NFL Power Rankings: Championship Weekend Edition

By Chris Hughes   January 27, 2023 

NFL Power Rankings: Championship Weekend Edition

The pretenders are gone, and the contenders remain going into championship weekend in the NFL, and we’re here with our updated power rankings.

Last week, we had the AFC finalists ranked No. 1 and 2, and the NFC championship game participants were ranked No. 4 and 5. It was a tough weekend for the No. 3 Buffalo Bills, who ran into a buzzsaw that was the Cincinnati Bengals, and we’ll explain below why they’re our new No. 1 in the NFL power rankings.

Super Bowl Futures Show Any Team in the Power Rankings Can Win

If you can make a realistic case for any of the four remaining teams to win the Super Bowl, you’re not alone. Looking at the futures market, there’s a historic amount of parity among the four teams. Here are teh odds courtesy of BetMGM.

TEAMODDS TO WIN SUPER BOWL 57
Philadelphia Eagles+260
Kansas City Chiefs+270
Cincinnati Bengals+270
San Francisco 49ers+310

1. Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals erased all doubt from a shaky win in the Wild Card round last weekend over Baltimore to dominate Buffalo on both sides of the ball Sunday–in snowy weather in Buffalo to boot. Joe Burrow is now 5-1 in his playoff career and 3-0 in road games. In his third year, he’s making his case to be the greatest Bengal in the 50-plus-year history of the franchise.

The Bengals now return to the site of their AFC Championship win a year ago when they return to Arrowhead Stadium to face the Kansas City Chiefs–a team they defeated three times in the 2022 calendar year.

Jan-28th
CIN
under
20
:
23
KC

Why Are They Ranked No. 1? Cincinnati’s offensive line was probably what kept them from winning a Super Bowl last year. Burrow, however, dealt with three of his new linemen for this season being injured. He was still only sacked one time in 37 dropbacks. Joe Mixon also ran for over 100 yards in the 27-10 win over the Bills, who were Super Bowl favorites for nearly all of this season and lost their three regular-season games by a combined eight points. Cincinnati has now won 10 in a row going into the AFC title game.

2. Philadelphia Eagles

Last week, we wondered how Jalen Hurts would perform after looking shaky in a Week 18 game against the New York Giants‘ backups. Well, in a matchup with NYG’s varsity, Hurts left little doubt of his health on the second play of the game, throwing a deep bomb that he said he didn’t even practice since injuring his shoulder in mid-December. He also ran the ball effectively in the Eagles’ 38-7 win over the Giants.

Why Are They Ranked No. 2? While the Eagles had a more convincing win this weekend, Philly owned the Giants earlier this season. New York was also not the team Buffalo was this year. Plus, the Bengals had to do it on the road. While Cincinnati is battle-tested, Philadelphia will be facing a major increase in competition this week against San Francisco. The 49ers are the only other team in the league (besides Philly) to rank in the NFL’s top five in offense and defense, but playing at home could rattle rookie Niners quarterback Brock Purdy, who has had slow starts to both of his playoff games so far.

Jan-28th
SF
under
7
:
31
PHI

3. San Francisco 49ers

Sure, the 49ers were held to just 19 points by Dallas, but the rookie Purdy did a great job against one of the league’s best pass defenses by throwing for 214 yards and not turning the ball over. It helped to have the sure-handed George Kittle at his disposal, who caught a game-high five grabs for 95 yards.

Why Are They Ranked No. 3? The Niners defense came to play, holding a Dallas team that put up 40 on Philadelphia last month and scored five touchdowns in Tampa on Monday to just 12 points. Expect them to make things difficult on the Eagles, but the 49ers’ slow starts in their first two playoff games combined with the Eagles jumping out of the gate against the Giants will make it hard on the 49ers in a hostile environment at Lincoln Financial Field. If SF can keep it close at halftime, then the Niners may have the advantage.

4. Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs survived a huge scare on Saturday, and it wasn’t in the form of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Even though the Jags competed throughout and covered in a 27-20 loss, the main concern was for Patrick Mahomes’ ankle. The star QB suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first half, but returned undaunted to lead the Chiefs to the victory.

Why Are They Ranked No. 4? This ranking is no disrespect to the Chiefs, who are hosting their fifth-straight AFC Championship game. But they have a quarterback at less than 100% and are playing against a team that comes in not intimidated by the situation. Dating back to November 2021, the Chiefs have lost five football games. Three of those have been to the Bengals. It’s not that they have been blowouts. On the contrary, each has been decided by three points. But the Bengals’ point totals in those three games are 34, 27, and 27. Would we be surprised to see Mahomes pull another magical performance out from under his sleeve? No. But, we think a Bengals win is more likely.

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