NFL Rankings Week 11: Surprise Teams Best Positioned for a Playoff Run

The 2011-12 NFL season has been a wild one, to say the least, and numerous teams have a chance to make the playoffs after being written off early in the season, or even before it began.

There are teams that have surprised the NFL world from the beginning of the season, and there are teams that have had bounces go their way recently, giving them an opportunity to determine their own postseason destiny.

Injuries have had a lot to do with some teams' success because of key players going down for divisional opponents, but the job still has to be finished by the teams hunting for a postseason berth.

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos haven't achieved all of their success this season on their own. Because their division, the AFC West, is so weak, they have an opportunity any under-five-hundred team could only dream about.

Denver (4-5) is currently tied for second place in the AFC West with the San Diego Chargers, who have had a disappointing season thus far, and the division-leading Oakland Raiders are only one game ahead of Denver with a 5-4 record.

The Broncos began their season with Kyle Orton as their quarterback, and he led them to a 1-3 record. Tim Tebow has since taken over the starting QB duties and is 3-1 as a starter this season.

Despite Tebow's doubters and his stat line, he has managed to lead his team to three wins and an opportunity to make the playoffs.

If the rest of the AFC West continue to disappoint, Tebow and the Broncos have a good chance to appear in the playoffs.

San Francisco 49ers

At this point in the 2011-12 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers have all but clinched the NFC West with an 8-1 record.

Eleven weeks into the season, it's no surprise the 49ers can make a playoff run, but if you told me before the season you thought San Fran would have only one loss, I'd immediately call your bluff — especially with a new head coach this season in Jim Harbaugh.

I guess Harbaugh has a knack for winning.

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears were one game away from going to the Super Bowl in 2011 before losing to the soon-to-be champion Green Bay Packers, so it should be no surprise the Bears are looking as good as they are after their first nine games.

However, Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears started the season with a 2-3 record, and many people were ready to write off the Bears and speculate about the organization cleaning house.

Well, the Bears have since won four consecutive games, and they'd have one of the two NFC Wild Cards if the regular season ended today.

The Bears look like one of the most dangerous teams in the NFC, behind the undefeated Packers, because they have threats in all three aspects of the game: defense, offense and special teams.

Look out for the Bears to replicate their playoff run from the 2010-11 season.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals had to deal with Carson Palmer's saga before the start of the 2011-12 season, and no one thought they'd have a good season behind rookie quarterback Andy Dalton.

Dalton is proving all of Cincinnati's critics wrong, and he's rapidly making Bengals fans forget about what Carson Palmer did for the franchise.

Cincinnati has a record of 6-3, and they would occupy one of the AFC's Wild Card spots if the season ended today.

The Bengals don't have the easiest division, considering they have to play the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens a combined four times, but Cincy has been holding its own.

Their remaining schedule isn't the easiest, but they have a chance to appear in the postseason if they win the games they're supposed to.

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans are currently in second place of the AFC South with a record of 5-4. The division leader is the Houston Texans with a 7-3 record.

The good news for Tennessee is that Houston has had more go wrong throughout the first 11 weeks of the 2011-12 NFL season than I would ever wish upon my biggest rival. Arian Foster missed the first couple of games, Mario Williams may be out for the year, it's uncertain as to when Andre Johnson will take the field again and now Matt Schaub is out for the year. That means Matt Leinart is taking over starting QB duties for the Texans.

Anything can happen in favor of the Titans with Leinart leading Houston. Hey, Houston can lose every game from here on out, and if Tennessee does its job, the team can make the playoffs.

Don't count the Titans out, just yet.