Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season is officially in the books and my goodness was it fascinating. Quarterbacks around the league struggled to make an impact as defense reigned supreme, and we already have some fanbases hitting the panic button after brutal starts to the year.
NFL Power Rankings: Steelers rocket up after Week 1 win
Here are the power rankings after Week 1.
Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
This is still very much the feeling out stage of the season, so a lot of team rankings are based mostly off vibes. There are certainly some excellent signs from some organizations, troubling ones from others — but it’s assured that these Week 1 power rankings will be very different to how the season ends in January.
We ranked every team by their Super Bowl chances coming into the season. With Week 1 in the books, our NFL staff voted on power rankings again, and there were some big movers both up and down the rankings. In the table below you can see how our different team ranks resulted in an average among the voters, which was then mapped into order of 1-to-32.
Here’s our latest NFL power rankings going into Week 2, with some analysis on the biggest risers and fallers after the jump.
NFL Week 1 Power Rankings
Rank | Team | Average | Change since last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiefs | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 49ers | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Bills | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Cowboys | 4.33 | 5 |
| 5 | Texans | 4.66 | 0 |
| 6 | Lions | 6.3 | -3 |
| 7 | Dolphins | 6.66 | 5 |
| 8 | Eagles | 7.66 | 0 |
| 9 | Ravens | 9 | -5 |
| 10 | Buccaneers | 9.33 | 9 |
| 11 | Seahawks | 13.33 | 10 |
| 12 | Chargers | 14.33 | 8 |
| 13 | Steelers | 14.66 | 11 |
| 14 | Jaguars | 15 | 0 |
| 15 | Bengals | 16 | -4 |
| 16 | Saints | 16 | 10 |
| 17 | Packers | 16.66 | -10 |
| 18 | Rams | 17 | 5 |
| 19 | Bears | 18 | -1 |
| 20 | Jets | 19.33 | -5 |
| 21 | Colts | 21 | -4 |
| 22 | Falcons | 21.66 | -6 |
| 23 | Patriots | 23 | 8 |
| 24 | Browns | 23 | -14 |
| 25 | Vikings | 24.33 | -2 |
| 26 | Cardinals | 25 | -1 |
| 27 | Titans | 26.66 | -5 |
| 28 | Commanders | 26.66 | -1 |
| 29 | Raiders | 28.66 | 0 |
| 30 | Broncos | 29.66 | -2 |
| 31 | Panthers | 31 | -1 |
| 32 | Giants | 32 | 0 |
* Tiebreakers were settle by highest majority vote between teams.
Notes on this week’s rankings:
The Steelers are the biggest winners of Week 1
Mike Tomlin has a gift for preparing his teams to play, no matter the circumstances. There’s a big chance the Falcons were simply overrated in the offseason, but we still saw Justin Fields struggle under center with Pittsburgh still delivering the dub. Part of their rise is also a factor of the Bengals and Browns falling so far in the rankings
Speaking of the Browns ...
Our biggest losers of the week, falling 14 places from their preseason power rankings. There’s no shame losing to the Cowboys, but Deshaun Watson is so cooked it’s difficult to have any hope in this organization right now. If they make a change at QB there’s a good chance this team can start rolling, but they seem to be hurtling towards mutually-assured destruction.
What’s up with the NFC North?
We know that Bears and Vikings fans are getting out the pitchforks right now after falling slightly in rank despite getting a win. It’s not a factor of either team being bad, and more that both beating two of the sorriest teams in the NFL.
This made Chicago and Minnesota victims of the big risers like the Saints and Patriots, who both showed some really promising trends in their wins. It’s one week, it’ll be okay. Keep winning and y’all will jump up the ranks.
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