NFL Power Rankings Week 17: Latest Review and 2017-18 Super Bowl Odds

The penultimate week of NFL action for the 2017 season helped settle the power-rankings outlook in a big way.

Spoilers Cincinnati Bengals spread a little holiday cheer by eliminating the Detroit Lions. Hot teams earlier in the year like the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars continued to cool off, too, while even unexpected risers like the San Francisco 49ers kept rolling.

All that remains now is one week of action where those eliminated teams will look to stay competitive and playoff teams healthy.

Two games remain on the Week 16 slate, but the complexion of the league shifted dramatically, and it's time to take a look at where things stand.

2017 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

Rank	Team
1	New England Patriots (5-2)
2	Philadelphia Eagles (10-1)
3	Minnesota Vikings (23-4)
4	Pittsburgh Steelers (13-2)
5	Los Angeles Rams (10-1)
6	Carolina Panthers (18-1)
7	New Orleans Saints (10-1)
8	Jacksonville Jaguars (14-1)
9	Baltimore Ravens (28-1)
10	Kansas City Chiefs (18-1)
11	Atlanta Falcons (14-1)
12	Seattle Seahawks (50-1)
13	Dallas Cowboys (33-1)
14	Los Angeles Chargers (50-1)
15	Buffalo Bills (150-1)
16	Tennessee Titans (100-1)
17	Detroit Lions (100-1)
18	Green Bay Packers (18-1)
19	San Francisco 49ers (5,000-1)
20	Washington Redskins (300-1)
21	Arizona Cardinals (1,000-1)
22	Cincinnati Bengals (750-1)
23	Oakland Raiders (150-1)
24	Miami Dolphins (500-1)
25	Chicago Bears (1,000-1)
26	New York Jets (300-1)
27	Houston Texans (1,000-1)
28	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1,000-1)
29	Denver Broncos (1,000-1)
30	Indianapolis Colts (1,000-1)
31	New York Giants (1,000-1)
32	Cleveland Browns (5,000-1)

Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles Rams Take Home Week 15 Built Ford Tough Offensive Line of the Week

Who can stop these Los Angeles Rams?

Facing a tough Tennessee Titans team on the road in Week 14, the Rams escaped with a 27-23 victory on the back of a four-touchdown game from Jared Goff.

Goff hit three different targets with his four scores, two of them going to running back Todd Gurley. Now a surefire MVP contender, Gurley didn't just have 158 yards receiving and the two scores, he also rushed for 118 yards on an average north of five yards.

Randall Liu, the NFL's director of communications, put his season into context:

Now NFC West champions, the Rams close the season against the red-hot 49ers, and the goal there will be staying healthy more than anything else.

This, of course, is the luxury a team gets for beating opponents like Jacksonville, New Orleans and Seattle while boasting a quarterback who looks nothing like the guy who played last year after a complete culture shift. This change and consistency have the Rams looking like a favorite in the NFC.

New England Patriots

Speaking of unstoppable-looking teams, it's hard not to bring up the New England Patriots.

Boasting all of one loss since Week 5, in an odd anomaly of a game against a rival, the Patriots went out and fired a warning shot to the rest of the league, whipping the Buffalo Bills in 37-16 fashion.

Tom Brady only needed to throw two touchdowns as the ground game opened up and scored twice on its own.

This latest outburst was a combination of the Patriots gearing into playoff form and the Bills collapsing:

Bills struggling or not, the Patriots were down a few key defenders like Kyle Van Noy, making it all the more impressive they held Tyrod Taylor without a touchdown pass and held Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers to 24 points in a win the week prior.

From here, the Patriots sit in a great position in the AFC. Not only do the Jaguars continue to struggle, teams like Baltimore and Tennessee aren't overly dangerous, provided Brady and Co. keep playing at this level.

New England closes the season against a five-win New York Jets team, meaning the biggest hurdle the rest of the way is losing rhythm. Knowing the Patriots and how oddsmakers have this line set, it shouldn't be much of a concern.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks, at worst, are survivors.

After dropping two games in a row, the Seahawks could have shown up lame and dropped a third in a row against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16.

Instead? The Seahawks pushed through to a 21-12 victory while Russell Wilson tossed two touchdowns. His defense seemed rejuvenated as well, picking off Dak Prescott twice and spoiling Ezekiel Elliott's return while holding him to less than 100 yards rushing.

David Helman of the Cowboys' official website contextualized how odd the game was:

"I'm really proud of that win," Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said, according to ESPN.com's Brady Henderson. "Based on coming back from last week and not liking what happened, there weren't very many people who thought we had a chance to play like that, so it was a really good football game."

Viewed another way, the Seahawks had the Cowboys looking lost at home with the playoffs at stake. The Cowboys aren't necessarily the best barometer this season, but these Seahawks have still split with the Rams and took down an elite team like Philadelphia.

The Seahawks don't have an easy path to the playoffs by any means. But when they're injured and doubted, they clearly show up.

It'll be more of the same in Week 17 against an Arizona Cardinals team they've beat once. And even in the deep NFC, a player like Wilson and a team like the Seahawks are as dangerous as it gets.

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. Odds according to OddsShark.