| Rnk | LW* | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 2. | San Diego Chargers | 13-3 | Can Rivers join Roethlisberger and Manning the younger as members of the class of '04 to win a Super Bowl? |
| 2. | 1. | Indianapolis Colts | 14-2 | Learned nothing from past failures when benching starters after clinching early. |
| 3. | 7. | Minnesota Vikings | 12-4 | Eagles loss gives them the bye. A week off can only help Favre. An explosive team that can beat anybody. Of course Favre and Purple Jesus could just as easily combine to turn the ball over multiple times to torpedo their chances. |
| 4. | 4. | New Orleans Saints | 13-3 | Three game losing streak which started before they had the top seed sewn up has got to be disconcerting. |
| 5. | 10. | Dallas Cowboys | 11-5 | Beating a team three times in a season is not as hard as some would have you believe. Look at the Steelers and Ravens last season. Or the Steelers and Browns in 2002. Still, it would be fun to witness the turmoil caused by them not winning their first playoff game since 1996. |
| 6. | 3. | Philadelphia Eagles | 11-5 | Had offensive opportunities last weekend in Dallas, just failed to make plays. Need to be more worried about how Garrett and Romo easily handled their blitzes. |
| 7. | 9. | Green Bay Packers | 11-5 | Capers led switch to the 3-4 was a rousing success. |
| 8. | 5. | New England Patriots | 10-6 | Loss of Welker is a blow. |
| 9. | 6. | Arizona Cardinals | 10-6 | Improvement as a road team helped offset a .500 record at home. |
| 10. | 8. | Cincinnati Bengals | 10-6 | Zimmer's work with the defense is what got them into the playoffs. |
| 11. | 11. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 9-7 | Inexplicable five game losing streak during the soft part of their schedule cost them a playoff spot. Aging defense needs to be addressed. |
| 12. | 12. | Baltimore Ravens | 9-7 | Flacco made the playoffs for a second straight year despite taking a small step backwards. |
| 13. | 14. | Houston Texans | 9-7 | First winning season in franchise history. I would have liked to have seen them in the playoffs over the Ravens or Jets because of their offensive firepower. |
| 14. | 15. | Atlanta Falcons | 9-7 | Topped .500 in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history despite taking a step backwards. |
| 15. | 16. | New York Jets | 9-7 | Needed to have the Colts and Bengals lie down in the final two weeks to win as many games as they did last year with Mangini. I am not buying into the hype. |
| 16. | 17. | Tennessee Titans | 8-8 | VY re-establishing himself had to be a pleasant surprise. Too bad they wasted so much time with Collins at the start of the season. |
| 17. | 18. | Carolina Panthers | 8-8 | Moore's performance after the injury to Delhomme saved Fox. |
| 18. | 20. | San Fransisco 49ers | 8-8 | Had a non-losing season for the first time since 2002. |
| 19. | 13. | Denver Broncos | 8-8 | Collapsed after a 6-0 start. |
| 20. | 19. | New York Giants | 8-8 | Lost their final two by a combined score of 85-16. |
| 21. | 21. | Miami Dolphins | 7-9 | Development of Henne takes some of the sting out of losing four more games than last year. |
| 22. | 23. | Chicago Bears | 7-9 | Lovie gets a reprieve because the McCaskey's are too cheap to pay more than one head coach at a time. Offensive staff was not so lucky. Need to find an offensive coordinator that can play to Cutler's strengths, not accentuate his weaknesses. |
| 23. | 22. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 7-9 | Treading water despite the best efforts of MJD. |
| 24. | 24. | Cleveland Browns | 5-11 | Is Mangini getting a bad rap? He improved the Browns by a game and his old team needed help to get to the same record as he had last year. |
| 25. | 26. | Buffalo Bills | 6-10 | Starting over. |
| 26. | 25. | Oakland Raiders | 5-11 | Russell has set the franchise back. Davis' refusal to admit Russell is a bust makes things worse (if that is possible). |
| 27. | 30. | Kansas City Chiefs | 4-12 | Charles was a revelation. Cassel a disappointment. |
| 28. | 27. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3-13 | Morris gets a reprieve because they didn't want to pay Cowher. |
| 29. | 28. | Washington Redskins | 4-12 | Will Snyder be able to leave Shanahan alone to do his job? |
| 30. | 29. | Seattle Seahawks | 5-11 | Hasselbeck is clearly on the downside. |
| 31. | 31. | Detriot Lions | 2-14 | Have some building blocks at the offensive skill positions. Desperately need to add talent to the defense and offensive line. |
| 32. | 32. | St. Louis Rams | 1-15 | On the clock. Choices appear to be Suh or a reach for Clausen or Bradford. The temptation to take a QB will be tough to resist. |
*Last week's ranking