NFL Power Rankings following r...

A lot has changed since August, but not this: All eyes remain on the Kansas City Chiefs and their chase for a historic third straight Super Bowl title.

The regular season is done and through a series of close wins, combined with a strong finish before Week 18, the Chiefs went 15-2. They're the No. 1 seed in the AFC and they're two home wins from another Super Bowl. A couple teams from our list of the five biggest threats to knock off the Chiefs didn't even make the playoffs. A few remain.

Just like four months ago, we can reasonably identify five threats to stop the Chiefs:

Los Angeles Chargers: It was tough to knock Minnesota off this list, but the Vikings' path is very hard now that they're the No. 5 seed. The Chargers could be the Chiefs' first playoff opponent, and they have the quarterback (Justin Herbert) and head coach (Jim Harbaugh) who can challenge Kansas City. Late in the season, Los Angeles lost j19-17 at Arrowhead Stadium on a field goal as time expired. The Chargers want to control the clock, and their defense held the Chiefs to 17 and 19 points in two regular-season meetings. They're a potential upset threat.

Philadelphia Eagles: This depends on Jalen Hurts' health. As long as he's right, this is a well-balanced team that has playoff experience. The defense is good. The running game had a 2,000-yard rusher. Hurts didn't have a great season but he's capable of great games. The Eagles won 12 of their past 13 for a reason.

Buffalo Bills: This should be obvious since the Bills already beat the Chiefs. The Chiefs' lone loss when they tried this season was a 30-21 Bills win in Week 11. That came in Buffalo, the rematch would be in Kansas City. Josh Allen has played well at Arrowhead before and he has played at an MVP level. It might take a Superman effort to beat Mahomes in the playoffs, and Allen is one of the few players capable of that.

Detroit Lions: If the Lions get a little healthier on defense, they're a real threat. They can also win by simply outscoring good teams; we've seen that. The Chiefs, somehow, never scored more than 30 points in a game this season, so maybe they couldn't exploit the Lions' defense or outscore Detroit. If nothing else, if this matchup happened, everyone outside of Missouri and Kansas would be rooting for Detroit.

Baltimore Ravens: If you're coming up with a recipe to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs, you'd want a future Hall of Fame coach, an MVP quarterback, a stellar running game to control the clock and a defense that is among the NFL's best. Check 'em all for the Ravens. The question was the defense, but since a midseason change in Kyle Hamilton's position back to free safety, the Ravens lead the NFL in multiple defensive categories. Lamar Jackson has never won a Super Bowl, but he has also never had Derrick Henry alongside him. The Ravens would likely need to beat the Bills first, and that's not easy, but this is the team that might profile as the Chiefs' biggest threat.

Here are the NFL Power Rankings at the end of the regular season:

32 (32) Tennessee Titans 3-14

The Titans earned the first draft pick of 2025 by playing a season's worth of miserable football. They seem likely to draft a quarterback, but it's not a great QB class. And the selection wouldn't fix everything anyway. This was a bad team and it might not get much better soon.

31 (30) New York Giants 3-14

In retaining head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen for another season, the Giants stuck to their desire to maintain continuity at the top. The concern is that with both of them clearly on the hot seat, decisions will be made this offseason that aren't necessarily in the Giants' best long-term interests.

30 (31) New England Patriots 4-13

The Patriots moved on from Jerod Mayo after one season, and while it's always shocking when a head coach goes one-and-done, the Patriots decided they had already seen enough. Having the chance to hire Mike Vrabel had to be very high on the list of factors in the decision.

29 (28) Jacksonville Jaguars 4-13

The Jaguars fired head coach Doug Pederson and kept general manager Trent Baalke. That stunned practically everyone. It comes off as team owner Shad Khan not wanting to put in the time, effort or money to find a new coach and GM this offseason.

28 (27) Cleveland Browns 3-14

Deshaun Watson having a setback in his recovery from Achilles surgery has to influence the Browns' decision-making process with the second overall pick of the draft. They can't depend on Watson being ready for Week 1, and he has been terrible anyway. It's probably time to draft a new QB.

27 (29) New Orleans Saints 5-12

The Saints will have to find a high quality candidate who can be sold on working through salary-cap issues, an aging roster in many places and a rough QB situation (unless a candidate loves Spencer Rattler's potential). That won't be easy.

26 (26) Las Vegas Raiders 4-13

The Raiders are apparently keeping head coach Antonio Pierce, which is fine. If Mark Davis changed his mind on Pierce's status because the Raiders beat the Jaguars and Saints, two of the worst teams in the NFL, that's a horrendous process by a franchise that has been bad for way too long.

25 (25) Chicago Bears 5-12

Winning matters. Coming back to beat the Packers allows the Bears to feel better after a tough season. Caleb Williams told Fox after the game, “That's a good start to the 2025 season,” and that's spot-on. That's more important to building something than a few draft position slots.

24 (24) New York Jets 5-12

The Jets are interviewing practically everyone for their vacant head coaching job. Do you trust Woody Johnson to get it right? You shouldn't. Whoever the new coach is will have to have a quick answer for what happens with the Aaron Rodgers situation, if he wants to play again.

23 (23) Carolina Panthers 5-12

Bryce Young heads to the offseason with a five-touchdown game (three passing, two rushing). It's hard to remember the last time a highly drafted quarterback flipped the narrative so quickly on his career after a bad start. Carolina should feel pretty good with Young after his finish.

22 (22) Indianapolis Colts 8-9

The Colts are keeping head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard, and that's not the worst decision. What happens next comes back to Anthony Richardson. If Steichen can't develop him, he'll likely lose his job. So will Ballard, who will have to answer for drafting Richardson fourth overall.

21 (20) San Francisco 49ers 6-11

The 49ers' last-place finish in the NFC West by two games might be the most shocking result of the entire season. And now the 49ers start the very complicated task of Brock Purdy extension talks.

20 (19) Dallas Cowboys 7-10

While everyone waits to see if Mike McCarthy returns, there's also the very important matter of Micah Parsons getting a new contract. He had 2.5 sacks in Week 18, once again showing how important he is to Dallas' defense. Will the Cowboys get an extension done with him?

19 (21) Arizona Cardinals 8-9

Kyler Murray had four touchdowns, playing his best game of the season after the lights weren't bright anymore and the outcome didn't matter. At least that's a positive. Murray needs to be a lot better next season if Arizona is going to be a playoff contender.

18 (17) Atlanta Falcons 8-9

The trio of Michael Penix Jr., Bijan Robinson and Drake London should give the Falcons a lot of hope. They all played well late in the season. The record was beyond disappointing, but the division isn't too hard. A good offseason bolstering the defense could get them in the playoffs next season.

17 (16) Miami Dolphins 8-9

Tyreek Hill not going back in the game, and his rant afterward might be an exit ramp for the Dolphins. Hill played in all 17 games and didn't hit 1,000 yards at age 30. Is it going to get a lot better at age 31, with a $28.7 million salary-cap hit? Maybe this is best for the Dolphins.

16 (18) Seattle Seahawks 10-7

The Seahawks fired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb after one season after making an unconventional hire of a college coordinator who had no NFL experience. It's not like the 10-win Seahawks are far off. They need to make some good decisions this offseason to take the next step.

15 (15) Houston Texans 10-7

The Texans have made the playoffs eight times, and all eight times they have had their first game at 3:30 p.m. CT on the Saturday of wild-card weekend. That's funny. They get a tough matchup this year against a Chargers team that has been better than the Texans most of the season.

14 (10) Pittsburgh Steelers 10-7

The Steelers are a shell of what they were when they were 10-3. They haven't led a game since Dec. 8. Instead of a manageable opponent in Houston, they play at a hot Baltimore team that beat them 34-17 in Week 16. It could get ugly on Saturday night.

13 (14) Cincinnati Bengals 9-8

The Bengals fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and a few other assistants, and that's not surprising. It's almost impossible to have a QB play as well as Joe Burrow did and miss the playoffs. The next step if things don't improve next season will be replacing head coach Zac Taylor.

12 (13) Denver Broncos 10-7

It's kind of amazing that Bo Nix had 3,775 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, helped lead his team to the playoffs and will probably finish third in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. That's OK with the Broncos because they have finally gotten off the quarterback carousel.

11 (12) Los Angeles Rams 10-7

The Rams didn't try on Sunday and fell to the No. 4 spot in the NFC playoffs. That's curious considering they were assured of getting the No. 5 seed, the loser of the Vikings-Lions game, a tougher matchup than the Commanders. Head coach Sean McVay valued rest, and clearly wasn't too scared of either NFC North team.

10 (11) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10-7

Nobody will remember the Buccaneers struggling badly for three quarters against the Saints because they won and the attention was on Mike Evans' streak afterward. It's not the ideal way to go into the playoffs. They'll need to play much better against the Commanders on Sunday night.

9 (7) Green Bay Packers 11-6

The Packers were a blocked field goal from finishing 0-6 in the NFC North. Not ideal. The best thing to say about the Packers all season is they hadn't lost to anyone bad (until Sunday), and that's going to go only so far in the playoffs when everyone is good. Losing Christian Watson won't help either.

8 (8) Washington Commanders 12-5

The Commanders and Buccaneers have met, but a lot has changed since Week 1. Most notably, Jayden Daniels has become a complete quarterback since he barely threw downfield that day. Commanders-Bucs could end up being the best game on wild-card weekend.

7 (9) Los Angeles Chargers 11-6

There's a clear top three in the AFC. There's also a clear fourth-best team, and it's the Chargers. If Los Angeles can top a beatable Houston team, a Chargers-Chiefs divisional round game might be fun. What a job Jim Harbaugh has done this season.

6 (5) Minnesota Vikings 14-3

One game doesn't change the fact that Sam Darnold had a great season. But Darnold was not good on Sunday. If he has a rough game against the Rams in a loss next Monday night, it will bring up a lot of questions — fair or not — about whether he's a viable franchise QB as he heads to free agency.

5 (6) Baltimore Ravens 12-5

Zach Orr hasn't been a hot name yet this offseason. Maybe next year he will. The defensive turnaround looks great on the 32-year-old coordinator. John Harbaugh has proven to be a great head coach, and getting a young rising talent off his tree would be smart. Orr is on his way to a head coaching job, and soon.

4 (3) Buffalo Bills 13-4

The Bills giving James Cook 10 carries as they sat everyone else so Cook could tie the team's season record for touchdown rushes was weird. At least he didn't get hurt. The Bills should win their first playoff game on Sunday, but the Broncos' defense is legit. It might not be easy.

3 (2) Kansas City Chiefs 15-2

The Chiefs had nothing to play for, but other teams in that situation put forth a much better effort than whatever that was from Kansas City in Week 18. No, the Chiefs weren't actively trying to keep the Bengals out, they just didn't care. Now the real work starts for them.

2 (1) Philadelphia Eagles 14-3

The Eagles won their past two games by a 61-20 score while playing their second- and then third-string quarterbacks. This is a really good team that is 12-1 since September. They have to hope Jalen Hurts returns from a concussion this week and isn't rusty.

1 (4) Detroit Lions 15-2

The tape of the Lions holding the Vikings to 9 points should be Aaron Glenn's entire case for any team wanting to interview him for a head coaching job. That was a master class. The resurgence of Detroit's defense, finishing the sweep of a team that went 14-1 against everyone else, gets the Lions the top spot back.