NFL Power Rankings Week 14: Updated 2015 Analysis Before Thursday Night Football

The middle of the pack in the NFL is a jumbled mess, and the past few weeks haven't provided much clarity. Even with bizarre results each week, the outlook remains mostly the same.

There were certainly disappointing showings from Week 13, from the Washington Redskins to Minnesota Vikings to Houston Texans. Each of these teams had a chance to put itself in good position for the playoffs but came up short in different ways. Despite the failures, it's hard to drop any of them too far based on equal struggles from other squads.

That isn't to say there wasn't some movement in the latest power rankings. A few squads took notable tumbles worth a deeper view. Here is a breakdown of those teams along with the latest outlook for the league heading into Week 14. 

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

Notable Drops

New England Patriots

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

The drop is obviously shorter compared to some of those later down the list, but possibly no team had a worse two weeks than the New England Patriots. The squad has dealt with numerous injuries throughout the season, and it seems the loss of Rob Gronkowski might have the biggest impact of all of them.

New England has now dropped two games to fall to the No. 3 seed in the AFC after dominating the league during a 10-0 start. ESPN's Skip Bayless discussed some of the issues:

Obviously, every team deals with injuries over the course of the year, so no one is going to feel sorry for the Patriots, but it seems these issues are finally catching up. They will not be able to roll over any good teams as long as this is the lineup they are sending out onto the field.

On the other hand, New England is far from raising the white flag on the season. Losing on the road in overtime against an elite Denver Broncos team is understandable, while the recent loss to the Philadelphia Eagles featured three non-offensive touchdowns, something that is tough to replicate.

The problems for Bill Belichick and Co. are real, but this is still one of the best teams in the NFL, and it will be a top contender for the Super Bowl even with the current injuries. The difference over the past two weeks is just that we now know this group is beatable.

Indianapolis Colts

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts came into Week 13 with matching 6-5 records, but it was clear from the Sunday night game only one team was a real playoff contender.

Pittsburgh thoroughly dominated the Colts with a 45-10 victory featuring few bright spots for Indianapolis. Head coach Chuck Pagano gave a simplified explanation for those who were unable to watch, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk:

"

They kicked our ass. Period.

We couldn’t get anything going offensively. No big plays on defense. No run game or pass game. We gave up a punt return at the end. We got beat thoroughly in all three phases. We don’t have a lot of time to sit and dwell on this. It stinks but we have to move on.

"

Indianapolis came into the year with high expectations after reaching the AFC Championship Game a year ago, but every time the team starts showing some promise it takes a huge step back. The team was even playing well with Matt Hasselbeck until the most recent embarrassing effort.

At the moment, the Colts are 6-6, but three of those wins have come within the weak AFC South. They are just 3-6 against the rest of the league, worse than last season's mediocre 5-5 mark outside the division. With the Houston Texans playing better as of late, a division title will be much tougher than initially anticipated.

This is still a team no one would want to face in the playoffs, but getting there will be a challenge.

Chicago Bears

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

There was a small hope the Chicago Bears could overcome a rough start to the year to sneak into the playoffs. At 5-6 entering Week 13, the team was still alive in the NFC wild-card race and still had a shot at the NFC North title. A Minnesota Vikings loss meant the Bears could have been only two games back if they were just able to beat the San Francisco 49ers at home. 

It ended up being too much for the Bears to handle.

Chicago played an awful game that included bad mistakes on offense and defense, a missed field goal by Robbie Gould that could have won the game and one terrible play by the secondary to allow a 71-yard game-winning touchdown in overtime.

Bleacher Report's Dan Pompei believed a lack of focus was an issue:

There definitely seemed to be a turnaround brewing, with three wins in four games and much-improved defensive play, but any positive vibes remaining from this season were lost with Sunday's defeat. 

The Bears—who shockingly fell to 1-5 on the year at home—will now be forced to focus on long-term goals with a playoff spot for this season relatively far out of reach. Although a postseason berth is still possible, fans shouldn't get their hopes up for the rest of this year.

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