NFL Power Rankings Week 13: Division Standings, Latest 2018-19 Super Bowl Odds

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Coming out of a holiday weekend featuring a trio of Thursday games, the NFL power rankings and the long-term outlook for the postseason naturally take a major shift. 

As the cold of winter starts to set in, pretenders start to fade and contenders continue to make statements. Teams like the Cincinnati Bengals keep drifting further out of the equation while contenders like the Seattle Seahawks keep on making themselves known. 

Before Week 13 throws another list of outcomes into the fire, starting hot on Thursday with New Orleans against Dallas, let's catch up with the latest power rankings and how oddsmakers out of Las Vegas have adjusted Super Bowl odds. 

2018 NFL Power Rankings and Super Bowl Odds

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Odds courtesy of OddsShark. 

Division Standings

AFC East

New England Patriots 8-3 
Miami Dolphins 5-6 
Buffalo Bills 4-7 
New York Jets 3-8

AFC North 

Pittsburgh Steelers 7-3-1
Baltimore Ravens 6-5 
Cincinnati Bengals 5-6 
Cleveland Browns 4-6-1

AFC South

Houston Texans 7-3 
Indianapolis Colts 6-5 
Tennessee Titans 5-5 
Jacksonville Jaguars 3-8 

AFC West

Kansas City Chiefs 9-2 
Los Angeles Chargers 8-3 
Denver Broncos 5-6 
Oakland Raiders 2-9 

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys 6-5 
Washington Redskins 6-5 
Philadelphia Eagles 5-6 
New York Giants 3-8 

NFC North

Chicago Bears 8-3 
Minnesota Vikings 6-4-1
Green Bay Packers 4-6-1
Detroit Lions 4-7 

NFC South 

New Orleans Saints 10-1 
Carolina Panthers 6-5 
Atlanta Falcons 4-7 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-7 

NFC West

Los Angeles Rams 10-1
Seattle Seahawks 6-5
Arizona Cardinals 2-9 
San Francisco 49ers 2-9 

Forget It: Carolina Panthers

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

Remember sticking a fork in the holiday meal to see if it was done? 

That's where things are with the Carolina Panthers after the team's third straight loss. This time it happened at home at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, a 30-27 affair in which the Panthers ran for 220 yards and a score on an 8.1 per-carry average but couldn't slow Russell Wilson. 

Taking a bigger look at the Panthers' season is now worrisome. The three-game skid came at the hands of solid teams like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Seattle. A three-game streak before that was the result of them simply exploiting Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Philadelphia teams. Two other wins came against bad New York Giants and Cincinnati teams. 

In other words, it is time to readjust expectations no matter how well Newton continues to play: 

Now apply the well-established problems to the rest of the season, where nothing is assured in divisional games against Tampa Bay and Atlanta, nor are games against Cleveland and two against New Orleans favorable in any way. 

It's a shame a stellar season from Newton continues to get lost in the mess that is the Panthers right now, but the team simply isn't performing the way it probably should and now it is out of the playoff picture looking in and behind a key contender like Seattle, making the season-long odds shrug-worthy at best. 

Sleeper: Denver Broncos  

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

Maybe don't give up on the Denver Broncos just yet. 

Those Broncos have won two in a row, pulling off upsets over the Los Angeles Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers in consecutive weeks. 

But perhaps the four weeks before that were even more impressive, with the team playing a strong Houston team close in a two-point loss, losing to Kansas City on the road by just one score and losing to the Los Angeles Rams by all of three points. 

While it sounds weird to talk up a team losing close games, the recent track record shows just how close the Broncos are. Phillip Lindsay is one of the NFL's next big things at running back and the Von Miller-led defense has surrendered more than 23 points in a game just once over its last six outings despite the quality of competition. 

Lindsay's status as flying under the radar is now 100 percent over: 

As longtime bettors know, a strong running game and defense combo can go a long way in the playoffs. The Broncos are one of four teams at 5-6 right now and have a laughably easy end-of-season stretch: 

• At Cincinnati
• At San Francisco
• Cleveland
• At Oakland
• Chargers

That's one game against a team with a winning record and all winnable games outright for a defense that never stopped playing well and an offense finally finding its stride (Case Keenum has multiple touchdowns in four of his last seven games). 

The Broncos might be able to control their own destiny here, making what they bring to the table quite an attractive payout possibility. 

Believe It: Indianapolis Colts 

AJ Mast/Associated Press

If you ignore the Indianapolis Colts, you'll risk missing out on the team that surprises and wins it all. 

But it wouldn't be much of a surprise at this point for those paying attention. It's easy to do a hand wave at both the Colts and the AFC South as a whole and focus on bigger names. 

Doing so discounts Andrew Luck, though. 

Luck has been on fire and only getting better each step of the way this year as the offense expands around his improving health.

He's now up to three or more touchdown passes in eight consecutive games, where the Colts have a 5-3 record: 

Granted, the Colts have taken care of business against erratic teams like Jacksonville and Tennessee in recent weeks. But the front office has hit the jackpot with two of the NFL's best outright rookies—offensive lineman Quenton Nelson and linebacker Darius Leonard. 

The former has allowed just one sack of Luck in the last six games, and the latter is helping a formerly miserable unit to perform at a higher level, if not improve as the season continues.

Luck remaining upright is key, especially down the stretch in a schedule with winnable games against Jacksonville, Houston, Dallas, the Giants and Tennessee. 

It wouldn't be much of a shock to see the Colts win out, but either way, the AFC South is still in play, and if not, getting in over the bunched-up five-win teams seems like a given. From there, Luck is a few hot games away from doing the unthinkable.