NFL Power Rankings: Week 1 Edition

100% accurate ranking of all 32 teams.

The 2024 NFL season is HERE! And that means it’s time for an incredibly meaningful and serious exercise: NFL Power Rankings! What differentiates these rankings from all the others is that they’re THE only truly accurate ones in the entire universe. We use a proprietary system that heavily accounts for vibes. Let’s take a look at how all 32 teams stack up.

BLG’S WEEK 1 NFL POWER RANKINGS

1 – Kansas City Chiefs – Patrick Mahomes is inevitable. I genuinely believe the Chiefs are going to threepeat as Super Bowl champions. It’s very hard to do, yeah, but if there’s anyone who could … it’s him. Along with the support of Andy Reid and their other core championship pieces.

2 – Green Bay Packers – The Packers finished the season red hot. Jordan Love started to look scarily similar to Aaron Rodgers. This is a young team that’s ready to take a major step forward under a coach who’s averaged 11.8 wins per season.

3 – Detroit Lions – We’ve reached a strange point in time where the Lions have staying power but they have a talented roster and a strong coaching staff. Their offense simply cooks and that’s pretty important in today’s NFL.

4 – Baltimore Ravens – Can’t wait for another season of “OMGGGG LAMAR IS UNSTOPPABLE” before he unsurprisingly flames out in the playoffs once again. Legitimately great *regular season* team, though.

5 – Houston Texans – I’m wary of a sophomore slump here since it’s possible the Texans might get too high on their own supply. But C.J. Stroud’s rookie success was historically impressive and it’s not difficult to buy DeMeco Ryans as a good head coach. Not to mention they have a very attainable path to winning their division.

6 – San Francisco 49ers – We just saw the Eagles deal with the crushing weight of expectations after losing the Super Bowl last year. The 49ers are in that unenviable position once again here. Their vibes seem to be shifting for the better with Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams coming back from holdouts. And they’re still really talented. But it’s possible they’re on the decline.

7 – Philadelphia Eagles – Allow me to make a case that people are putting too much weight on last year’s collapse. In 2011, there was a lot of talk about how the Eagles could carry the positive momentum of finishing the season strong to be good in 2012. That clearly did not happen. And so it’s not a foregone conclusion that because the Eagles were bad late last year means they can’t have success this season. Jalen Hurts is coming off his best training camp, the team is healthy, there’s reason to be optimistic about new coordinators, the schedule is relatively favorable, and the vibes seem to be good. Oh, and no team ever repeats as NFC East champions, so, the Eagles are obviously in line to win the division.

8 – Buffalo Bills – The Bills were a bit better than their record indicated last season. But it was a bit of a weird offseason for them. Josh Allen has the ability to carry his team … but does he have enough help?

9 – Cincinnati Bengals – Hard to know what to exactly make of Joe Burrow at this point in time. If he’s truly healthy, look out. If not, the Bengals could be a middling squad.

10 – New York Jets – The Jets’ vibes are not great. But it’s possible that people are underrating Aaron Rodgers’ ability to still play the game at a very high level. And even if he gets hurt again, Tyrod Taylor helps raise their floor from where it was last year.

11 – Miami Dolphins – No one is taking the Dolphins seriously. They’re not bad but they’re not actually scaring anybody. They’ve taken on the perception of their quarterback in that way.

12 – Dallas Cowboys – The Cowboys’ vibes are atrocious: Mike McCarthy on the hot seat, unhappy star players, no major offseason upgrades, Jerry Jones constantly sticking his foot in his mouth, etc. Dallas does win a lot of regular season games. But you can set your watch to them disappointing in the playoffs, assuming they make it there. Will be interesting to see which team Dak Prescott plays for next year.

13 – Los Angeles Rams – The Rams are a high floor team. Losing Aaron Donald does impact their ceiling.

14 – Chicago Bears – I’m bullish on the Bears as a wild card contender. Despite finishing 9th in the draft order, they were tied (with a 9-8 Indy team) for the 13th-worst point differential. They also ranked 11th worst in DVOA. They were a little better than their record indicated. Merely getting rid of Justin Fields, who is terrible and contributed a ton of negative plays, is addition by subtraction. Replacing him with Caleb Williams is a huge boon to the offense. Da Bears will be a much more credible team this season.

15 – Los Angeles Chargers – Looking at Justin Hebert’s supporting cast is not making me feel great about being relatively high on the Chargers. But I find it hard not to believe in Jim Harbaugh, who simply wins wherever he goes. If it doesn’t click right away, I could see the Bolts making a big jump next season.

16 – Pittsburgh Steelers – Until they finally have a losing record for the first time in 21 years, I’m not going to merely assume it happens. That being said, a quite possibly cooked Russell Wilson and a downright awful Justin Fields could make for Mike Tomlin’s biggest challenge yet.

17 – Jacksonville Jaguars – The Eagles were not alone in collapsing last season; the Jags also fell hard. I still believe in Doug Pederson. But he’s not making it easy by believing in Press Taylor so much. I do think Trevor Lawrence will be a bit closer to who he was in 2022 than the guy he was in 2023.

18 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Baker Mayfield losing Dave Canales feels significant. This Bucs team seems OK but are they really scaring anybody?

19 – Cleveland Browns – Not a very inspiring quarterback situation. And defensive performance doesn’t tend to be sticky year-to-year. But Jim Schwartz is one of the NFL’s best DCs and he’ll manage to keep this group afloat.

20 – Indianapolis Colts – I’m interested to see if the Shane Steichen shine continues to hold up in Year 2. Everybody once thought Frank Reich was the one who got away … until he bet on the wrong quarterback. Is Anthony Richardson definitely the right one?

21 – Seattle Seahawks – People like Geno Smith a whole lot more than they probably should. 2022 was the outlier. I think he’ll get benched for Sam Howell at some point. I am interested to see what Mike Macdonald cooks up on defense.

22 – Atlanta Falcons – This ranking might be too harsh considering the Falcons’ favorable schedule. Also, Kirk Cousins tends to be mediocre, not flat out bad. But he’s also 36 and coming off a major injury. It’s hard to put a lot of faith in an organization that’s proven to be fraudulent for some time now, regardless of the head coach/GM situation.

23 – Denver Broncos – Sean Payton sure isn’t likable but I’m willing to believe he still might be a good coach. Maybe I’m making too much of Bo Nix and Zach Wilson looking good in the preseason.

24 – Arizona Cardinals – I’m not even a Kyler Murray guy but I think he’s getting slept on a bit. Not a guy you trust leading you on a playoff run but his talent can help this team avoid being a bottom five unit. Of course, he’s bound to be weighed down by Jonathan Gannon’s defense.

25 – Tennessee Titans – Will Levis now has DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, and Tyler Boyd to work with. He might be able to cook a little with that group. Former Eagles defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson was a good addition as defensive coordinator. Maybe a friskier than expected team?

26 – New Orleans Saints – This team is boring and bad. What’s the interesting angle here? What’s compelling about this group? At best, maybe they’ll be decent.

27 – Washington Commanders – The Commanders have received a lot of praise for a good offseason. They seem to be putting a solid foundation in place. Their ceiling will be dictated by just how good Jayden Daniels can be. Could he be this year’s C.J. Stroud?

28 – Minnesota Vikings – Sam Darnold is the quarterback on the NFL’s oldest roster. It’s a skip for me.

29 – Las Vegas Raiders – Gardner Minshew as your backup quarterback is certainly acceptable. Gardner Minshew as your Week 1 starting quarterback is not ideal.

30 – New York Giants – Even the Giants don’t believe in Daniel Jones. Why should anyone else?

31 – New England Patriots – After watching the Patriots get dominated by the Eagles in a joint training camp practice, my first thought was to hammer New England’s under … without even looking at what the O/U was set at. That offensive line is not good. And neither are the quarterbacks. Drake Maye might get there and he should be starting over Jacoby Brissett. But that’s not the route they’re going right now.

32 – Carolina Panthers – We often over-complicate football analysis. Let’s be real, Bryce Young is probably both too small and not talented enough to be a viable NFL starting quarterback.