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 Week 18 of the NFL Title Rankings of the 2023 season. See here for last week’s rankings.
There were a few decent moves. The biggest was the Titans jumping 21 spots after beating the Jaguars.
The Steelers beat the Ravens to maintain the NFL Title Belt and first ranking. Since the Steelers made the playoffs, first and the NFL Title Belt will eventually go to the Super Bowl champion.
With the Commanders losing to the Cowboys, the Commanders will remain last place. Until their first win next year.
The lowest ranked team in the playoffs is the Eagles at 28. That means that 29-32 are locked in until next season. But everyone else could shift.
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 | 2023 Wk18 | Δ | Notes | |
| 1 | Steelers | – | The Steelers beat the Ravens to keep the NFL Title Belt and first. | |
| 2 | Chiefs | – | ||
| 3 | Bengals | – | ||
| 4 | Browns | – | ||
| 5 | Ravens | – | ||
| 6 | Saints | – | ||
| 7 | Bucs | – | ||
| 8 | Titans | +21 | The Titans jumped 21 spots by beating the Jaguars. | |
| 9 | Jaguars | -1 | ||
| 10 | Bills | +7 | The Bills jumped 7 spots by beating the Dolphins. | |
| 11 | Dolphins | -2 | ||
| 12 | Jets | -2 | ||
| 13 | Texans | -2 | ||
| 14 | Rams | +9 | The Rams jumped 9 spots by beating the 49ers. | |
| 15 | 49ers | -3 | ||
| 16 | Packers | +11 | The Packers jumped 11 spots by beating the Bears. | |
| 17 | Bears | -4 | ||
| 18 | Seahawks | +6 | The Seahawks jumped 6 spots by beating the Cardinals. | |
| 19 | Cardinals | -5 | ||
| 20 | Colts | -5 | ||
| 21 | Raiders | -5 | ||
| 22 | Patriots | -4 | ||
| 23 | Falcons | -4 | ||
| 24 | Cowboys | -4 | ||
| 25 | Lions | -4 | ||
| 26 | Broncos | -4 | ||
| 27 | Giants | -1 | The Giants only fell 1 spot by beating and jumping the Eagles. | |
| 28 | Eagles | -3 | ||
| 29 | Chargers | -1 | ||
| 30 | Vikings | – | ||
| 31 | Panthers | – | ||
| 32 | Commanders | – | The Commanders will remain last after losing to the Cowboys. |
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 points total has been reset with the first game of the season.
TEAM Ranking Points Ravens 1 265 Browns 2 187 49ers 3 182 Steelers 4 154 Bengals 5 145 Rams 6 125 Texans 7 90 Jaguars 8 83 Seahawks 9 82 Cowboys 10 61 Colts 11 57 Lions 12 51 Eagles 13 42 Bills 14 25 Chiefs 15 24 Dolphins 16 0 Bucs 17 -11 Titans 18 -14 Saints 19 -46 Packers 20 -50 Cardinals 21 -62 Raiders 22 -75 Broncos 23 -83 Vikings 24 -87 Giants 25 -94 Jets 26 -102 Falcons 27 -106 Bears 28 -119 Chargers 29 -155 Commanders 30 -168 Patriots 31 -179 Panthers 32 -222 I’ve taken too long before letting you know how much I enjoy these weekly ratings, especially the modified rankings where my team is doing better XD. Also it’s pretty similar to how the power rankings should be, imo
I appreciate that! Yeah, this is basically my version of the power rankings. At one point I was thinking of taking my it out. But I’m pretty happy with it.
What’s your team? Eagles?
Given the number of teams resting important starters in week 18, I think it adds a lot of bad data including this week.
It’s nice to see the Seahawks as high as they are though
On one hand, you’re right. And most years there is a real possibility of the number 1 team giving up first to some non-playoff team, leaving the title out of the playoffs.
On the other hand, those games still count. And lots of teams make the playoffs due to a team sitting starters (Steelers). If the NFL counts them, so do I. (Eg. practice games don’t count)
On the other, other hand, this really isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s more just letting the chips fall where they may. The worst team in the league can jump to the top because they had a good week against the right team, or because the other QB got injured.
I’m confused, if the Steelers beat the Ravens for number 1, shouldn’t the ravens be at #2 now? How did the Chiefs Bengals and Browns pass them?
Sorry, I should said that the Steelers kept first and the NFL Title Belt. They were already first, therefore there’s no change from them winning.
