. Peppers definitely ran into Cundiff, but it sure looked like Lucas tipped the ball first. The refs didn't agree. |
| 14. | 17. | Kansas City Chiefs | 9-6 | Johnson continued to dominate with his 8th straight 100 yard game. He now has 1871 yards from scrimmage and 17 touchdowns despite not starting the first 7 games. |
| 15. | 11. | San Diego Chargers | 9-6 | Done in by their own inconsistency. |
| 16. | 18. | Miami Dolphins | 8-7 | Williams exploded for 176 yards rushing with Brown on the sidelines due to injury. |
| 17. | 15. | Minnesota Vikings | 8-7 | Season ended by back-to-back losses to AFC North opponents. |
| 18. | 16. | Atlanta Falcons | 8-7 | Neither of last year's NFC Championship game participants will be in the playoffs. |
| 19. | 20. | Baltimore Ravens | 6-9 | Boller may have saved Billick's job.... And his own. |
| 20. | 24. | Arizona Cardinals | 5-10 | Last game at Sun Devil Stadium was an all too rare victory. |
| 21. | 19. | Philadelphia Eagles | 6-9 | Really shouldn't be surprised that they couldn't overcome the losses of McNabb, Westbrook and Owens. |
| 22. | 28. | Buffalo Bills | 5-10 | Finally showed a little life in the unlikely win over the Bengals. |
| 23. | 21. | Cleveland Browns | 5-10 | Did not come to play against the Steelers. That was a bit of a surprise with Crennel on the sidelines. |
| 24. | 22. | St. Louis Rams | 5-10 | In complete disarray. A team in desperate need of a new direction. |
| 25. | 23. | Tennessee Titans | 4-11 | The rebuilding continues. |
| 26. | 31. | Detriot Lions | 5-10 | Jauron finally got a win. Still hard to envision him getting the full time job. |
| 27. | 25. | Oakland Raiders | 4-11 | The players have quit on Turner. |
| 28. | 26. | Green Bay Packers | 3-12 | Favre, his receivers and the defense are all no longer good enough to overcome the mistakes he sometimes makes when gambling to try to create a big play. |
| 29. | 27. | New York Jets | 3-11 | Poor performance helped cause ABC's Monday Night Football to end on a down note. Horrible scheduling late in the season has been one of the biggest contributors to the demise of weekday prime time football. |
| 30. | 32. | San Fransisco 49ers | 3-12 | Swept the season series against the Rams. |
| 31. | 29. | Houston Texans | 2-13 | Control their own destiny in the Bush sweepstakes. |
| 32. | 30. | New Orleans Saints | 3-12 | A Texans win over the 49ers likely means they will get to choose between Bush and Leinart. A Texans loss just means they get Lienart. Really a no lose situation. Unless they win. |