At least as it looks in mid-May, all four NFC North teams have playoff-caliber rosters and postseason expectations, but of course they all can’t make it. We break down those teams and more in the third installment of our 2026 NFL Power Rankings.
The release of the 2026 NFL schedule on Thursday night is a tantalizing tease — the reveal of some highly anticipated matchups starting in Week 1 but also the realization those first games are still nearly four long months away.
The intrigue for the upcoming season only mounts further as TeamFB7 moves to the third tier of its initial NFL Power Rankings, covering teams 11-16 and the entire NFC North in one competitively-balanced cluster.
All the while spotlighting just how crowded the field of potential playoff teams looks this year.
We’re through half the league now and all the teams covered so far look playoff-caliber — along with a few yet to be mentioned — and yet with only 14 teams making the postseason, we already know some from the list so far ultimately won’t make the cut.
The NFL’s perennial parity is what keeps the league at peak popularity year after year.
Before we continue the power rankings, catch up the first two installments:
And for quick reference, here is our NFL Power Rankings list so far: 1. Los Angeles Rams, 2. Seattle Seahawks, 3. Buffalo Bills, 4. Baltimore Ravens, 5. Kansas City Chiefs, 6. San Francisco 49ers, 7. Philadelphia Eagles, 8. Houston Texans, 9. Denver Broncos, 10. New England Patriots.
JUMP TO: No. 11 | No. 12 | No. 13 | No. 14 | No. 15 | No. 16
NFL Power Rankings Tier 3: Playoff Rosters With Potential To Surge
11. Chicago Bears
2025 Finish: 11-6, won NFC North, lost in divisional round
2026 Outlook: Considering coach Ben Johnson needed just one season to deliver the formerly bumbling Bears their first winning record and division title in seven years, there’s no limit to the imagination of what’s possible for Chicago in 2026.
Especially as Caleb Williams continues his ascent as a true star quarterback in the league heading into his third season.
The former No. 1 overall pick has already affixed himself to the nickname “Iceman” after packing a career’s worth of fourth quarter comebacks into one season.
If Williams builds off his sophomore breakout — 3,942 passing yards, 27 TDs, 7 INTs — it’s absolutely within reason to think the Bears could reach the NFC championship game or beyond. (Heck, they nearly did last season, losing 20-17 in overtime to the Rams in the divisional round).
But so could a lot of teams — as we continue to belabor that point. Also, as noted, the NFC North is going to be an absolute brawl to the finish, so nothing can be assumed here.
What Chicago has going for it is a well-built young offensive core top to bottom, one of the great offensive minds in the game (Johnson) directing it, and the hope for improved defensive play after some notable offseason moves.
The Bears could afford to trade former No. 1 WR D.J. Moore to the Bills because he had been usurped by the team’s young talent in Rome Odunze (44 catches for 661 yards and 6 TDs in 12 games) and Luther Burden III (47-652-2 in 15 games, coming on strong late) along with tight end Colston Loveland (58-713-6, also surging over the second half of his rookie season).
It’s within reason that all three could top 1,000 yards in 2026 if healthy.
Through the first six games last year, Loveland had just 11 catches for 116 yards and 0 TDs as he settled into the NFL. Over his final 10 games, he averaged 4.7 receptions for 59.7 yards with 6 TDs — not even counting his 8 catches for 137 yards vs. the Packers in the wildcard round. Extrapolate those averages out over 17 games and it comes to 80 catches for 1,015 yards and 10 TDs.
Odunze’s numbers averaged out over 17 games would have come to a 62-936-8 line, but factor in the departure of Moore and playing at full strength and the potential is even greater.
And Burden, a second-round pick last year, had just 13 catches for 171 yards through his first seven games as a rookie. Over his final eight games, he averaged 4 receptions for 60 yards. Over 17 games, that is 68 catches for 1,022 yards.
The point being, it’s a thoroughly exciting core of young playmakers all still within their first three seasons in the league. The best is yet to come for that group.
The running back tandem of D’Andre Swift (1,087 rushing yards on 4.9 yards per carry with 9 TDs) and Kyle Monangai (783 yards on 4.6 YPC with 5 TDs) is strong as well.
And the offensive line remains solid. Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman abruptly retired at 27 years old, but the Bears traded for Patriots starter Garrett Bradbury and drafted Iowa’s Logan Jones in the second round.
Left tackle is a bit of a question mark with Ozzy Trapilo set to miss most or all of the season recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee after staking claim to the job the second half of last year, but Chicago has options with Braxton Jones (44 starts in four seasons with the team; missed the second half of 2025 with a knee injury) and former Browns starter Jedrick Wills Jr. (a free agent pickup).
As for the other side of the ball, the Bears had that breakout season despite giving up the fourth-most yards in the league (361.8 per game) and 10th-most points (24.4 per game).
To address that, Chicago invested big in a new tandem of safeties, signing Coby Bryant from the Super Bowl-champion Seahawks to a 3-year, $40-million deal and drafting Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman with the 25th overall pick.
The Bears let linebacker Tremaine Edmunds go after a productive season but signed Devin Bush to a 3-year, $30-million deal coming off a career-best season with the Browns (125 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 3 INTs with 2 returned for TDs and 2 forced fumbles).
So the bottom line is Chicago just started tapping into its potential in Johnson’s first year, has a dynamic young offensive corps that should only keep getting better and made some notable changes on defense with the hopes of elevating that unit.
The Bears should be a very, very fun team to watch in 2026.
12. Detroit Lions
2025 Finish: 9-8, missed playoffs
2026 Outlook: Last season was a rough look for Lions coach Dan Campbell.
His former offensive coordinator went off to rejuvenate the Bears in his first year as a head coach while Campbell’s Lions stumbled throughout an underwhelming season that started with Super Bowl aspirations and ended short of even reaching the playoffs.
Detroit was one of the most disappointing teams in the league in 2025, and there is some real concern that Campbell’s rah-rah act was being propped up “Weekend At Bernie’s” style by Johnson (and to a lesser extent former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn).
And yet, we just can’t quit the Lions.
They should absolutely be contending with the Rams for the top offense in football.
Jared Goff produces divisive opinions about his place in the hierarchy of NFL quarterbacks because his bad games look really bad, but overall he nonetheless produces year after year. Even in a frustrating season for the Lions, Goff passed for 4,564 yards (second in the league), 34 TDs and 8 INTs.
That’s because when given ample protection, Goff is an above-average QB. And because the Lions are absolutely loaded with playmakers.
Again, few teams can rival this collection of talent: wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown (117-1,401-11 last year) and Jameson Williams (65-1,117-7), one of the truly elite talents in the league in running back Jahmyr Gibbs (1,223 rushing yards on 5.0 YPC, 77 receptions for 616 yards and 18 total TDs) and tight end Sam LaPorta (limited to nine games by a back injury but a top-10 TE in the league when healthy).
Even with Johnson leaving for the Bears and Campbell stripping new OC John Morton of playcalling duties halfway through the season, the Lions still ranked top 5 in yards (373.2 per game) and points (28.3 per game). Morton was fired after one season with former Cardinals OC Drew Petzing taking over.
Detroit let veteran left tackle Taylor Decker go to save salary cap space, but three-time first-team All-Pro Penei Sewell is moving over from right tackle and the team drafted Clemson’s Blake Miller in the first round to take Sewell’s old spot. They also upgraded at center in signing free agent Cade Mays, from the Panthers, after patching the position together in 2025 following All-Pro Frank Ragnow’s premature retirement.
The Lions will again be among the best offenses in football — the question is whether the defense can do its part.
Detroit gave up the 11th-most points in the league last season at 24.3 PPG, and on the surface it arguably got worse personnel-wise after losing free agents like CB Amik Robertson, DL Roy Lopez and D.J. Reader, EDGE Al-Quadin Muhammad and LB Alex Anzalone while making only modest additions.
But a major factor in the Lions’ defensive struggles was an egregious injury toll. Aaron Schatz’s “Adjusted Games Lost” metric ranked Detroit as having been the most injury-affected defense in the league last season and historically so — with only the 2021 Jets ranking worse among defenses in AGL since 2001.
The Lions used five of their seven draft picks on defensive players, including Michigan EDGE Derrick Moore in the second round, but the biggest hope for a defensive turnaround is simply better luck health-wise — especially in the secondary.
Star safeties Kerby Joseph (limited to six games by a knee injury in 2025 after earning first-team All-Pro honors in 2024), Brian Branch (limited to 12 games before a torn Achilles after making the Pro Bowl in 2024) and cornerback Terrion Arnold (limited to 8 games before season-ending shoulder surgery) were all major losses for the Lions.
There is optimism all will be ready for the season.
Those two safeties, star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson (54 tackles, 14.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles) and first-team All-Pro linebacker Jack Campbell (176 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 FF) form a pretty solid defensive core when healthy.
There is reason to believe 2026 can be a lot different for the Lions.
13. Minnesota Vikings
2025 Finish: 9-8, missed playoffs
2026 Outlook: This is our first truly bold take of the power rankings — putting the Vikings ahead of the Packers! This could absolutely look foolish by the end of the season, but hear us out on our bullish belief in Minnesota (we’ll cover Green Bay in a bit).
Actually, the optimism for the Vikings part isn’t that bold at all.
Let’s not forget this team won 14 games two seasons ago and only fell off last year after the disastrously ill-fated decision to let QB Sam Darnold leave in free agency and turn things over to J.J. McCarthy. We all know how that worked out, ultimately costing the Vikings a lost year and costing former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah his job.
But that problem is behind the Vikings now.
They pounced on free agent Kyler Murray after his release in Arizona, and we’re buying all the stock in the dual-threat Murray delivering a highly motivated statement (to his former team and the league at large) while playing in a Kevin O’Connell offense with a loaded receiving corps that includes a top-5 talent in Justin Jefferson, a productive No. 2 in Jordan Addison and now free agent addition Jauan Jennings.
Bet the over on Murray and the Vikings in 2026 — plain and simple.
That O’Connell coaxed a winning season out of a team rotating QBs between McCarthy, the ghost of Carson Wentz and undrafted (for a reason!) rookie Max Brosmer was one of the great coaching feats of 2025.
That was in large part because the Vikings’ defense gave up the third-fewest yards (282.6 per game) and seventh-fewest points (19.6 per game) in the league.
They lost veteran defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in free agency but drafted DTs Caleb Banks (Florida) and Domonique Orange (Iowa State) in rounds 1 and 3, respectively, while returning productive third-year DT Jalen Redmond (62 tackles, 12 TFLs, 6 sacks).
It remains to be seen if longtime Vikings defensive staple, safety Harrison Smith returns or retires, but the bulk of the secondary returns intact along with both starting linebackers Blake Cashman (144 tackles) and Eric Wilson (115 tackles, 17 TFLs, 6.4 sacks, 4 FFs) and edge rushers Andrew Van Ginkel (54 tackles, 11 TFLs, 7 sacks in 12 games) and Dallas Turner (66 tackles, 11 TFLs, 8 sacks).
The Vikings are primed to contend in 2026.
14. Los Angeles Chargers
2025 Finish: 11-6, lost in wildcard round
2026 Outlook: The short story of the Chargers’ 2025 season was that they got six total games from starting offensive tackles Joe Alt (two high-ankle sprains leading to surgery) and Rashawn Slater (ruptured patellar tendon in knee before the season, did not play) while quarterback Justin Herbert got beat around like a pinata for four-plus months.
End of story.
Herbert was sacked a career-worst 54 times during the season, played the last month with a fractured left non-throwing hand and then got sacked 6 more times in the playoff loss to the Patriots.
And yet, the Chargers still won 11 games while Herbert threw for 3,727 yards, 26 TDs and 13 INTs, ranking top 10 in both yards and TDs.
Now he gets two of the better offensive tackles in the league back along with a further overhauled offensive line that includes free agent center Tyler Biadasz (from the Commanders), second-round draft pick Jake Slaughter (Florida) at left guard and free agent right guard Cole Strange (from the Dolphins).
Herbert with even league-average protection would be a game-changer for the Chargers.
Running back Omarion Hampton (545 yards on 4.4 YPC in just nine games as a rookie), wide receivers Ladd McConkey (66-789-6) and Quentin Johnston (51-735-8) and tight ends Oronde Gadsden (49-664-3) and veteran free agent pickup David Njoku are a fine collection of playmakers.
Plus, new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, the former Dolphins head coach, sure seemed excited about landing speedy Mississippi State WR Brenen Thompson in the fourth round of the draft.
With McDaniel pulling the strings and the offensive line keeping Herbert upright, this could be a career year ahead for the talented quarterback.
Defensively, the Chargers lose coordinator Jesse Minter as he took over the Ravens, but coach Jim Harbaugh’s teams always play tough on that side of the ball.
Edge rusher Odafe Oweh (signed with Washington) was another big loss after a terrific run with the Chargers as a mid-season acquisition, but the pass rush remains stocked with Tuli Tuipulotu (13 sacks, 20 TFLs) and Khalil Mack (5.5 sacks in 12 games) while adding first-round draft pick Akheem Mesidor from Miami.
The rest of the defense is largely intact after giving up the fifth-fewest yards (285.2 per game) and ninth-fewest points (20.0 per game) in the league. New coordinator Chris O’Leary, the Chargers’ safeties coach in 2024 and Western Michigan’s DC last season, takes over a good situation.
15. Green Bay Packers
2025 Finish: 9-7-1, lost in wildcard round
2026 Outlook: We acknowledge this is probably the lowest the Packers will land on any preseason power rankings, but we can only call it as we see it.
As noted, the NFC North is just stacked, and the rest of the division all got markedly better while Green Bay had an underwhelming or outright disappointing offseason.
The Packers were among the top preseason Super Bowl contenders last year after trading for elite edge rusher Micah Parsons, but their season went off a cliff when Parsons tore his ACL in mid-December. Quarterback Jordan Love then sustained a concussion the next week and sat out the final two games of the season.
All told, the Packers went from 9-3-1 to losing their final four games and then the wildcard game to the rival Bears.
Parsons will be back in 2026, but it may not be by the start of the season and there’s no telling how long it takes him to get back to top form.
Meanwhile, Green Bay lost leading receiver Romeo Doubs as a free agent to the Patriots and traded receiver Dontayvion Wicks to the Eagles. Neither are irreplaceable players, but they weren’t really replaced at all. That leaves a diminished receiving corps led by oft-injured Christian Watson (35-611-6 in 10 games), Matthew Golden (29-361-0 in a disappointing rookie season) and Jayden Reed (19-207-1 in seven games).
Getting tight end Tucker Kraft back from the torn ACL that ended his breakout 2025 season (32-489-6 in eight games) in November will help, but that’s by far the worst receiving corps in the division.
Veteran running back Josh Jacobs will remain a workhorse in the backfield, but his efficiency dipped from 4.4 YPC to 4.0 last season (929 yards, 13 TDs) and he’s got a lot of miles on his tires by this point.
Green Bay also lost left tackle Rasheed Walker in free agency to the Panthers and center Elgton Jenkins to the Browns. The plan is for third-year lineman Jordan Morgan to take over at left tackle after playing all over the line last season but mostly at right guard. Sean Rhyan played half the season at center last year, so he’s set there, while 2025 second-round pick Anthony Belton steps into a larger role at right guard.
Defensively, the Packers lost free agent linebacker Quay Walker to the Raiders but acquired former Colts tackle machine Zaire Franklin (167, 179, 173 and 125 tackles the last four seasons) via trade to pair with returning starter Edgerrin Cooper (118 tackles).
They traded second-leading sacker Rashan Gary (7 sacks) to the Cowboys and lost more depth on the edge with Kingsley Enagbare signing with the Jets. That’s asking a lot of Lukas Van Ness (just 8.5 sacks in three seasons) and fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton (Penn State) until Parsons is back.
Green Bay did bolster the interior of the defensive line with free agent Javon Hargrave (from the Vikings) and third-round pick Chris McClellan (Missouri), as well as the secondary with free agent cornerback Benjamin St-Juste (from the Chargers) and second-round pick Brandon Cisse (South Carolina) joining incumbents Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Javon Bullard.
Safeties Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams are back after combining for 207 tackles and 5 INTs.
Overall, the Packers will need Parsons to be his old self sooner rather than later and for the defense to lead the way again.
That’s all possible. Meanwhile, coach Matt LeFleur has a proven track record of keeping the offense at a fairly high level, but Love is just 1-3 in the playoffs in his career and still has plenty to prove entering his fourth season as a starter if he wants to be considered a top-10 QB in the league.
The Packers very well could put it all together and win the NFC North — the division should be very tightly contested. The other teams just offer a lot more intrigue as it stands at this point.
16. Jacksonville Jaguars
2025 Finish: 13-4, won AFC South, lost in wildcard round
2026 Outlook: The Jaguars were among the biggest surprises in the NFL in coach Liam Coen’s first season, going from 4-13 to 13-4 and a division title.
The difference was how Coen unlocked the best version yet of quarterback Trevor Lawrence late last season. Lawrence finished with 4,007 passing yards, 29 TDs and 12 INTs — but only one pick in the last six regular-season games. The Jags in turn won their final eight games before losing 27-24 to the Bills in the playoffs.
If Lawrence can harness that level of efficiency and play, the Jaguars will remain a factor regardless.
But the team had a tough offseason — there’s no getting around that.
The Jaguars lost running back Travis Etienne to the Saints in free agency, leaving Bhayshul Tuten (307 yards and 5 TDs on 3.7 YPC as a rookie) and new addition Chris Rodriguez Jr. (500 yards and 6 TDs on 4.5 YPC for the Commanders) in the backfield.
They also lost linebacker Devin Lloyd after a breakout season, to the Panthers, and cornerback Greg Newsome to the Giants while doing almost nothing notable in free agency due to salary cap limitations. (Rodriguez was the big splurge at 2 years and $10 million.)
Jacksonville then had a very underwhelming draft as well.
Without a first-round pick after trading it away last year in the misguided decision to move up for WR/CB Travis Hunter, the Jags waited until the late second round to make their first selection, reaching for Texas A&M tight end Nate Boerkircher (a bad value in a draft loaded with tight end talent) only to draft another tight end (Houston’s Tanner Koziol) in the fifth round.
The only impressive picks the Jags made were Oregon guard Emmanuel Pregnon late in the third round and Koziol.
So both sides of the ball look diminished.
Offensively, Jacksonville still has decide how it views wide receiver Brian Thomas JR. long-term, after he struggled to find his fit in the new offense with 48 catches for 707 yards and 2 TDs (following an 87-1,282-10 line as a rookie).
But Thomas is the only above average receiver the team has, with Jakobi Meyers, Parker Washington and Hunter (to whatever extent he is used as a receiver) followed by late-round rookies Josh Cameron and CJ Williams rounding out the unit.
On the plus side, the Jaguars retained defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, who drew some head coach interviews after a strong season in which his unit ranked eighth in points allowed and 11th in yards allowed.
But losing Lloyd (81 tackles, 6 TFLs, 5 INTs) hurts, with third-year linebacker Ventrell Miller expected to step into his role.
The Jaguars are an obvious candidate for regression in 2026, but we’ll give some benefit of the doubt to Coen after the excellent coaching job he managed in his debut.
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