The NFL midseason power rankings, tournament edition

If all 32 NFL teams played a single-elimination tournament right now, who would win? We rank the teams 1 to 32

We’re halfway home on the NFL regular season, so it seemed like a good time to check in on where things stand. The Rams and Chiefs still reign supreme and the Bills still suck, but what about everyone else in the middle? We know now not to take the first quarter of a season too seriously. That’s become the new NFL preseason as teams like the Patriots and Eagles rally through some losses to find their way on a new season. But by the midpoint, the cream is starting to rise to the top.

That means it’s time for a Midseason NFL Power Rankings, tournament edition. Anyone can rank teams by records, but records lie. Not all wins are created equal, and neither are the schedules. So I threw out the records and randomized all 32 NFL teams into a March Madness bracket, letting them play simulated neutral-field games in my head, choosing winners all the way to the virtual Super Bowl. Then I randomized things again and ran 19 more tourneys, tallied the results, and produced the power rankings. It’s an oddly effective way to get a real sense of how you feel about teams. That 5–2 record might not be as cushy as it looks, and some teams under .500 are still quite dangerous. In the NFL more than any other sport, it’s all about the matchups.