This is an objective, unbiased ranking in the same vein as the NFL Title Belt. As such, the number 1 ranked team will always be the same as the current NFL Title Belt holder.
This is the Wild Card weekend of the NFL Title Rankings of the 2024 season. See here for last week’s rankings.
Only 1 of the 6 games ended with the lower ranked team winning. The only jump was 16 spots. The highest ranked team in the playoffs is the Rams at number 2. That means that the Super Bowl champion will only reach 2 in the rankings.
The Texans jumped 16 spots, and the Lions are now the lowest ranked team to make the playoffs. Any team ranked lower than 14 will not move again until next season.
The Seahawks will keep the NFL Title Belt and first ranking. Because the Seahawks are not in the playoffs, they will remain first for the offseason.
The Falcons will remain last for the offseason.
Let me know if you’d like to see more of this, if you’re curious about how I came up with these rankings, or if you noticed any mistakes.
| Ranking | 2024 Wild Card | Δ | ||
| 1 | Seahawks | – | ||
| 2 | Rams | – | ||
| 3 | Patriots | – | ||
| 4 | Bills | – | ||
| 5 | Broncos | – | ||
| 6 | Chiefs | – | ||
| 7 | Commanders | – | ||
| 8 | Eagles | – | ||
| 9 | Ravens | – | ||
| 10 | Cowboys | – | ||
| 11 | Bucs | – | ||
| 12 | Texans | +16 | ||
| 13 | Chargers | -1 | ||
| 14 | Lions | -1 | ||
| 15 | Vikings | -1 | ||
| 16 | Bears | -1 | ||
| 17 | Packers | -1 | ||
| 18 | Raiders | -1 | ||
| 19 | Saints | -1 | ||
| 20 | Bengals | -1 | ||
| 21 | Steelers | -1 | ||
| 22 | Jets | -1 | ||
| 23 | Dolphins | -1 | ||
| 24 | Browns | -1 | ||
| 25 | Panthers | -1 | ||
| 26 | Cardinals | -1 | ||
| 27 | Giants | -1 | ||
| 28 | Colts | -1 | ||
| 29 | Jaguars | – | ||
| 30 | Titans | – | ||
| 31 | 49ers | – | ||
| 32 | Falcons | – |
This ranking assumes that there are never any fluke games and all teams are appropriately ranked. If you beat a team that is higher ranked than you, you move ahead of them and they move down one spot. However, other teams can jump in front of teams that are higher ranked than you, moving you further down the rankings.
Bonus rankings! This one is more straightforward. Teams get points for wins. They get more points for beating good teams and fewer points for beating bad teams. (+32 for beating the best team, +1 for beating the worst). Teams lose points for losses. They lose more points for losing to bad teams and fewer points for losing to good teams. (-32 for losing to the worst team, -1 for losing to the best). The point total was reset with the first game of the season.
Interestingly, all of the playoff teams are at the top and non-playoff teams are below them except for the Seahawks.
This is ideally what you want, as it implies that there weren’t any easy schedule teams sneaking in with just enough wins and only one team that did well with a tougher schedule but didn’t make it in.