NFL Power Rankings Week 16: 2017-18 Conference Standings and Super Bowl Odds

NFL power rankings heading into Week 16 align rather well with the rapidly-cementing playoff picture. 

Meaning, the rankings do a great job of reflecting what an odd season 2017 has been—the Jacksonville Jaguars rank near the New England Patriots and both Jared Goff and Case Keenum have teams looking like major contenders. 

The oddities don't stop there. Teams like the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in and the Philadelphia Eagles, now led by Nick Foles, have the best record in football. 

Below, we'll update rankings to provide a resource for those looking to play Super Bowl odds or otherwise. 

2017 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

Rank	Team
1	New England Patriots (12-5)
2	Philadelphia Eagles (9-1)
3	Pittsburgh Steelers (6-1)
4	Minnesota Vikings (13-2)
5	Los Angeles Rams (9-1)
6	Jacksonville Jaguars (14-1)
7	Carolina Panthers (16-1)
8	New Orleans Saints (9-1)
9	Atlanta Falcons (16-1)
10	Baltimore Ravens (33-1)
11	Kansas City Chiefs (16-1)
12	Dallas Cowboys (33-1)
13	Detroit Lions (100-1)
14	Los Angeles Chargers (50-1)
15	Buffalo Bills (100-1)
16	Seattle Seahawks (50-1)
17	Tennessee Titans (100-1)
18	Green Bay Packers (18-1)
19	Washington Redskins (300-1)
20	Arizona Cardinals (1000-1)
21	Oakland Raiders (150-1)
22	Miami Dolphins (500-1)
23	San Francisco 49ers (5000-1)
24	Chicago Bears (1000-1)
25	New York Jets (300-1)
26	Cincinnati Bengals (750-1)
27	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1000-1)
28	Houston Texans (1000-1)
29	Denver Broncos (1000-1)
30	Indianapolis Colts (1000-1)
31	New York Giants (1000-1)
32	Cleveland Browns (5000-1)

Conference Standings 

AFC 

1. z - New England Patriots, 11-3
2. z - Pittsburgh Steelers, 11-3
3. x - Jacksonville Jaguars, 10-4
4. Kansas City Chiefs, 8-6
5. Tennessee Titans, 8-6
6. Buffalo Bills, 8-6
7. Baltimore Ravens, 8-6
8. Los Angeles Chargers, 7-7
9. Oakland Raiders, 6-8
10. Miami Dolphins, 6-8
11. New York Jets, 5-9
12. Cincinnati Bengals, 5-9
13. Denver Broncos, 5-9
14. Houston Texans, 4-10
15. Indianapolis Colts, 3-11
16. Cleveland Browns, 0-14

NFC 

1. z - Philadelphia Eagles, 12-2
2. z - Minnesota Vikings, 11-3
3. Los Angeles Rams, 10-4
4. New Orleans Saints, 10-4
5. Carolina Panthers, 10-4
6. Atlanta Falcons, 8-5
7. Detroit Lions, 8-6
8. Seattle Seahawks, 8-6
9. Dallas Cowboys, 8-6
10. Green Bay Packers, 7-7
11. Washington Redskins, 6-8
12. Arizona Cardinals, 6-8
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4-9
14. San Francisco 49ers, 4-10
15. Chicago Bears, 4-10
16. New York Giants, 2-12

(x - clinched playoffs; z - clinched division; * clinched division and homefield advantage)

Sleeper to Know: Baltimore Ravens (33-1)

Fans seem to have overlooked the Baltimore Ravens, which is a good thing for bettors who want a respectable payout alongside a team with a good chance of making a run. 

Baltimore hasn't looked great all year, yet it turns out some of those losses (Jacksonville, Minnesota) aren't as bad as originally thought. And the Joe Flacco-led squad knows a thing or two about turning it on when it matters most. 

Flacco himself has five touchdowns against one interception over his past three outings, only one of those a loss—a close 39-38 affair against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Overall? The Ravens have won four of their last five and discovered a strong running game led by Alex Collins, who now has 844 yards and five touchdowns on a 4.9 per-carry average. Plays like this are what the Ravens missed most of the season: 

Feel free to sprinkle in a defense only allowing 18.3 points per game, as expected. 

As a whole, the Ravens are a bit of an uninspiring team—but bettors have been down this road before. Flacco's side is 8-6 and has a chance to slip into the playoffs, where a strong running game and great defense can make all the difference.  

Must-Avoid Team: Tennessee Titans (100-1)

John Hefti/Associated Press

For now, the Tennessee Titans sit in a better spot in the playoff standings than the Ravens thanks to a tiebreaker based on conference wins. 

For now. 

The Titans have lost two games in a row, the first a 12-7 affair at the hands of a 6-8 Arizona Cardinals team. Then they coughed up a 25-23 loss in Week 15 to the 4-10 San Francisco 49ers on a late field goal. 

That last loss has the Titans reflecting on where they're going wrong offensively and openly calling for Marcus Mariota to have more control. 

"I’d rather have Marcus calling the shots," Titans receiver Rishard Matthews said, per ESPN.com's Cameron Wolfe. "There’s proof in the success when that happens. I’d like to do no-huddle more. I know we’d all like to do it more. We definitely talk about it a lot. Sometimes we go into it a lot. Sometimes we don’t. This game we stayed in it, and I feel like we were pretty good when were in it."

But it might be too little, too late. Tennessee's defense isn't playing terrible football, but Mariota has all of 12 touchdowns against 14 interceptions and though Derrick Henry is having a great year, lead back DeMarco Murray is only averaging 3.6 yards per carry. 

The remainder of the schedule is the problem for the Titans. Whereas Baltimore and others surrounding them don't have it too tough, Mariota's side has to finish against contenders like the Los Angeles Rams and Jaguars. 

In a season where the Titans have stumbled in the division, despite injuries to Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson and Blake Bortles leading the Jaguars, it's advisable to look elsewhere for a team to back. 

Worth a Look: Los Angeles Rams (9-1)

The 10-win Los Angeles Rams has an odd ring to it. So does the division-leader Los Angeles Rams. 

Alas, here we are. 

The Rams have won three of their last four, losing a respectable game to Philadelphia and following it up with a complete mockery of the Seattle Seahawks, a 42-7 stomping in Seattle where Goff only needed to throw for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 14 completions. 

Why? Todd Gurley, mostly: 

Gurley torched the Seahawks for 152 yards and three rushing scores on a 7.2 per-carry average. He also caught all three of his targets, taking one for yet another touchdown. Based on that and his 1,187 yards and 13 touchdowns with two games to go, it's safe to consider Gurley an MVP candidate. 

But the positives surrounding the Rams go well beyond the star running back. Goff looks like a different player this year and has five targets with multiple touchdown receptions. The defense has 47 sacks and only allows 19.4 points per game, too. 

The Rams finish the year against those Titans and 49ers, something of a cupcake schedule before getting into the NFC playoffs. There, the Rams can hope the three teams from the NFC South cannibalize each other a bit and otherwise have to worry about Keenum and Foles. 

It's flying a bit under the radar, but the Rams seem to have a blueprint in place for quite a special run.

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