NFL Power Rankings: Looking at the Worst Teams in Each Conference

Two teams in each the AFC and NFC are looking worse and worse as the weeks wear on, and it's a long, uphill battle if they want to end their season at .500 or better.

In the AFC, it's clear which team is the worst of the worst—the 0-10 Indianapolis Colts. Losing quarterback Peyton Manning (and being unprepared for his absence) set off an avalanche of failure for this usually-dominant team, and it's hard to imagine them emerging from their Week 11 bye revitalized and ready to win.

Instead, the Colts should spend the bye seriously considering gutting their front-office and coaching staffs.

Team Vice Chairman Bill Polian clearly still stands by coach Jim Caldwell and defensive coordinator Larry Coyer despite the team's numerous problems, indicating that not only do Caldwell and Coyer deserve the boot, but that owner Jim Irsay will have to do it himself, clearing the stubborn and delusional Polian out with them.

While the team made a good decision in finally benching quarterback Curtis Painter for backup Dan Orlovsky, that's only one piece of a very bleak puzzle.

With the season clearly lost as it is, it's time for the team to realize that certain things are broken beyond repair. Better to make a clean break from what ails them now and work on rebuilding for 2012.

The Kansas City Chiefs are in a completely different situation than the Colts but remain at the bottom of the AFC after losing their last two games in a row.

Prior to those two losses, Kansas City won four in a row, but the fact that they dropped first to the Miami Dolphins, 31-3, in Week 9 and to the Denver Broncos, 17-10, despite Denver's Tim Tebow completing only two passes, proves that the Chiefs are more like the 0-3 team they were to start the season.

The Chiefs are inconsistent, earning surprising wins over supposedly tough teams while dropping to squads they should easily beat. The only thing assisting them right now is the sorry state of their AFC West division, which has three of its four teams at 4-5.

But those 4-5 records don't belie a tough division; instead, it indicates just how much each of those four teams have struggled to maintain a consistently high level of play throughout the season.

Two of the worst teams in the NFC share a division, with the East division's Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles suffering from unexpected slumps that have them each with 3-6 records.

The Redskins earned those three wins in their first four games and have dropped their last five in a row. From numerous injuries to the inability to run the ball, from flattening defensive play to terrible quarterbacking from both John Beck and Rex Grossman, the Redskins have a lot of work to do to dig themselves out of their considerable hole.

In contrast, the Philadelphia Eagles appeared to cure what ailed them to start the season, as they began the year 1-4 before winning two games in a row, looking stronger on defense and more consistent and explosive on offense.

But then they dropped their next two games, losing to the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals in Weeks 9 and 10. Philadelphia's defense and offense both regressed to their early-season behavior, while clock management, play calling and discipline issues remain continuing problems for the one-time postseason favorites.

With four of their remaining six games against difficult teams—the New York Giants, New York Jets, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys—ahead, the Eagles' supposed dream is a clear nightmare, one that head coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Juan Castillo may wake up from unemployed.

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

*Subject to change pending outcome of Monday night's Packers-Vikings contest