NFL Power Rankings Week 16: 2015 Season Review Before Thursday Night Football

A misstep at this stage of the NFL regular season might end up being too great to overcome. As a result, the list of top contenders narrows each week. 

Week 15 featured a number of disappointing showings from quality squads hoping to end the year strong. This doesn't even include the New York Giants or Philadelphia Eagles, two teams that could have benefited from wins but weren't truly expected to win Sunday. 

Games like those didn't create much movement in the power rankings, but a few more surprising results created a bit more of a shift. Here is a look at the latest breakdown of the NFL along with those who had the worst weeks. 

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

Notable Drops

Denver Broncos

There isn't much room for the Pittsburgh Steelers to rise after their come-from-behind win, but the Denver Broncos fell after their second loss in a row.

The 34-27 loss to the Steelers was bad for a few reasons. On one hand, it showcased the inconsistency of the Broncos offense. Quarterback Brock Osweiler led the team to 27 points in the first half but zero in the second half as the team struggled to even move the football after intermission. Denver abandoned the run early and put the pressure on the fourth-year quarterback, who struggled.

To make matters worse, the elite defense showed holes we haven't seen all year. Not only did Steelers wideout Antonio Brown run wild (16 catches, 189 yards and two touchdowns), but both Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton had strong games. Injuries at safety have created question marks in the secondary after a dominant start to the year.

While the Broncos still have a good record, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future, as noted by Trey Wingo of ESPN:

Considering Denver was almost a lock to earn a bye a few weeks ago, this is definitely surprising. Whether Osweiler remains under center the rest of the season or Peyton Manning returns, it's clear this team is in trouble going forward.

Indianapolis Colts

Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

All season long, fans were waiting for the Indianapolis Colts to finally wake up and become a contender in the AFC. That simply never happened, and now the team is likely looking at only its second year without a playoff berth since 2002.

Even at 6-7, the Colts had a golden opportunity to take control of the division in Week 15. They had a home game against the division rival Houston Texans where a win could almost seal a title. The opponent also had to play with backup quarterback T.J. Yates and eventually Brandon Weeden because of injuries.

Despite these advantages, Weeden actually found a way to lead the Texans to a fourth-quarter comeback and the franchise's first win ever in Indianapolis.

"To win the game, no one had to do anything super heroic," Colts backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said, per Michael Marot of the Associated Press (via WISHTV.com). "Just play the game. No capes or anything. Just don’t shoot yourself in the foot, but we did."

With just 190 total yards of offense to go with 94 penalty yards, the Colts clearly shot themselves in the foot all game long. Indianapolis now needs to win its last two games and hope for help in the form of Houston losses. All of this needs to happen with an aging (40), banged-up Hasselbeck starting at quarterback.

Andrew Luck's injury certainly helped contribute to the problems, but this has just been a wasted season from the start.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had only a slim chance of making the playoffs heading into Week 15, there were winnable games against the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears before potentially playing the Carolina Panthers' backups in Week 17 if they chose to rest their starters.

The problem is the Buccaneers didn't even give themselves a chance with a disappointing showing Thursday night against the Rams.

Both teams came out in ugly uniforms, but it was Tampa Bay that was uglier in performance in allowing St. Louis to build up a 28-6 lead through three quarters. Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin glided through poor tackling defensively, while it seemed everyone struggled to do his job on offense.

According to Jeff Tewksbury of Fox 13, the coaching staff wasn't happy with the quarterback's mentality in the game either:

Rookie Jameis Winston did show a lot of positives in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late for a team that needed to win. The quarterback might be able to lead this group to the playoffs before too long, but this most recent loss should sit with the Buccaneers for a while.

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