| Rnk | LW | Team | Record | Comments |
| 1. | 1. | Pittsburgh Steelers | 11-1 | Showed they could win when the running game was not firing on all cylinders. Ben Roethlisberger came out of his mini-slump and again showed that he could lead a comeback in the final minutes. |
| 2. | 2. | New England Patriots | 11-1 | Returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown in Cleveland and never looked back. |
| 3. | 3. | Philadelphia Eagles | 11-1 | The 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams in the NFC lost by a combined total of 67 points this week. Anything less than a Super Bowl appearance will make for a long, bitter offseason. |
| 4. | 4. | Indianapolis Colts | 9-3 | Continue to put up huge offensive numbers and pad Peyton Manning's stats against less than stellar opposition. |
| 5. | 6. | San Diego Chargers | 9-3 | From the outhouse to the penthouse. Have a 2 game lead in the AFC West with only 4 weeks remaining. |
| 6. | 8. | New York Jets | 9-3 | Continue to win with defense and the running game. Trip to Pittsburgh is a major test. |
| 7. | 5. | Atlanta Falcons | 9-3 | So much for clinching the division on the first weekend in December. |
| 8. | 7. | Green Bay Packers | 7-5 | Can not afford to dwell on their trip to Philadelphia. |
| 9. | 9. | Minnesota Vikings | 7-5 | Just not the same when playing outdoors on grass. |
| 10. | 10. | Denver Broncos | 7-5 | Season of promise is quickly turning into a fiasco of epic proportions. Jake Plummer threw 4 picks. Darius Watts turned upfield instead of getting out of bounds in Chargers territory with under 10 seconds remaining and no timeouts. The clock management and playcalling were baffling. There is more than enough blame to go around.... |
| 11. | 11. | Baltimore Ravens | 7-5 | Once vaunted defense is starting to look ordinary. Blew a 20-3 first half lead and a 2 point advantage in the final 97 seconds with the Bengals starting on their own 34 yard line. |
| 12. | 12. | Jacksonville Jaguars | 6-6 | Last minute defeat at the hands of the Steelers was made a bit more palatable by the losses of the Broncos and Ravens. |
| 13. | 13. | Buffalo Bills | 6-6 | Offense has exploded for 117 total points in their last 3 games. |
| 14. | 14. | St. Louis Rams | 6-6 | Injury to Marc Bulger means they must turn to 39 year old Chris Chandler against the red hot Panthers. The way things are going in the NFC West the division winner might end up under .500. |
| 15. | 16. | Cincinnati Bengals | 6-6 | Victory in Baltimore was their first on the road against a team with a winning record since 1990. |
| 16. | 18. | Carolina Panthers | 5-7 | Miraculously still have a shot at the playoffs despite a 1-7 start. |
| 17. | 19. | Dallas Cowboys | 5-7 | Julius Jones had a primetime coming out party as the Cowboys overcame a 10 point deficit with under 2 minutes remaining to shock the Seahawks. |
| 18. | 20. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 5-7 | Losses by the Seahawks and Vikings give hope to all the 5 win teams in the NFC. |
| 19. | 26. | Chicago Bears | 5-7 | Chad Hutchinson showed that at the very least he can provide solid depth behind Rex Grossman. Something that can honestly not be said about Jonathon Quinn or Craig Krenzel. |
| 20. | 15. | Seattle Seahawks | 6-6 | Somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory despite scoring 39 points and gaining 509 yards. |
| 21. | 17. | Houston Texans | 5-7 | Completely collapsed in the swamps of Jersey after holding a 1 point lead over the Jets at the start of the 2nd half. |
| 22. | 24. | Kansas City Chiefs | 4-8 | Larry Johnson made the most of his first real opportunity and took a step toward proving he can succeed at this level. |
| 23. | 21. | Tennessee Titans | 4-8 | Tried 3 onside kicks in the first half and recovered 2 in an attempt to hang with the Colts. While it worked for a while, they just didn't have enough in the tank to keep the game competative in the second half. |
| 24. | 28. | Detriot Lions | 5-7 | Offense has been bouyed by the emergence of Kevin Jones. |
| 25. | 29. | Washington Redskins | 4-8 | Back to the future..... The Joe Gibbs offense finally started to click after 11 weeks. The question remains whether this was an aberation or a sign of better times in Washington. |
| 26. | 22. | New York Giants | 5-7 | Managed a paltry 145 net yards and scored no offensive touchdowns in Washington. Things are not quite working out yet for the younger Manning. |
| 27. | 23. | New Orleans Saints | 4-8 | Loss evened Jim Haslett's career record at 38-38. Do not expect him to be over .500 at the end of the season. Also don't expect him to be employed by the Saints in 2005. |
| 28. | 25. | Oakland Raiders | 4-8 | Ronald Curry's torn achilles is more of a blow at this point than the loss to the Chiefs. |
| 29. | 27. | Arizona Cardinals | 4-8 | There is no one new left on the roster for Denny Green to try at QB. |
| 30. | 30. | Cleveland Browns | 3-9 | At least Terry Robiskie knew what he was getting into as an interim head coach. He served in the same role previously during the 2000 season for the Redskins. |
| 31. | 31. | Miami Dolphins | 2-10 | AJ Feeley's inability to quit throwing the ball to opponents again proved fatal. Hard to believe a second rounder was traded to acquire his services. |
| 32. | 32. | San Fransisco 49ers | 1-11 | Getting worse, not better. |