WhatIfSports NFL Power Rankings: Week 17

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

December 22nd, 2008

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its NFL football simulation engine to present the most comprehensive, deterministic and unbiased ranking of all 32 teams. We simulated every possible match-up in the NFL 100 times, and used the winning percentages from those nearly 50,000 games to evaluate all every team.

All 32 teams are ranked below with their average points for and against from the simulated games. Simulations are based on strength-of-schedule-adjusted stats and updated depth charts so significant week-to-week changes could occur.

Teams Ranked by Winning Percentage
(everyone plays everyone 100 times)

	Team	Change	Win Pct	PS/G	PA/G
1.	Tennessee Titans	+2	92.2	28.6	7.0
2.	Baltimore Ravens	+4	86.2	25.7	9.2
3.	New York Giants	+1	85.4	28.2	10.5
4.	Carolina Panthers	-2	74.8	27.4	16.3
5.	New England Patriots	+13	73.9	28.6	17.8
6.	Dallas Cowboys	-1	69.8	27.3	18.7
7.	Philadelphia Eagles	+2	67.2	23.1	16.4
8.	Pittsburgh Steelers	-7	66.8	18.4	11.0
9.	Atlanta Falcons	+5	66.3	25.1	18.1
10.	San Diego Chargers	+5	65.4	25.2	18.9
11.	New Orleans Saints	+5	65.2	27.2	20.6
12.	Washington Redskins	+8	63.7	21.8	15.9
13.	Minnesota Vikings	-6	59.2	22.9	18.3
14.	Miami Dolphins	+3	58.0	23.2	19.2
15.	New York Jets	-5	55.9	24.3	21.9
16.	Chicago Bears	-4	53.4	20.4	18.9
	Team	Change	Win Pct	PS/G	PA/G
17.	Indianapolis Colts	-9	50.4	17.7	17.0
18.	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	-5	48.1	20.7	21.1
19.	Houston Texans	-8	42.1	22.4	25.2
20.	Green Bay Packers	+1	41.0	22.5	26.0
22.	Jacksonville Jaguars	+1	36.8	19.5	25.2
23.	San Francisco 49ers	-1	35.7	18.9	24.9
24.	Arizona Cardinals	-5	35.4	19.0	24.7
25.	Oakland Raiders	+3	31.4	19.7	27.2
26.	Seattle Seahawks	+1	30.2	18.1	26.2
27.	Denver Broncos	-3	28.5	20.1	29.5
28.	Cincinnati Bengals	+3	22.5	14.0	25.6
29.	Kansas City Chiefs	-	18.1	17.4	32.9
30.	Cleveland Browns	-4	16.3	14.5	30.7
31.	St. Louis Rams	+1	13.4	16.3	35.8
32.	Detroit Lions	-2	8.3	15.4	37.9

 

Paul Bessire is the Senior Quantitative Analyst and Content Manager for WhatIfSports.com and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, Paul can be reached at [e-mail]. Thanks!