NFL Power Rankings for Week 16: Unpacking every game in two sentences

Getting through Sunday in NFL Week 15 means there are only three games left for teams to try and make their final pushes. However, the chaos of Week 15 that saw Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons both tear their ACL also left some teams in its wake. The Kansas City Chiefs caught a raw deal, losing their quarterback and their game, which officially eliminated them from the playoffs. And while the Dallas Cowboys aren't officially ousted yet, they're down to a 1 percent chance after a dismal loss to J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Rams won a thriller over the Detroit Lions to become the first team to clinch a playoff berth officially. The New England Patriots fell short of that (and clinching the AFC East as well) by blowing a 21-0 lead against the rival Buffalo Bills.

And still, there's plenty to unpack, so after the rankings, we break down every Week 15 game and explain the biggest moves — in just two sentences apiece.

NFL Power Rankings, Week 16

Two-sentence thoughts on every NFL Week 15 game

Atlanta Falcons 29, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28

Baker Mayfield and the Bucs have quietly been reeling for a month or so now and the NFC South race is in complete disarray mired in mediocrity. At least Falcons fans were able to feel joy for the first time in a long while.

Cleveland Browns 3, Chicago Bears 31

Shedeur Sanders said after this game that he wished he had most of his throws back, and I have to agree with him with how bad the Browns offense was. More importantly, though, while Cleveland isn't anything special, it's beyond time that we start taking the Bears seriously as contenders.

Baltimore Ravens 24, Cincinnati Bengals 0

It's no wonder that Joe Burrow is struggling to find his joy playing with the Bengals right now. Frankly, neither Cincinnati nor Baltimore really played all that well in this game, but the Ravens are clearly miles better than their division rivals at this point in the season.

Los Angeles Chargers 16, Kansas City Chiefs 13

Somehow, the infirmary ward Chargers keep winning games, and this time helped eliminate the Chiefs from playoff contention on Sunday. Sadly, the bigger story of this game was Patrick Mahomes tearing his ACL, which is truly the epitome of adding injury to insult in Kansas City.

Buffalo Bills 35, New England Patriots 31

As someone who's championed the Patriots for most of the year, this one was tough, particularly as the defense couldn't do anything against the Bills offense — albeit with Buffalo receiving some questionable help from the officials. Having said that, we're lucky as football fans we get to watch Josh Allen and Drake Maye battle in the AFC East for the next decade-ish.

Washington Commanders 29, New York Giants 21

Let's just be perfectly clear that neither of these teams are good. However, I do want to give the Giants some credit for not repeating the mistakes of the 2023 season with Tommy DeVito, wherein they beat the Jets and ultimately cost themselves Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye in the 2024 draft.

Las Vegas Raiders 0, Philadelphia Eagles 31

The Eagles certainly deserve some credit for completely steamrolling the Raiders after a couple weeks of struggles. But come on — this is the Raiders, the worst team in the NFL, that we're talking about, so let's not get over our skis declaring that Philly is back.

New York Jets 20, Jacksonville Jaguars 48

Trevor Lawrence was absolutely cooking on Sunday, even if it was against the lowly Jets. Jacksonville has quite quickly found its rhythm in a way that looks far more trustworthy than how this team was winning early in the year, and could be one to watch out for.

Arizona Cardinals 20, Houston Texans 40

I'd honestly be shocked if Jonathan Gannon makes it to next season, because this is the most Cardinals scoreline and game of all time (or, you know, just the latest one). They get their doors blown off by a good team like the Texans, and then score garbage time to make it look a little less lopsided.

Green Bay Packers 26, Denver Broncos 34

Denver continues to not be totally respected for a team that has the best record in the NFL through 15 weeks, and a win over the Packers only further solidifies that. But one does have to wonder about Green Bay now as Micah Parsons was another victim of a torn ACL on Sunday.

Detroit Lions 34, Los Angeles Rams 41

There is some cause concern for the Lions, particularly on defense. However, this game still says more about the Rams to me than anything else, as Sean McVay's team continues to prove that they're going to be able to win in any way they need to now and hopefully in the postseason.

Carolina Panthers 17, New Orleans Saints 20

Just when the Panthers had the chance to take full control of the NFC South, they crapped the bed as the offense went lifeless late in this game. Shout out to Tyler Shough, though, who is showing some real promise with the Saints late in the year.

Tennessee Titans 24, San Francisco 49ers 37

There were 14 points from the Titans in the fourth quarter that made this one look a lot closer than it actually was. Not to be too dismissive, but this really comes down to the fact that the Titans are among the league's worst while the 49ers, even if highly imperfect, are still a clear playoff team.

Indianapolis Colts 16, Seattle Seahawks 18

Philip Rivers almost won a football game at 44 years young and coming off the couch after five seasons. That, however, might be more of a cause for concern for the Seahawks and their lack of a run game than anything else.

Minnesota Vikings 34, Dallas Cowboys 26

When the Cowboys needed anything from their defense, it let them down, and now they're going to all but surely miss the playoffs. Having said that and while also understanding the strength of the opposition, this might've been the best game J.J. McCarthy has played this season — or at least it was after the interception on his first throw of the night.