1. Packers (7-1, last week No. 4): They’ve come a very long way from Week One.
2. Rams (7-1, No. 3): The Rams hate draft picks more than St. Louis hates Stan Kroenke.
3. Cardinals (7-1, No. 1): Kyler Murray’s injury looms over Week Nine against the 49ers.
4. Bills (5-2, No. 5): They seemed just a little off, against a Miami team they should have destroyed.
5. Cowboys (6-1, No. 6): This is the best Dallas team in a long time. Which really isn’t that hard to do, given the overall quality of Dallas teams in recent years.
6. Saints (5-2, No. 12): They’re now 3-0 against the Brady Buccaneers in the regular season. They’d trade all of them for being 1-0 against Brady’s Bucs in the postseason.
7. Buccaneers (6-2, No. 2): Every time they look like they’re ready to dominate, they don’t.
8. Titans (6-2, No. 8): Should they be lower without Derrick Henry? Possibly. If/when they lose without him, they will be.
9. Ravens (5-2, No. 9): They backed into first place during their bye week, thanks to Cincinnati bungling a double-digit lead against the Jets.
10. Raiders (5-2, No. 11): The Raiders soon could be the best team in the conference.
11. Bengals (5-3, No. 7): Despite their talent, the Bengals aren’t ready to be an elite team.
12. Steelers (4-3, No. 15): Despite their flaws, the Steelers are ready to be an elite team.
13. Patriots (4-4, No. 16): If they make it to the single-elimination round, it’s going to get very interesting.
14. Chargers (4-3, No. 10): L.A.'s “B” team is earning its status.
15. Chiefs (4-4, No. 17): A narrow home win over the Giants doesn’t inspire confidence for the stretch of games that is coming up, starting with a visit from the Packers.
16. Browns (4-4, No. 13): They don’t do high expectations very well.
17. Vikings (3-4, No. 14): They don’t do low expectations very well.
18. Panthers (4-4, No. 18): They can be dangerous, if/when Christian McCaffrey returns.
19. Seahawks (3-5, No. 21): They’re still alive, but the margin for error is small.
20. Colts (3-5, No. 19): Can they make up four games in nine against a Titans team without Derrick Henry?
21. 49ers (3-4, No. 22): Beating the Bears hardly solves this team’s problems.
22. Falcons (3-4, No. 20): They still have a decent chance to snag the No. 7 seed, and get splattered in the wild-card round.
23. Eagles (3-5, No. 24): Something something flowers fertilizer.
24. Broncos (4-4, No. 25): Trading Von Miller won’t solve their growing no-show problem.
25. Bears (3-5, No. 23): Their record is starting to better match their current status.
26. Jets (2-5, No. 29): Some Jets fans apparently are ready to trade Zach Wilson.
27. Giants (2-5, No. 26): The fish stinks again.
28. Washington (2-6, No. 28): They have a few winnable games left on the schedule, but not nearly enough.
29. Jaguars (1-6, No. 27): They’ll always have their win over the Dolphins and two weeks of thinking maybe they had a chance to get another one.
30. Dolphins (1-7, No. 30): Why would Deshaun Watson want to be traded to Miami, anyway?
31. Texans (1-7, No. 31): The strategy in every survivor pool is simple -- take whoever is playing the Texans.
32. Lions (0-8, No. 32): The only way to explain the fan base at this point is Stockholm Syndrome.
