In the most topsy-turvy week of the 2020 season yet, teams with little to no expectations stunned the league against some of the best. Now, with just a few games left before the playoffs, let’s take a look at the Week 12 power rankings.

While many teams with poor records found a way to prevail this week, the Jets still found themselves in the same place – without a win. In addition to their 10th loss of the season, Sam Darnold suffered another injury and was sidelined once more.

Make no mistake, the Jaguars have been a very bad team in 2020 – but to see them paired up against the Steelers, questionably one of the best teams – really displayed how much is wrong with this Jacksonville team. The first quarter made it seem like they might have a fighting chance, but that idea faded quickly and they fell to their ninth straight loss.

The Bengals were never going to do much with this season, but everyone was curious to see how the dynamic on the field changed with Joe Burrow leading the way. Against Washington, Burrow suffered a torn ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season. Cincinnati needs to take a good, hard look at ways to protect Burrow for years to come, otherwise more injuries could be on the horizon for a quarterback that is anticipated to have a great career.

This was a big win for Washington – not because it pulled their record up to a whopping 3-7 – but because Alex Smith earned his first win since returning from the long recovery of his leg injury. Overall, this was a game that dragged from start to finish and will only be remembered as the game that Joe Burrow tore his ACL.

The top of the NFC South faced off against their opposite – a.k.a the first place Saints took on the last place Falcons – and this game proved why both teams are in the respected positions. The Saints’ defense stepped up and limited Atlanta to a mere 9 points on the day.

All odds are against the Cowboys this season and this matchup against the streaking Vikings wasn’t going to be an easy one, but they persisted and surprisingly pulled off a win. The defense pulled through at key moments that helped them to a 3-7 record for the season. In a regular season, that would be rather insignificant, but since the NFC East is a train wreck – this keeps them in the race to win the division.

Talking about the NFC East and how tight of a competition it is to be the best of the worst is quite comical – and the fact the Giants are sitting at 3-7 in their bye week still hopeful to run (or limp) away with the division is a crazy thought, but it’s a real one.

There have been some ugly games throughout the 2020 season so far, but this Lions-Panthers matchup could very well take the cake as one of the worst. Both teams have losing records, but the Lions just completely forgot how to play the game of football this weekend. Whether it’s happening during the regular season or once it ends – it looks like Detroit is setting themselves up for quite a drastic overhaul.

We’ve gotten to a point in the season where a win for one of the weaker teams just isn’t going to do much – aside from having a lighter feel in the locker room directly following the game. While they don’t sit at the bottom of the AFC South (occupied by the Jaguars), it seems like they’re going to hold down that third spot until the end of the season.

The Eagles have been playing boring football for the past few weeks – and to top it off, they’ve been bad. This team needs to start taking accountability and while it should start with benching Carson Wentz, it cannot end there. Philadelphia continues to have every opportunity thrown at them to help win the division and they’re actively swerving it.

Joe Burrow’s season-ending injury wasn’t something anyone wanted to see, but now, eyes are going to be on Justin Herbert, the Chargers’ rookie quarterback. Even though the final against the Jets made this game seem closer than what it was, Herbert had a stellar game. They continued to create a significant amount of space, so the Jets’ job to ever complete the comeback seemed too far out of reach.

The Broncos haven’t done much with what they have this season, but to their credit – they really had no expectations entering it, either. While the season is close to the end for them, it might be time to start looking ahead to 2021 and the team they want to start building.

The Panthers haven’t done a whole lot of good this season – and while their most recent win against the Lions showed that some elements of their team are in tact – there’s too many negative aspects that are holding them back.

The start of the season had many believing that the Bears had a chance to be with the best at the top of the league, but recent weeks have shown otherwise. Though Nick Foles’ injury a few weeks back wasn’t as significant as it initially looked, he hasn’t been the superhero Chicago had been hoping for. If anything, he’s keeping them afloat, but that’s just about it.

Over the past few weeks, it finally looked like the Vikings were finding their identity as a team and were playing with more potential than at the start of the season. Confidence from their three-game winning streak should have helped them against a broken Cowboys team – and while it was a close finish, they weren’t able to extend that streak to four.

This is nowhere near rock bottom for the Patriots, but this has been the worst season to come out of New England in a very long time. It’s good to see Cam Newton on the brink of figuring things out again, but the defense isn’t doing much on their end to help him out when he’s off the field. I wouldn’t be too hopeful that they’re going to figure it out in the last few games, either.

Teams across the league have been ridden with injuries this year, but the 49ers are toward the top of that list. Given the extensive list, it’s hard to believe that less than a year ago they were facing off against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. That team, for the time being, is gone. Their main goal as this season begins to wind down should be to find an identity.

The Raiders made their second matchup against the Chiefs the game of the week that everyone had their eyes on – but unfortunately, it wasn’t in their favor. This had more to do with the ridiculous talent that is Patrick Mahomes rather than lack of effort from Las Vegas, though.

Is it really home advantage for the Browns if they’re constantly playing in terrible weather? Either way, the Browns hosted the Eagles in what was – for the most part – a very boring game on both ends. They capitalized on Carson Wentz’s mistakes and never looked back.

Just over a month ago, the Ravens were in the discussion of possibly being No. 1 on these power rankings, but ever since – they’ve steadily declined. After their near-perfect season last year, it’s been interesting to see how much they have struggled, considering entering this year they were pegged to be one of the top Super Bowl contenders.

Growing pains are normal, especially for a team that has been back and forth for the majority of the season. Though signs are finally pointing in a positive direction for the Cardinals, it seems like next year is when everyone will need to keep an eye on Arizona.

The Rams were riding the high of their dominant win against the Seahawks and made sure to bring that energy to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers. The NFC West is one of the tighter divisions in the league, but when it comes down to it – they have the one-up in division wins. Their win against the Bucs just proved they aren’t going anywhere.

This past month hasn’t been the best for the Titans, losing three of their last four games, and while no one was counting them out just yet – their matchup against the Ravens could right their path again. Tennessee was ready for everything Baltimore threw at them and while this one was decided in overtime, it was just the ticket they needed at this point in the season.

In a season without the Patriots dominating the AFC East, it’s been fun to see the other teams (Jets excluded) claim their division. At this rate, the Dolphins and Bills will be battling out for that top spot until the final week of the season and because of this – a loss against the Broncos wasn’t ideal for them.

The Colts have quietly had a great season and have been rising as one of the best well-rounded teams in the league – until they faced the Packers. This win puts them on the radar in a good way and it seems like moving forward, the Colts are going to be the ones to watch as one of the biggest surprises in the season.

The Buccaneers played a solid game on the Monday Night Football stage against the Rams, but throughout the entirety of the game, it just seemed like the Rams wanted this one more. Tom Brady kept things rolling, but the Rams’ defense held them to ever pulling ahead.

Aside from the issues at defense from time to time throughout this season, the Seahawks have performed – for the most part – just as expected. The defense had their best performance yet and in combination with Russell Wilson being, well, Russell Wilson – it’d be hard to bet against Seattle if this becomes the norm.

The Packers were on fire in the first half of the game against the Colts, but after halftime, their offense stalled. This was certainly a game that could have been won, but a fumble toward the start of overtime cost them. Luckily for Green Bay, they have a two-game advantage over the Bears in the NFC North.

In their bye week, the Bills must be happy to finally be in the spotlight in the AFC East. While they still have some competition with the Dolphins, Buffalo has been one of the more consistent teams through 11 weeks.

You’d assume if the Saints didn’t have Drew Brees, it’d be an automatic loss for the Saints – well, you’d assume wrong. Though they were facing off against the Falcons, a team full of inconsistency in 2020, the Saints’ defense is what won them this game. Now at 8-2, they’re holding down first place in the NFC South.

Yes, the Steelers were knocked from the top spot in these power rankings – but they did no wrong – rather that top team (spoiler alert: it’s the Chiefs) had quite a week. No game should be deemed an automatic win, but when going up against the Jaguars, a team that hasn’t won a game since Week 1, it seemed like everyone knew the direction this one was headed in.

Never doubt Patrick Mahomes. Never question Patrick Mahomes. Never think even for a second that Patrick Mahomes can’t steal a win right from under another team. That’s it – that’s the explanation as to why the Chiefs are in this first spot once again. With that kind of talent leading the way for Kansas City, it’s hard to think otherwise.