NFL Power Rankings 2025: Week 16, All 32 Teams

Things were looking bleak for Buffalo in the first half of this contest before they rallied with 21 unanswered points to start the second half. James Cook III had another phenomenal day, cashing in three touchdowns and 111 yards on 24 all-purpose touches. His third score of the day, an 11-yard break up the gut, put the team up by four with less than seven minutes remaining in the game, giving Buffalo a lead they’d hold to the end. This was Cook’s eighth 100-yard rushing game of the season, and it brings him within 28 yards of Jonathan Taylor’s league lead. At 10-4, the Bills maintain control of the AFC’s sixth seed, now just one win behind New England with three games left to play.

Despite picking up their third loss of the season, New England’s offense spent Week 15 proving that their offense belongs in the conversation with the league’s best this season. TreyVeon Henderson and Drake Maye combined for four touchdowns and 198 yards on the ground on just 20 carries, bringing the pair’s total to 11 rushing scores on the season. The loss may have knocked the Patriots down to the No. 2 seed in the AFC, but they still maintain the conference’s best point margin at +106 (ranked third in the league).

The usually stout Packers’ pass rush was foiled on Sunday by a speedy Bo Nix, generating zero sacks despite their 9th-ranked 16 pressures. This was just the second time this season that Green Bay has been held without a sack (with the first being their Week 10 matchup against Philadelphia), and it may not be the last. The Packers lost Micah Parsons for the remainder of the season to a non-contact ACL injury as he was chasing Nix down, throwing a major wrench in the team’s Super Bowl aspirations. The offense didn’t fare much better in Week 15, as Jordan Love threw multiple interceptions in a single game for the first time since last year’s playoff loss to the Eagles. Their fourth loss of the season drops them back into second in the NFC North, but they’ll have a shot to take the division back with a win over the Bears this week.

Week 15’s matchup with the Titans saw Brock Purdy rack up three passing scores for the second time since his return to action five weeks ago. He finished the day with a season-high 140.3 passer rating (ranked second last week), with 295 total passing yards (ranked sixth). Purdy’s 49ers still sit one game behind Seattle despite San Francisco’s Week 1 win over them, but they’ll have one more shot to get a leg up on their division rivals in Week 18. 

The Colts dropped their sixth of the season (fifth in the last six games) this week despite their defense holding Seattle out of the end zone for the full 60 minutes. All things considered, Philip Rivers’ return to the field after a four-year hiatus did not go too poorly, as he ranked 11th in Week 15 with a 66.7% completion rate. Him throwing his first interception since 2020 with 14 seconds remaining in a one-score game, however, was less-than impressive. Even with the recent slide, the Colts remain just one game behind the Texans in the running for the AFC’s final Wild Card spot, and they’ll visit Houston in Week 18. 

Jacksonville won their fifth consecutive game this week on their highest scoring total of the season. The Jaguars’ 48 points against the Jets on Sunday (on the back of six Trevor Lawrence touchdowns) jumped their total point margin to seventh on the season (+84), up from 11th (+56) through the first 14 weeks. On top of his five touchdown passes, Lawrence also led the team in rushing on just five attempts, collecting 51 yards and a touchdown in the process. Jacksonville also ranked third in the league with 330 passing yards in Week 15, with four different receivers breaking 50 yards. The Jaguars’ recent winning streak has propped their record up to third in the AFC at 10-4 (7.14). 

Week 15 saw the Texans offense click in a way that we’ve only seen glimpses of to this point. C.J. Stroud ranked fifth with a 75.9% completion rate, while Jawhar Jordan racked up 118 all-purpose yards on just 17 total touches. Two of Stroud’s three passing scores went to Nico Collins (two of his three receptions on the day), including a 57-yard catch-and-run on the game’s second play. With three games left to play, they could still usurp the AFC South crown from Jacksonville, but they’ll also have the 8-6 (.571) Colts to fend off. 

The Chargers rallied on Sunday after falling behind by 10 with just two minutes left in the first half, flipping momentum with a 33-second drive that ended in KeAndre Lambert-Smith’s first professional touchdown. The defense held Kansas City scoreless in the second half thanks to a league-leading 5 sacks (tied with three other teams), along with a pair of interceptions on their opponents’ final two offensive drives. Their 8-2 record against fellow AFC teams gives them a tiebreaker over Buffalo and a claim to the AFC’s fifth seed. 

Since falling to .500, the Steelers have come out on top in both of their last two games. They rank ninth in that window with a +18 point margin. Aaron Rodgers posted his best passer rating since Week 1’s win over his former Jets squad (125.9) with a league-leading 85.2% completion rate, hitting Marquez Valdes-Scantling and DK Metcalf with third-quarter touchdown passes. They’ll need to uphold this confidence in the passing attack through the next three weeks, as their Week 18 date with the 7-7 (.500) Ravens could very well decide the fate of the AFC North. 

Sunday’s unexpected loss in New Orleans put a serious speed bump in Carolina’s playoff hopes, as Tampa’s loss to Atlanta on Thursday night gave them an opportunity to leap into first place in the NFC South. After pulling ahead by 10 in the third quarter, the Panthers’ final four drives ended in two punts, a turnover on downs, and a fumble. Carolina was held to just 129 total yards in the second half, ranked 24th in Week 15. The loss keeps them tied at 7-7 (.500) with the Bucs, with both of their games against one another coming up in the next three weeks. 

Baker Mayfield’s struggles continued on Thursday as the Buccaneers fell just one point short against an already-eliminated Falcons’ team. His 55.9% completion rate ranked 28th out of 31 quarterbacks in Week 15. It did Mayfield no favors that the defense allowed 15 unanswered points in the second half, but that was partially due to him throwing his seventh interception of the season on Tampa’s second-to-last offensive drive. They still cling to the top spot in the NFC South as the Panthers also lost their seventh of the season this week, but they’ll have to hold off the Panthers twice in the next three games. Their first meeting of the season is set for this week. 

After losing their first bout with the Bengals just two weeks ago, Baltimore’s defense had its first truly dominant outing of the season in Week 15, shutting Cincinnati out on the road. They kept Joe Burrow on his toes throughout the affair, sacking him three times and pressuring him 14 (ranked 12th last week) with 73 total tackles on the day (ranked third). Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Van Noy also came up with interceptions, with Van Noy pulling off one of Week 15’s most heads-up plays as he pitched the ball to Alohi Gilman to set up an 84-yard touchdown return. Their efforts set the offense up with excellent field position and paved the way for them to put up 17 points on a 31st-ranked 20:41 minutes of possession. 

Minnesota capitalized on all of Dallas’s shortcomings in a hostile AT&T Stadium to win their sixth of the season. J.J. McCarthy and company came up with points on both drives that began with missed Cowboy field goals as well as the turnover on downs late in the fourth. On the defensive side of the ball, the Vikings put the screws to Dak Prescott, pressuring him 22 times (ranked second in Week 15) and sacking him twice. These back-to-back wins are too little too late to save the Vikings’ season, but the development McCarthy has shown in that time should inspire some hope in the Twin Cities. In the last two weeks, McCarthy ranks fourth out of 31 quarterbacks in passer rating (120.3) and yards per attempt (8.8), with a 10th-ranked 66% completion rate. 

Kirk Cousins’ league-leading 374 passing yards propelled the Falcons to their fifth win of the season. 166 of those yards went to Kyle Pitts on just 11 receptions in a career performance that featured three receiving scores. The last of those touchdown receptions came with less than four minutes left in the game, pulling the Falcons within two points and allowing Zane Gonzalez to win the game on a 43-yard field goal. While Atlanta has been out of the playoff conversation for a few weeks now, their Week 15 win certainly did its fair share of damage to the Buccaneers’ bid for the NFC South. 

Joe Burrow phrased it best himself in his postgame presser when he stated, “There’s not a team in the NFL that would’ve won the game today if I was the quarterback.” Burrow ranked 28th in Week 15 with a 58.2 passer rating. He also threw a pair of interceptions (his second consecutive week with multiple), the latter of which was returned 84 yards for a Ravens touchdown. Sunday marked the first time Cincinnati has been shut out in the Burrow era, with the last one dating back to Week 1 of 2017 when Andy Dalton and company were held scoreless by the Ravens.

In his third game with the Saints, Charlie Smyth connected on his second field goal of the day (his fourth of the season), a 47-yarder that gave New Orleans their first lead of the afternoon with just 55 seconds remaining in the game. After finishing the first half with a single Devin Neal touchdown, the offense managed 13 second-half points on the back of Tyler Shough’s fifth-ranked 76.2% completion rate in the final two frames. Shough finished the day with his second-highest passing total of the season with 272 yards, just 10 yards shy of his sum from the last time the Saints beat Carolina just five weeks ago. 

Jacoby Brissett’s worst passing performance of the season in terms of total yards still saw the journeyman complete 67.5% of his passes (ranked 10th in Week 15), three of which found the end zone. The offense clearly wasn’t without its flaws this week, however. Five different ball carriers generated just 72 total yards, and their receiving success was largely limited to Trey McBride’s career-high 134 yards on 12 receptions. This week marked the Cardinals’ third multiple-score loss of the season, plunging their already dismal point margin down to a 25th-ranked -86 on the season. 

The Titans fell short again this week, gathering their 12th loss of the season in spite of another respectable offensive performance. Tennessee’s strategy of emphasizing the run has paid dividends over the past two weeks, allowing Cam Ward to pass less frequently as these games remain close in score. Ward finished Week 15 with a career-high 101.2 passer rating, ranked 16th out of 31 quarterbacks. 

Shedeur Sanders posted his worst stat line in his brief time as a starter on Sunday, completing just 51.4% of his passes (ranked dead last in Week 15) with three second-half interceptions. The rookie also led Cleveland in rushing yards with 24 yards on just two carries as Quinshon Judkins was bottled up for his second-lowest rushing total of the season (21 yards). Andre Szmyt’s lone 50-yard field goal was enough to stave off a shutout, but it wasn’t enough to save the Browns from their lowest scoring total of the season, dragging their point margin down to a 27th-ranked -106 on the year. 

The Raiders put up a historically poor offensive performance in Philadelphia on Sunday, managing just 75 yards of total offense in Week 15. Distrust in Kenny Pickett’s deep-ball abilities forced Las Vegas to throw short, which the Eagles jammed up quickly. Pickett was sacked four times, but he registered a QBR of just 6.2 when he stayed upright. Through all the hardships this Raiders’ squad has endured in 2025, there remains a silver lining. With just three weeks remaining before the first 18 draft positions are confirmed, a loss to the Giants in Week 17 could vault them into first overall.