NFL Power Rankings: Making a Case for the League's Best Team

The Green Bay Packers are the best team in the NFL right now, and though it seemed that other teams could come close just a few weeks ago, it's now clear that they have few competition for this honor.

At 13-1, the Packers have spent the entirety of the season as heavy favorites to repeat as Super Bowl champions. While doing so is extremely difficult, the Packers seem more than capable of pulling off back-to-back title runs, considering how well they've played in the regular season.

The Packers' greatest strength is their offense, which has been one of the highest-scoring, most productive of the season. They've scored 52 touchdowns this year, 40 of them by way of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his accurate arm.

While they have a single loss to their name, a Week 15 surprise defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs, they still have the best record in football. That single tick in the L column does little or nothing to harm the team's overall value or talent level.

The Packers aren't without their weaknesses, of course, and their biggest is their secondary. They're giving up 289.4 passing yards per game on average, the second-highest average in the league.

This hasn't been much of a problem for the team so far this season, given that their stellar offense has had no trouble scoring points and building insurmountable leads.

While a good offense does not a team make, there are few teams both balanced and consistent this season—I once suggested that the Houston Texans made a convincing argument that they're the NFL's best team, simply because they were more balanced in all phases of the game.

But the Texans have too many question marks to remain in that discussion. With the Packers, you know what you're going to get week after week—high quality of play from an elite offense and a likely Green Bay win. That alone makes them the NFL's top team, at least where the regular season is concerned.

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