| Rnk | LW | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 13-1 | Escaped with their life from the swamps of Jersey in a game where Eli Manning finally showed a little spark against a defense that looked very tired. Jerome Bettis again carried the load on the ground. Antwaan Randle El provided the big play element that Ben Roethlisberger had been missing since Plaxico Burress went down with a hamstring injury. Then the best news of the week came on Monday night. The Patriots loss in Miami means the Steelers only need a single victory in the final 2 weeks to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. |
| 2. | 3. | Philadelphia Eagles | 13-1 | The broken leg suffered by Terrell Owens casts a pall over their season. Not that all is lost. Right now no NFC opponent appears to have the ability to go to Philadelphia and win even without Owens in the lineup. |
| 3. | 2. | New England Patriots | 12-2 | Tom Brady did his best impression of Aaron Brooks on Monday night getting picked off 4 times as his team blew an 11 point lead with 3:59 remaining against the 3-11 Dolphins. Astonishing. |
| 4. | 4. | Indianapolis Colts | 11-3 | Proved they could win a tough game against a top defense at home. The problem of course comes when they are forced to travel in the playoffs. |
| 5. | 5. | San Diego Chargers | 11-3 | Trip to Indianapolis is an interesting test. |
| 6. | 6. | Atlanta Falcons | 11-3 | Probably the primary beneficiary of the injury to Terrell Owens. Even so, their complete lack of a passing game makes a road win in the playoffs seem unlikely. |
| 7. | 7. | New York Jets | 10-4 | Got the victory they needed against the Seahawks. Would prove a lot more if they could increase the Patriots losing streak to 2. |
| 8. | 11. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 8-6 | Control their own destiny. |
| 9. | 12. | Buffalo Bills | 8-6 | Still need help despite being one of the hottest teams in football. The last second loss to the Jaguars in the opener continues to haunt them. |
| 10. | 15. | Minnesota Vikings | 8-6 | The division is their's for the taking with the Packers coming to town on Christmas Eve. |
| 11. | 8. | Green Bay Packers | 8-6 | Clinched a post season berth. What a difference a conference makes.... |
| 12. | 10. | Baltimore Ravens | 8-6 | Holding Peyton Manning in check for 60 minutes at the RCA Dome was too much to ask. Can not afford to lose in Pittsburgh which should make for a brutal, hard hitting affair. |
| 13. | 18. | Kansas City Chiefs | 6-8 | Can take some solace in the complete obliteration of a divisional rival that is still in the playoff hunt. The offense continues to fire on all cylinders even though they have nothing to play for and Priest Holmes has been out for a month. |
| 14. | 9. | Denver Broncos | 8-6 | Lack of effort in Kansas City was inexcuseable. Lose all the tiebreakers to the Jaguars, Bills and Ravens. Hard to believe that Jake Plummer will be back. At this point Mike Shanahan could also be in trouble. |
| 15. | 14. | Seattle Seahawks | 7-7 | Were not even competative against the Jets. |
| 16. | 13. | Carolina Panthers | 6-8 | Still control their own destiny despite being 2 games under .500 with only 2 games to play. Those 8 win teams in the AFC that would lose a tiebreaker to the Jaguars are all envious. |
| 17. | 20. | New Orleans Saints | 6-8 | Wins in their final 2 games against the Falcons and Panthers could actually land them in the playoffs. Hard to believe. |
| 18. | 23. | Houston Texans | 6-8 | Improved for 3 straight years. Probably need to take the big step to legitimate playoff contender next season for Dom Capers to keep his job. The NFL is a win now business even for teams that just started playing in 2002. |
| 19. | 16. | St. Louis Rams | 6-8 | The Cardinals feature the 27th ranked rush defense. Chris Chandler was coming off a 6 interception game and again had to start for the injured Marc Bulger. So that meant the Rams would come out running the ball. Wrong. Chandler and Jamie Martin combined to throw 36 passes while the Rams ran the ball a grand total of 10 times. The predictable result.... A blowout loss. Mike Martz really needs to go. |
| 20. | 17. | Cincinnati Bengals | 6-8 | Jon Kitna showed why Marvin Lewis named Carson Palmer the starter heading into training camp. |
| 21. | 19. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 5-9 | Simeon Rice blasted Jon Gruden's leadership ability after the Bucs blew a 10 point 4th quarter lead at home against the Saints. It has not been a good couple of days to say the least. |
| 22. | 26. | Washington Redskins | 5-9 | Joe Gibbs has committed to Patrick Ramsay as his starting quarterback for next season. If he could have named Ramsay the starter for this season instead of wasting money and time on Mark Brunell the Redskins would undoubtedly be better off. |
| 23. | 28. | Oakland Raiders | 5-9 | Norv Turner and Kerry Collins have seemingly turned around the offense. Things could be finally looking up if they can add a running back and figure out how to fix the defense in the offseason. |
| 24. | 29. | Arizona Cardinals | 5-9 | Still alive in the pathetic NFC West. OK, the chances of them winning the division are minmal at best. Still, just the idea of a team that is 4 games under .500 with 2 games to play being in the divisional race is pretty absurd. The really sad thing is that if the Cardinals could have beaten the 49ers twice they would actually be leading the division. |
| 25. | 21. | Dallas Cowboys | 5-9 | Tony Romo has passed Drew Henson on the depth chart as the backup quarterback. While it is a bit early to give up on Henson as a football player, so far he has made quite a bit of money for failing at 2 professional sports. |
| 26. | 22. | Chicago Bears | 5-9 | Chad Hutchison's solid play in his first start seems to have been a fluke. It is probably time to give Jeff George a serious look. |
| 27. | 25. | Detriot Lions | 5-9 | Missing an extra point after scoring the apparent game tying touchdown with under 2 minutes remaining is a bitter pill to swallow. |
| 28. | 27. | New York Giants | 5-9 | Eli Manning's performance against the Steelers gives them some hope for the future. |
| 29. | 24. | Tennessee Titans | 4-10 | Gained 1069 yards with Billy Volek at QB in the last 2 weeks and somehow managed to lose both games. The main problem here appears to be defense, not the loss of Steve McNair to injury. |
| 30. | 31. | Miami Dolphins | 3-11 | AJ Feeley outplayed Tom Brady. Isn't that the first sign of the apocalypse? |
| 31. | 30. | Cleveland Browns | 3-11 | Have given up an average of 39.5 points per game in their last 4 contests. |
| 32. | 32. | San Fransisco 49ers | 2-12 | Unfortunately they don't get to play the Cardinals every week. |