NFL Power Rankings Week 13: Regular-Season Outlook Pre-Thursday Night Football

The hardest thing about judging NFL teams is recency bias. The latest result is always important, but the challenge is figuring out the importance compared to what we have seen all year long.

While the New England Patriots lost their first game of the season Sunday against the Denver Broncos, you can't ignore their 10-0 start to the year. At the same time, the Green Bay Packers' loss on Thanksgiving to the Chicago Bears shouldn't cause us to forget an impressive road win over the Minnesota Vikings the week before.

On the other hand, the Atlanta Falcons have dropped four in a row and look nothing like the top contender they were after the first month-and-a-half. A team like this can easily drop down the power rankings despite a quality record.

At this point of the year, the key is looking for meaningful jumps. Even at this late stage, a few squads have been able to change their outlook for the better, and the latest rankings reflect that. While the Baltimore Ravens might have a bigger increase due to the incompetence of the teams above them, the organizations below have made important progress.

Here is a look at Week 13 power rankings and a breakdown of a few teams on the rise. 

Rank	Team	Record	Prev.
1	Carolina Panthers	11-0	2
2	New England Patriots	10-1	1
3	Denver Broncos	9-2	5
4	Arizona Cardinals	9-2	3
5	Cincinnati Bengals	9-2	4
6	Seattle Seahawks	6-5	10
7	Kansas City Chiefs	6-5	9
8	Green Bay Packers	7-4	6
9	Minnesota Vikings	8-3	8
10	Pittsburgh Steelers	6-5	7
11	Indianapolis Colts	6-5	13
12	Houston Texans	6-5	15
13	Buffalo Bills	5-6	11
14	New York Jets	6-5	16
15	Chicago Bears	5-6	20
16	Washington Redskins	5-6	21
17	New York Giants	5-6	12
18	Oakland Raiders	5-6	18
19	Atlanta Falcons	6-5	14
20	Detroit Lions	4-7	25
21	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	5-6	17
22	Baltimore Ravens	4-7	28
23	Dallas Cowboys	3-8	19
24	Miami Dolphins	4-7	22
25	St. Louis Rams	4-7	23
26	Philadelphia Eagles	4-7	24
27	San Diego Chargers	3-8	30
28	Jacksonville Jaguars	4-7	27
29	San Francisco 49ers	3-8	29
30	New Orleans Saints	4-7	26
31	Tennessee Titans	2-9	31
32	Cleveland Browns	2-9	32

Notable Risers

Seattle Seahawks

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

This whole year has been referred to a down season for the Seattle Seahawks. The defense has featured more holes than in recent years, while the offense continued to struggle behind an inexperienced offensive line.

All of that remains true, and yet the Seahawks are currently 6-5 and in good position to make the playoffs as a wild card.

After a 2-4 start, Seattle has won four of the last five games, with the only loss coming on a wild game against the Arizona Cardinals in prime time. Although not all of the wins were enough to turn heads, the 39-30 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers showed this is a squad that shouldn't be messed with for the rest of the year.

Linebacker Bobby Wagner explained the importance of the Week 12 win on Sirius XM NFL Radio:

While there are still question marks, the most encouraging part of this team is the recent play of Russell Wilson to lead the offense. The quarterback has eight touchdowns and zero interceptions over his last two games after throwing seven picks with only 10 touchdowns in the first nine games. As a result, the Seahawks have scored at least 29 points in each contest.

If the offense can continue to produce anywhere near this rate, Seattle could once again be a Super Bowl contender.

Chicago Bears

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Aaron Rodgers continues to struggle with the Packers offense, but a lot of credit has to go to the Chicago Bears for shutting down the passing attack in a 17-13 Thanksgiving victory. 

Although the Bears defense was a punchline at the start of the season, it has done a good job lately by holding each of the last four opponents to under 20 points scored. The team has responded with three wins in this stretch, all of which came on the road.

Charley Casserly of CSNMA discussed the work defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has done with this unit:

The defense has had to make up for an offense that has struggled to keep anyone on the field this year. Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett—arguably the four most accomplished players on the team—have all missed time this season because of injury. Fortunately, the group is finally starting to get healthy and has the ability to produce down the stretch.

With Jeremy Langford also coming through in recent weeks, the Bears offense can finally live up to expectations.

Even at 5-6, Chicago is certainly within the grasp of a playoff spot thanks to its impressive recent play.

Washington Redskins 

If you haven't been paying attention to the standings, you might be surprised to know the Washington Redskins would be hosting a playoff game if the season ended today. That says a lot about how bad the NFC East has been this year, but it also shows the work this team has done to survive a tough start to the year.

The Redskins were clearly overmatched in road games against the Patriots and Carolina Panthers, but they have won the other three games in the last five weeks to move into a tie for first place in the division. What we have learned is the play doesn't have to be pretty; as long as you win while the other teams lose, you will remain in good shape.

Like the Bears, Washington is also getting healthy after some bad luck earlier in the season. DeSean Jackson clearly makes a difference offensively, and all of a sudden Kirk Cousins seems like a competent quarterback who can help the team win games.

Of course, one big issue is the fact the team is 0-5 on the road and has just two wins away from home since the start of the 2013 season. With three road games still left on the schedule, this could keep the Redskins out of the playoffs.

On the plus side, two games against the Tony Romo-less Dallas Cowboys might be enough to squeak in a division title.

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