NFL Power Rankings 2025: Wild Card Weekend, All 32 Teams

The fans in Duval have had the pleasure of witnessing one of the NFL’s hottest teams in the back half of the season as Trevor Lawrence continues to play some of the best football of his career. Since their eight-game winning streak began back in Week 11, Lawrence ranks fifth with 2,196 passing yards, and he leads all quarterbacks with 24 total touchdowns. He notched three more through the air in Sunday’s blowout win over the Titans, finishing the day with a season-high 73.3% completion rate (ranked fifth in Week 18). Through those last eight weeks, the team has amassed a league-high 269 points for an unbelievable +153 total point margin (also ranked 1st), as their defense finished with the highest total EPA by a large margin (102.65). They’ll carry this unprecedented hot streak into a first-round matchup with Buffalo, who did outscore Jacksonville on the season despite their slightly worse record.

The contentious nature of the NFL’s best division came to a head on Saturday, and the 49ers found themselves on the wrong side of their rematch with Seattle after failing to come up with a touchdown. As Brock Purdy was limited to just 4.7 yards per attempt (ranked 26th in the league) despite his eighth-ranked 70.4% completion rate, the 49ers found themselves driving in the red zone just once. That drive ended as Christian McCaffrey was out-muscled on the sideline, allowing Seattle to come up with the game’s only takeaway and all but solidify their 10-point win. This kind of loss was atypical of San Francisco compared to their last six games, however, as they’ve been one of the league’s most efficient passing offenses through their most recent winning streak. Since Week 11, the team ranks second in completion rate (70.3%) and third in passer rating (105.1). The loss that had them so close to the No. 1 seed dropped San Francisco down to sixth in the NFC, and they’ll now travel to Philadelphia in hopes of scoring a little revenge for their 2022-23 conference championship loss.

The Rams capped off another impressive regular season under Sean McVay with another impressive win, snapping a two-game slide on the back of another four Matthew Stafford touchdown passes. This performance was just the exclamation point on the end of a long MVP resume, as Stafford extended his league lead in touchdown passes to a career-high 46. Stafford also ranks second behind only Drake Maye with a 109.2 passer rating on the season, also a career-best for the 17-year veteran. While they remain tied in the head-to-head battle with San Francisco, wins over the Buccaneers and Texans give Los Angeles the tiebreaker in common games. This leaves the Rams in the NFC’s fifth seed, and they’ll travel to Carolina for a rematch of their stunning upset loss back in Week 13.

While the Bills already clinched a playoff spot in Week 16, Mitchell Trubisky understood that last week’s loss to Philadelphia demanded a bounce-back win. Trubisky dialed up his best passing performance since his time with the Steelers in 2022, ranking first in Week 18 with a 142.1 passer rating and fifth with 259 yards. This, combined with the efforts of Ray Davis and Ty Johnson (who accumulated 230 all-purpose yards and a pair of touchdowns in relief of James Cook), led the Bills to their most convincing win since Week 13’s rout of the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Buffalo will carry this momentum into a Wildcard Weekend matchup with Jacksonville, a team that Josh Allen is just 2-2 against in his storied eight-year career.

The Texans will look to extend the league’s longest active winning streak into the postseason after holding off Indianapolis in Week 18 to secure their ninth consecutive victory. The defense recorded a trio of turnovers against Riley Leonard, picking him off early in the fourth quarter and forcing a pair of fumbles. The last of these fumbles came as the Colts attempted a lateral on the game’s final play to retake the lead, with the live ball popping out of Leonard’s hands and into the arms of Tommy Togiai, who returned it for an eight-yard touchdown. This was Houston’s 14th takeaway of the season, and they now rank second in the league with a +17 total turnover margin on the year. They’ll bring one of the NFL’s most dominant defenses into a playoff battle with a Pittsburgh Steelers’ team that has turned the ball over just 15 times this season (ranked fourth).

Sunday night’s barn-burner in Pittsburgh ended in a pair of missed kicks, the last of which sent the Steelers to the postseason for the third consecutive season. The Ravens and Steelers traded touchdown blows on four consecutive drives through the fourth quarter, culminating in a 26-yard strike to a wide-open Calvin Austin III to give Pittsburgh a two-point lead in the game’s final minute. Chris Boswell’s extra point attempt was blocked, however, leaving the door open for a game-winning Tyler Loop field goal. Lamar Jackson put Baltimore in range, but Loop’s 44-yard attempt hooked wide right, securing Pittsburgh’s claim to the AFC North title. Thanks to Aaron Rodgers’ clutch gene (and a little bit of luck), the Steelers have booked themselves a date with the five-seed Texans in Wild Card Weekend’s Monday Night finale.

12. Green Bay Packers

The regular season that started out with such a bang ended in a whimper this week as the Pack was only able to manage a single Brandon McManus field goal in order to fend off a shutout in Minnesota. In fairness to Green Bay, they were resting their starters as they already punched their ticket to the playoffs (or rather, the Lions did) on Christmas Day. Clayton Tune found just 34 passing yards on his 11 attempts in place of Jordan Love as he was crushed for four sacks by an eager Vikings’ pass rush, and the majority of their league-low 121 total yards from scrimmage came on a season-high rushing workload from Chris Brooks. The Packers ended their regular season with a four-game slide, but their consolation prize is the NFC’s seventh seed (to which they are no strangers) and a third meeting with the Chicago Bears.

Unable to notch a touchdown on the airtight Broncos secondary, Los Angeles dropped their second straight game to fall to 11-6 (.647), occupying the AFC’s seventh seed. This was another case of starter preservation, as Justin Herbert, Omarion Hampton, Ladd McConkey, and others rode the bench in hopes of staying healthy before the playoffs. The Chargers sat on the playoff bubble for several weeks after starting the season 4-3, but rallied to win seven of eight games and clinched a postseason berth before losing back-to-back to end the year. In that 7-1 stretch between Weeks 8-16, L.A. ranked seventh with a +60 point margin, and they’ll need to tap back into that scoring touch if they have any hope of taking down the Patriots (who rank second in points scored on the 2025 season).