1. Saints (9-1; last week No. 1): Even if the Saints are peaking too soon, they’ll still be good enough to win it all.
2. Rams (10-1; No. 2): Any team that allows 51 points in a win will have a hard time getting to the Super Bowl.
3. Chiefs (9-2; No. 3): Any team that allows 54 points in a loss will have a hard time getting to the Super Bowl.
4. Patriots (7-3; No. 5): There’s a nagging sense that the Pats will inevitably be the No. 1 seed, again.
5. Steelers (7-2-1; No. 6): Ben Roethlisberger deserves serious MVP consideration.
6. Bears (7-3; No. 7): Matt Nagy deserves serious coach of the year consideration.
7. Chargers (7-3; No. 4): When the Chargers don’t win the AFC West, they’ll be able to look back to Week 11 and shake their heads.
8. Texans (7-3; No. 9): A first-round bye continues to be a not-crazy possibility.
9. Cowboys (5-5; No. 14): The Cowboys may be the NFC team best suited to playing January football.
10. Vikings (5-4-1; No. 8): The playoffs start, as a practical matter, on Sunday night.
11. Seahawks (5-5; No. 16): The last team the Rams want to see in the playoffs continues to push toward the playoffs.
12. Panthers (6-4; No. 11): So much for the NFC South riding on a pair of Panthers-Saints games only 13 days apart.
13. Ravens (5-5; No. 17): The last team the Patriots want to see in the playoffs continues to push toward the playoffs.
14. Colts (5-5; No. 22): The rebuilding happened faster than an Amish barn raising.
15. Washington (6-4; No. 10): Colt McCoy will keep them relevant, and Adrian Peterson could push them to the playoffs.
16. Titans (5-5; No. 12): From 24-point win to 28-point loss, the Titans are this year’s Jekyll-and-Hyde franchise.
17. Packers (4-5-1; No. 13): It’s time to start making the list of coaching candidates.
18. Lions (4-6; No. 23): Maybe they should keep practicing in the snow after all.
19. Broncos (4-6; No. 25): Losing record notwithstanding, the Broncos are showing much more fight than they did a year ago.
20. Browns (3-6-1; No. 19): It probably would be easier for the Browns to leak a list of people who won’t be considered for the head-coaching job.
21. Dolphins (5-5; No. 21): Don’t write them off yet, even if you’ve already written them off.
22. Eagles (4-6; No. 15): It’s officially time to break out the underdog masks.
23. Bengals (5-5; No. 18): When giving up only 400-plus yards is considered an improvement, that’s a bad defense.
24. Falcons (4-6; No. 20): They’ll give the Saints their best. Which should keep the final score within 20 points.
25. Giants (3-7; No. 29): It’s easy to string together wins when playing teams that don’t have many of them.
26. Bills (3-7; No. 26): Cutting Nathan Peterman should officially count as a victory.
27. Buccaneers (3-7; No. 24): At this point, why not give Ryan Griffin a shot?
28. Jets (3-7; No. 28): They’re only six Sundays away from what could be dramatic changes for 2019.
29. Jaguars (3-7; No. 23): Welcome back. The rest of them missed you down here.
30. 49ers (2-8; No. 31): Nick Bosa could be trading scarlet for scarlet.
31. Raiders (2-8; No. 32): Congratulations, Raiders. That victory over the Cardinals could screw up your shot at the No. 1 overall pick.
32. Cardinals (2-8; No. 30): It’s going to take a lot of work to get this team out of the basement of the NFC West.