2011 NFL Regular Season Report Card: Grading Every Division

The NFL regular season is wrapped up, and now it's time to talk about year-end report cards. Every year, divisions shift from dominant to weak, while others seem to only get stronger.

Here's the breakdown of every division in the NFL based on how strongly each of their four respective teams have performed this year.

Grades are based on preseason expectations, how well teams have met those expectations and of course, overall win-loss records of each team.

AFC North

Thanks to fielding two of the premier teams in the NFL, the AFC North has been one of the strongest divisions in the NFL for a decade. But now that three of their four teams are boasting winning records and will all make the playoffs, it's clear the AFC North is the top-performing division in the NFL this season.

The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers have remained two of the very best teams in not just the AFC, but the entire league this year. Both teams finished the season with 12-4 records and are definite Super Bowl contenders.

But what has really elevated the AFC North this season has been the Cincinnati Bengals. Headed into the regular season, there was little reason to think that the Bengals would have a good year.

With a rookie quarterback under center, a rookie receiver as his primary target and the specter of general mismanagement hanging over the team, it seemed like the Bengals would struggle to net themselves three or four wins.

The Bengals have finished the regular season with a 9-7 record, with four losses coming to the Ravens and Steelers. The Cleveland Browns are the only weak cog in the division, though at 4-11, they're not the worst team in the AFC, let alone the league.

Grade: A-

NFC North

The NFC North, as a whole, started the season strongly, with the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears all appearing to be heavy playoff favorites.

While the Packers and Lions have maintained that strong performance throughout the season, injuries have hobbled the Bears and left them out of playoff contention.

Though it's unfair to grade the division based on the freak injuries that have befallen the Bears, the way they've responded to them (hint: poorly) has managed to drag the entire division down.

But the single-most glaring deficiency in the NFC North this season has been the Minnesota Vikings. At 3-13, it's the worst season the team has had in franchise history.

The Vikings' problems are myriad, but they start at quarterback. Rookie Christian Ponder has had a poor first season in the league, and his mistakes have only served to damage a team that will likely need to have an offseason of rebuilding to contend in such a highly competitive division in 2012.

Grade: B-

AFC East

Heading into the 2011 regular season, it seemed that it would be business as usual in the AFC East, with the New England Patriots and New York Jets pulling ahead while the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins languished among the bottom of the league's barrel.

However, now that the season has wrapped up, it's just the Patriots on top, separating themselves as one of the best teams in the league and the top team in the conference, while the remaining three teams are all in trouble for different reasons.

The Bills started the year strongly, but have collapsed in the second half of the season, ending the year at 6-10. The Jets, who have reached the AFC championship game for the last two years in a row, have been eliminated from playoff contention with an 8-8 record and a bit of soul-searching to do in the offseason.

The Dolphins, despite being 6-10 on the year, have quite a bit of promise. After starting the season 0-7, they turned things around enough to lose just three of their remaining nine games. However, with a sub-.500 record, Miami doesn't do much to elevate their division.

One Super Bowl-caliber team does not a division make. Despite how well the Patriots have played this season, their division mates drag the whole AFC East down.

Grade: C

NFC East

There are a few all-around disappointing divisions in the NFL this season, but perhaps none have been as underwhelming as the NFC East this season.

The Philadelphia Eagles wheeled and dealed themselves into generating Super Bowl buzz before the regular season even started, but they never came together as a team, and the results were telling.

The Washington Redskins started the season positively enough, but any team starting either (or in Washington's case, both) Rex Grossman and John Beck won't put together a good season, and that's evidenced in the team's 5-11 record this season.

The Giants put on an aerial display against the beleaguered Cowboys defense on Sunday night. Initially, this game seemed like a toss-up, not because any team is in any way dominant but rather because of how inconsistent both teams are.

The Cowboys have been up and down all season long, while the Giants have executed their trademark "win in the first half, lose in the second half" strategy of recent seasons perfectly.

When the teams in the NFC East are good, they're still just on this side of middling, but when they play poorly, it's some of the worst football seen all season. On paper, the NFC East seems like a tough division, but in practice, it's one of the weakest.

Grade: D+

AFC South

The poor play of the Indianapolis Colts is reason number one why the AFC South isn't a stronger division.

However, a close second is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have ended their year as the worst offense in the league, helmed by the NFL's worst quarterback, rookie Blaine Gabbert.

The Colts and the Jaguars have just six wins between them, and both are going to have to undertake major rebuilding efforts if they are to be anywhere close to contending for a divisional title in 2012.

On the other end of the spectrum are the Houston Texans, who have clinched the divisional title and a playoff berth for the first time in franchise history.

The Texans have managed to win 10 games this season despite a number of injuries plaguing starters on both sides of the ball, including two season-enders for quarterbacks Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart that has fifth-round draft pick T.J. Yates under center for the team.

However, those 10 wins don't mitigate the fact that the rest of the division has struggled. The Tennessee Titans have been too up-and-down to build significant momentum, the Colts and Jaguars are in disarray, and thus, as a whole, the AFC South has a poor grade for the season.

Grade: D

NFC South

Two playoff teams have come from the NFC South this year, while another of the division's teams has the season's top rookie, making quite a case for the division to be one of the strongest in the league.

The New Orleans Saints are the most offensively-successful team in the NFL this year, and the Atlanta Falcons are as strong as always. The Carolina Panthers, while ending their year at 6-10, have four more wins than they did last season thanks to rookie quarterback Cam Newton.

But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-6 in 2010, have been miserable in 2011. At 4-12 on the season, the Buccaneers are in such bad shape that it's hard to imagine the team not cleaning house in the offseason to become competitive in what's likely to be a very scary division in 2012.

The Panthers had problems on defense and special teams this season, with injuries partly to blame. On offense, however, there have been few teams in 2011 more effective or explosive.

Though Carolina has a losing record and the Buccaneers are just plain bad, there is so much talent and so many redeeming things about the NFC South that proves the division, collectively, is one of the league's best.

Grade: B-

AFC West

It's been a few years since the AFC West has been one of the stronger divisions in the NFL, and this year, it is one of the weakest in the league.

The divisional lead has changed hands a number of times, as the San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders have all alternated between flashes of greatness and total failure.

No team in the division has more than nine wins, and the Broncos have to be the longest shot to win the Super Bowl.

It's been a quarterback carousel for three of the division's four teams, with the Raiders moving to Carson Palmer under center after Jason Campbell suffered an early-season injury and the Broncos switching to Tim Tebow after being underwhelmed by the skills of Kyle Orton.

Orton himself is now the starter for the Chiefs after Matt Cassel was lost for the season with an injury and his replacement, Tyler Palko, played horribly.

Only the Chargers have had stability at quarterback, but even that is relative. Quarterback Philip Rivers had the worst year of his professional career, with 27 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. The team came into this season as AFC favorites to make it to the Super Bowl, and although they strung together a few wins at the end of the season, it was a disastrous year in San Diego.

Yet again, the AFC West has underwhelmed, and their final grade on the season reflects this.

Grade: D

NFC West

The NFC West has been the worst division in the NFL for the past few seasons, and while this year has been better for the division as a whole, there's still a long way to go before it can be considered one of the NFL's most competitive.

Despite the amazing year that the San Francisco 49ers have had, going 13-3 and earning themselves the No. 2 seed in the NFC heading into the playoffs, the remaining three teams in the division have won just 16 games combined, with the St. Louis Rams ending their year at 2-14.

The Rams were heavily favored to win the division this year, but a number of injuries—and the inability to compensate for them—have left them in serious trouble.

The Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals have had some good games to their name and field some of the league's most well-known and reliable playmakers, but neither have ended the year above .500.

Though San Francisco is one of the best and well-balanced teams in the NFL this year, their success and talent isn't enough to significantly lift the overall grade of the NFC West this year. They pass, but barely.

Grade: C