| Rnk | Team (Lst Wk) | Record | Comment |
| 1. | Philadelphia Eagles (2) | 11-3 | Control their own destiny with a 10-0 record against NFC competition. Donovan McNabb will now definitely not return in the regular season, but his absence has not mattered so far. |
| 2. | Green Bay Packers (4) | 11-3 | Brett Favre and his team have not looked really good since before back-to-back losses in Minneapolis and Tampa. They have managed to win 3 straight after holding on in San Fransisco and remain in the hunt for homefield advantage. |
| 3. | Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3) | 11-3 | Hard to believe that 1 of 3 teams that currently have 11 wins will not get a first round playoff bye. |
| 4. | Miami Dolphins (8) | 9-5 | Ricky Williams has been traded to the Saints and Dolphins for a combined 4 first round picks, 2 third round picks, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh round pick. |
| 5. | Oakland Raiders (1) | 9-5 | The Dolphins showed the way to stop the Raiders passing attack is to pressure Rich Gannon. Gannon was sacked 5 times and held to 204 yards passing. He now needs to average 338 yards in the remaining two games to break Dan Marino's single season record for passing yards. |
| 6. | Tennesee Titans (10) | 9-5 | Remember back when the Titans were 1-4 and Jeff Fisher's job was in jeopardy? With games remaining in Jacksonville and Houston they now have a legitimate shot at homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. |
| 7. | Indianapolis Colts (11) | 9-5 | Marvin Harrison has caught over 100 passes in each of the last 4 years and with 127 catches in 14 games has already broken the single season record of 123 receptions held by Herman Moore. The question for the day is why would the Browns single cover Harrison on his 2 second half touchdowns when everyone except apparently Butch Davis knew that Peyton Manning was going to throw him the ball. |
| 8. | San Fransisco 49ers (5) | 9-5 | After scoring on a 45 yard reception Terrell Owens grabbed pom-poms from a cheerleader and did a celebratory dance despite the fact his team was still trailing by 3. I thought the idea was to win, not call attention to oneself in defeat. I guess I am old fashioned. |
| 9. | New Orleans Saints (6) | 9-5 | Any team wearing their third home uniform combination of the season, gold jerseys and black pants, deserves to lose. |
| 10. | Pittsburgh Steelers (14) | 8-5-1 | The defense needed only 2 weeks to improve from 18th to 3rd in yardage allowed, although that could be attributed in large part to less than stellar competition. |
| 11. | Denver Broncos (16) | 8-6 | The Broncos halted a 3 game losing streak and avoided last place in their division by beating the Cheifs. A week later in the ultra-competative AFC West they play for a share of the divisional lead in a battle royal against the Raiders. |
| 12. | New England Patriots (7) | 8-6 | Despite a surprisingly flat performance on Monday night the Patriots still control their own fate. Wins at home against the reeling Jets and a Dolphin team not known for playing well on the road in December would result in an AFC East championship. |
| 13. | Atlanta Falcons (9) | 8-5-1 | Michael Vick has thrown more interceptions in the last 3 games than the first 10. The measure of an NFL QB is not how he does when things are going good, but how quickly he can rebound from tough times. |
| 14. | New York Giants (18) | 8-6 | Surprising losses by the Falcons and Saints keep the Giants faint wildcard hopes alive. |
| 15. | San Diego Chargers (15) | 8-6 | Doug Flutie in relief of the struggling Drew Brees could not gain revenge against a Bills front office that released him in favor of Rob Johnson. |
| 16. | Buffalo Bills (19) | 7-7 | Gained more yards through Charger penalties (121) than Bledsoe passes (107). |
| 17. | Kansas City Chiefs (13) | 7-7 | Trent Green had his best game of the season in defeat, falling 7 points short in Denver after Preist Holmes left in the 3rd quarter due to injury. |
| 18. | New York Jets (12) | 7-7 | Ruined their season with an improbable loss in Champaign-Urbana which just goes to show that you have to take every opponent seriously in the NFL. OK, every opponent except the Bengals. |
| 19. | St. Louis Rams (20) | 6-8 | Marc Bulger improved hs record to 6-0 as a starter. The interesting thing now is what happens with the QB position in St Louis next season. |
| 20. | Cleveland Browns (17) | 7-7 | Not only blew a 16 point halftime lead, but ended up turning the ball over on downs at the Colts 5 yard line trailing by 5 with 31 seconds remaining. |
| 21. | Baltimore Ravens (21) | 7-7 | Have done a credible job in a salary cap mandated rebuilding year to stay on the fringes of the playoff race. |
| 22. | Jacksonville Jaguars (25) | 6-8 | 1 of only 3 AFC teams that are currently under five-hundred. |
| 23. | Seattle Seahawks (26) | 5-9 | Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander, Koren Robinson, and Darrell Jackson give the Seahawks hope for the future. Still no definitive word on whether Mike Holmgren will be part of that future. |
| 24. | Carolina Panthers (22) | 5-9 | Holly Robinson Peete getting camera time chearing on her husband Rodney is at least easier to take than trying to watch reruns of 21 Jump Street, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, or Four Your Love. |
| 25. | Minnesota Vikings (29) | 4-10 | Trailing by 7 the Vikes scored a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining. Instead of attempting the extra point to force overtime, Mike Tice gambled on a 2 point conversion for the win. This was a very smart decision for a team on the road without any hope of making the playoffs. Tice was rewarded for his gamble with a victory when Daunte Culpepper put the finsihing touches on a great performance by converting on a QB draw despite dropping the ball twice on the play. |
| 26. | Arizona Cardinals (28) | 5-9 | Although the game meant nothing, I wanted to thank the Cardinals for putting up a fight and keeping me entertained on a cold December evening. |
| 27. | Washington Redskins (24) | 5-9 | Last season after an 0-5 start the Redskins bought into Marty Shottenheimer's system and won 8 of their last 11 games. For his troubles Shottenheimer was fired. This season the veteran players have become more disenchanted with Steve Spurrier as the season has progressed. Daniel Snyder is getting what he deserves for deciding to treat the Redskins as his own expensive fantasy football team instead of an actual professional franchise. |
| 28. | Chicago Bears (30) | 4-10 | This has been a lost season for Dick Jauron and the Bears after winning 13 games last year, but at least Jauron still has his team trying hard and playing competative football. |
| 29. | Houston Texans (27) | 4-10 | David Carr has been sacked 70 times, only 2 shy of the record set by Randall Cunningham with the Eagles in 1986. |
| 30. | Dallas Cowboys (23) | 5-9 | Chad Hutchison was beaten into submission as most of the rest of his team flat out quit on Dave Campo. The lack of effort by Solomon Page, Flozell Adams and Troy Hambrick in pass protection was especially disgraceful. |
| 31. | Detriot Lions (31) | 3-11 | Joey Harrington will sit the rest of the season after leaving last weeks game in the first quarter due to an irregular heartbeat. The condition is not considered career threatening. |
| 32. | Cincinnati Bengals (32) | 1-13 | An embarrassment to themselves, the city of Cincinnati, and the league. |