NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Debating Whether AFC or NFC Rules the League

While it's a close race, it looks like the AFC is the stronger conference in the NFL through eight weeks; at least, that appears to be the case when examining my Week 9 power rankings.

NFC teams appear four times in the Top 10, while the AFC has six of the league's very best. While the top two teams—the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, respectively—come from the NFC, making a very strong case for that conference being tops in the NFL, the next five teams are AFC squads.

While those teams come from three divisions, the AFC North and East appear most often, with a whopping three AFC North teams and two AFC East teams ranking in the Top 10.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals have emerged this season as serious powerhouses, as have the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, on the strength of their powerful offenses, and in the case of the AFC North, complimentary bruising defenses.

In the top half of the rankings, nine teams come from the AFC and seven from the NFC. The NFC as a whole is clearly dragged down by its West division which has a combined 10 wins among them, six of them earned by the No. 2 49ers.

One thing to keep in mind about the AFC, however, is that the three worst teams in the league thus far come from the conference. The Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts have just two total wins (both belonging to the Broncos), and it's hard to imagine any of those teams making significant moves up the rankings.

While the fact that the NFC holds the top two spots in the league after eight weeks and the AFC holds the bottom three seems to suggest that the NFC is the stronger conference, the balance of the better teams comes from the AFC, making it altogether more competitive, and thus more dominant in the NFL.

The playoff picture for the NFC is thus clearer; the AFC, on the other hand, remains a wide-open conference, ready for any of its top teams to win their respective divisions and head to the postseason.

While true conference dominance won't truly rear its head until the Super Bowl champion is ultimately crowned, it's looking like the AFC is the more difficult conference to play in, with the greater number of high-caliber teams.

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