Power Rankings: Final Answer
Happy New Year to one and all. Enjoy the day.
1. Patriots (16-0) (1): Who ever thought we’d see a 16-0 team in the era of free agency and the salary cap? Bill Belichick pulls off the improbable run with a comeback win over his old Giants team.
2. Colts (13-3) (2): Colts jayvee team loses to Titans, but Indy is still the biggest threat to the Pats’ Super Bowl hopes. Or should we say that the Pats are the biggest threat to the defending champion Colts. 
3. Cowboys (13-3) (3): Cowboys play out the string and lose to Washington, but they’re still the favorites to come out of the NFC.
4. Jaguars (11-5) (4): Jack Del Rio rests starters against Houston, realizing that bigger prize awaits with wild card road game in Pittsburgh.
5. Packers (13-3) (5): Packers complete wondrous regular season with win over Lions. Now we’ll see if they can make it to that long-awaited NFC Championship Game against Dallas.
6. Chargers (11-5) (6): Maybe the hottest team going into the playoffs. But as Charlie Chilkoot and the rest of Charger Nation understand, winning in January isn’t always in the cards.
7. Steelers (10-6) (7): Steelers rest up for playoffs in losing meaningless game at Baltimore. Now we’ll see if Big Ben & Co.. are up to the task.
8. Seahawks (10-6) (8): Is this Mike Holmgren’s last dance?
9. Giants (10-6) (10): Tom Coughlin plays his starters against the Patriots and gives us one of the year’s best games. Now we’ll see if there’s any hangover in Tampa on Sunday.
10. Buccaneers (9-7) (9): Bucs’ defense is their strong suit, but they know they’re in for a tough afternoon with Brandon Jacobs running at them.
11. Redskins (9-7) (11): Feel-good team of the playoffs. Joe Gibbs and Todd Collins combine forces to give Washington an improbable playoff berth.
12. Titans (10-6) (12): Titans barely get by Colts’ second-stringers, but it’s good enough to get into the tournament. With Vince Young and Keith Bullock hurting, might not be a very long stay.
13. Browns (10-6) (14): The long and tortured history of Browns fans takes another painful turn as Cleveland is ousted from the playoffs because Tennessee beats a Colts team wholly uninterested in playing to win on Sunday night.
14. Eagles (8-8) (15): Andy Reid insists Eagles will be contenders again in ’08.
15. Vikings (8-8) (13): Vikings had it all there for the taking. Two-game losing streak to end the season dashes their playoff hopes.
16. Texans (8-8) (17): Plenty of reason for optimism in Houston moving forward.
17. Bears (7-9) (18): Big question for 2008: Who’s gonna be the quarterback?
18. Saints (7-9) (16): That 0-4 start proved too big a hole to climb out of.
19. Cardinals (8-8) (20): Kurt Warner did all he could to get this team close. Now he’ll take a back seat once more to Matt Leinart.
20. Bills (7-9) (19): Given their injury problems and quarterback change, the Bills overachieved in winning seven games.
21. Bengals (7-9) (22): Marvin Lewis vows to clean house. We’ll see if it’s an empty threat.
22. Lions (7-9) (21): Mike Martz will take the fall, but there’s plenty of blame to spread. One more chance for Matt Millen and Rod Marinelli in ’08.
23. Panthers (7-9) (23): All indications are that John Fox is coming back. But nothing will be official until team owner Jerry Richardson signs off. The feeling here: Fox deserves another year to see if getting Jake Delhomme back in the lineup will give them a chance in ’08.
24. Broncos (7-9) (24): When does Mike Shanahan start to feel the heat? If he doesn’t turn it around in 2008, that’s when.
25. 49ers (5-11) (25): Mike Nolan unsure of future. This much is certain, though: 49ers stink.
26. Ravens (5-11) (26): The Brian Billick era is over.
27. Jets (4-12) (28): Kellen Clemens, Chad Pennington or someone else at quarterback? That’s the biggest question facing the Jets for next season.
28. Rams (3-13) (27): Scott Linehan gets one more year to make it right.
29. Chiefs (4-12) (29): Ditto for Carl Peterson and Herman Edwards.
30. Falcons (4-12) (31): The solution is simple: All the Falcons need is a new general manager, a new coach and a new quarterback. No sweat … ha!
31. Raiders (4-12) (30): So, Lane Kiffin, how are you liking the NFL so far?
32. Dolphins (1-15) (32): Bill Parcells has a whole bunch of decisions on his plate. Fortunately for the Dolphins, he’ll get this thing turned around in due time.
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Comments (5)
I wonder who the 5 losses are from with the Jaguars. Hmm, 2 to the Colts, that's ok. What? a blowout loss to the Saints?
Blowout loss to Houston is fine, they rested their starters. Opening week loss to Tennessee? Not sure how ranking the Jaguars higher than the Packers is warranted.
Also, the Packers are playing much better than the Cowboys down the stretch. Packers get a mulligan against Chicago on a windy day where punter gives up about 20 points himself, but Cowboys luckily beat Detroit, lose to Philly, hang on against Carolina, and get beat by Washington handily. Not a team playing it's best ball down the stretch as you would wish.
Point taken, Karl. The problem with this final weekend's slate of games is that most of them - especially those involving upper echelon teams - meant nothing. Absolutely nothing, other than trying to get through them without injury.
I'm with Karl on where you've got the Jags. But Saturday isn't far away, and their trip to the land of the Terrible Towel will tell us alot. I also think that there are five or six AFC teams that are better than any NFC team.
As for the Chargers, Nick Canepa wrote something to the effect that their entire roster is one of the best from top to bottom. Unfortunately, only 11 guys can play at a time. We'll see if they can get the one-and-done monkey off their back.
The forecast is for rain on game day. Glad our seats are under the overhang.
mr. glauber,
i think you predicted 3-13 for the packers in 2007
nice job
r. smith
Roger:
You sound like you've been waiting a long time to say that. Congratulations. I admire your patience. Not quite sure I ever put a number on it, but yes, I did not think the Packers would have a good season.
Good luck in the playoffs.