NFL Power Rankings: Green Bay Packers and Legitimate Super Bowl Contenders

Not every football team with a winning record is a legitimate Super Bowl contender.  In fact, most winning teams aren’t.  While a handful of squads already have playoff spots locked up, they’ll be eliminated as quickly as they clinched their division.

The five following franchises field the teams that should be taken the most seriously this postseason:

5. Pittsburgh Steelers

No matter how old they get or how many injuries pile up, never count out the Steelers.  Pittsburgh never enters the playoffs as the top contender, but they know how to win in the postseason as well as anyone.  Troy Polamalu still has the Steelers’ defense ranked near the top of the league.

4. New Orleans Saints

After the Saints' crushing loss to the St. Louis Rams, they bounced back strong taking out two hot division rivals in the Tampa  Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons.  If the Packers somehow get knocked off early, the Saints could easily win the conference.  New Orleans has the second highest scoring offense and passing attack in the league behind only Green Bay themselves.

3. Baltimore Ravens

Baltimore is talented enough to be No. 2 on this list, but they’re too inconsistent.  Every time they come up with an impressive showing against the Steelers, they collapse the next week.  As long as they don’t face off against Pittsburgh in the playoffs, though, they should be fine.

The Ravens have put together dominating efforts against talented teams in the Houston Texans and New York Jets.

2. San Francisco 49ers

Yes, the 49ers led by the Alex Smith are real.

San Francisco’s only loss all season long occurred against the Dallas Cowboys in overtime.  Patrick Willis’ crew has the No. 1 ranked defense in the entire NFL and only allows 73.2 yards a game on the ground.  Frank Gore’s reemergence also has a 49ers offense averaging 25.9 points a game.

1. Green Bay Packers

Aaron Rodgers is insane. 

Green Bay could realistically go 19-0.  They haven’t lost a football game since December 12, 2010.  The Packers boast the highest scoring offense in the NFL and no matter what the statistics say, their defense is still a strong unit.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.  Follow him on Twitter.