Power Rankings after Divisional Round: Chiefs threepeat still on, Commdners stun, Eagles fly, Bills boot Baltimore
Just four teams remain in the regular season after Divisonal Round that saw three home teams advance and the Washington Commanders shock the Lions.

The Conference Championship slate is set for next weekend as three of the four home teams took care of business. The Chiefs are back in the AFC Championship for a seventh straight year. The Eagles rode Saquon Barkley back to the NFC title game in a snowy City of Brotherly Love, and Josh Allen edged Lamar Jackson in a battle of MVPs to set up another Chiefs-Bills matchup with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. But the Commanders shocked the world by lighting up the top seeded Lions and they are a game away from the most remarkable turnaround in NFL, and maybe sports history.
1) Kansas City Chiefs, last week 2
The pursuit of the three-peat is alive and a very real possibility after the Chiefs 23-14 win over the Houston Texans on Saturday from Arrowhead. Like most of this season, nothing the Chiefs did was spectacular, but they never looked in danger of losing control of the game. Having the one seed and getting home field advantage in the playoffs is obviously a big advantage, but the biggest factor the Chiefs have on their side is experience. They have been in these big games before and they know how to handle themselves when they need to make a play, or build a drive when it’s most important. Their 13 play drive that took almost eight minutes off the clock ended with a Travis Kelce TD which put them up eight points and the game never looked in danger. Of course the Chiefs have used this same formula year after year. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce looked like the unstoppable duo from a few years ago after a season that neither was up to their sky high standards. Kelce had 117 of Mahomes’ 177 passing yards, the Chiefs made no mistakes in a game that they controlled from start to finish, and as as been the case for the last two years, the defense protected their lead and carried them to the AFC Championship for a seventh straight season.
2) Philadelphia Eagles, last week 4
At the end of the regular season we called the Eagles the most balanced team in the NFC. That doesn’t always mean you are the best team, but having balance gives you the chance to not play your best in certain facets of the game and still be able to pull out the win like they did in the Divisional Round against the Rams. The pass game was essentially non existent in Philly on Sunday afternoon. That might be because of the snow, or it might be because the Eagles opted to hand it off to the guy who should be the MVP of the NFL (all due respect to Lamar and Josh) Saquon Barkley. The game was even for the first quarter of an hour but once the snow came the Eagles defense dug in and stood strong for the final 50 minutes of the game. When the game was starting to slip away following the Hurts safety late in the third quarter the defense came up with back to back fumbles and forced a three and out as the Eagles were able to build up a 13 point lead which was enough to hold off a late comeback from the Rams.
3) Buffalo Bills, last week 2
It might have been billed as the battle of the MVP candidates, but it wasn’t the QB with the best numbers that came out of Sunday night’s highly anticipated game with the win. Josh Allen threw for just 127 yards on a night that Buffalo was out gained by almost 150 yards. Buffalo can, and sometimes will, light up the score board on the shoulders of a Josh Allen 400 yard, 4 TD game. They didn’t need to do that with the Ravens on Sunday. In fact they couldn’t do that on Sunday. If they were going to beat Baltimore they were going to have to control the clock and grind out the win. They were also going to need to create some turnovers to make life difficult for a Ravens team that was admittedly deeper and more talented. Buffalo ran the ball 36 times while Allen threw just 22 passes, but this game was won in the first two quarters. The defense came up with the big plays that put Buffalo in command and kept them in command. An interception on the second Ravens possession of the game kept Baltimore from getting into a groove offensively and the play of the game came from playoff vet Von Miller who scooped a fumble up and took it deep into BAL territory on what would turn out to be a potential 14 point swing, keeping the Ravens out of the end zone and setting up a Josh Allen TD on a QB sneak. Clinging to a lead midway through the fourth quarter, the defense that people have doubted all season, came up with a season defining turnover when Terrel Bernard forced and recovered a Mark Andrews fumble which once again took the wind out of Baltimore’s sails and gave the Bills the chance to close out the game.
4) Washington Commanders, last week 7
If they didn’t have a rookie quarterback, the Washington Commanders might be at the top of the list. No one in the NFL is playing with more swag, with more confidence and more belief in what they are doing. This is a team that won just four games all season last year, and now they are a game away from the Super Bowl. How was Jayden Daniels going to handle a high pressure road game in a rampant Ford Field? How was the defense going to slow down Jared Goff and the high octane Lions offense? How was Dan Quinn going to come up with a game plan on how to outsmart Dan Campbell? They answered all of those questions with their 45-31 win in the Motor City. Daniels had all the time in the world in the pocket and he picked apart the banged up Detroit secondary throwing a yard shy of 300. The defense forced came up with four interceptions and a fumble recovery, and Dan Quinn had coach Campbell making decisions that Campbell usually forces opposing coaches to make when they can’t figure out a way to stop the offense. When they need to defend they defend. When they know they need to come out and light up the scoreboard they are perfectly capable of that too. The only doubt that arises, which is a nonsense doubt to have after the season that he’s had, is Jayden Daniels. The rookie continues to defy logic, the odds and the laws of nature that previously stated a rookie QB shouldn’t be able to do what he is doing.
5) Baltimore Ravens, last week 5
Another year and another playoff disappointment for the two time MVP Lamar Jackson. This time, he had a team built to win. He was healthy, with the best running back of this generation in the back field, and a defense that was starting to click at the right time. Once again those same fatal flaws that have plagued the Ravens, and their QB in the past came back to cost them. While Jackson defended his tight end for his fumble and the dropped two point conversion to tie the game, he should be thanking him. Jackson was let off the hook with those fourth quarter mistakes by Andrews. Lamar tossed a interceptions that was no where close to his receiver on the Ravens second drive of the game, and on the next drive he tried to make something out of another after a high snap, but ended up giving the ball away in a play that not only cost Baltimore points, but allowed Buffalo to take the lead that they would keep until the end of the game. Jackson played really well in the second half and gave his team a chance to tie the game up, but those two early turnovers put the Ravens behind the eight ball, and left them with no choice to play perfectly in the second half. Most of the time in the playoffs it’s not about the plays you make that will win the game, it’s about the plays you don’t make that could lose you the game. Jackson had two turnovers. Allen had none.
6) Detroit Lions, last week 1
They won’t use it as an excuse, but I will. The Lions injuries took it’s toll at the worst time possible. After weeks and weeks of making amends with the players they had, the defense finally imploded against the Commanders on Saturday night. There was no stopping Jayden Daniels who could have folded his jersey up and saved it for next week without washing it after barley getting brushed by the Lions front four. The secondary took another blow on the second snap of night when Amik Robertson wet down for the game, and that looked to be the drop that overflowed the bucket. To make matters worse, the Lions couldn’t keep hold of the ball. They turned it over on five of their eleven possessions throughout, and somehow still had a slim chance to win the game. Goff did that once before, against the Texans, but the Commanders weren’t as forgiving in Ford Field. It’s a shame for the Lions who looked like the best team in the league for really the entire season, but the football gods struck them down with injury and reared their head in the most inopportune time. It was still going to take something special to beat this supremely talented team that seemed to have destiny on it’s side. Unfortunately for them a kid name Daniels defied destiny and took down the Lions in Detroit.
7) Los Angeles Rams, last week 6
The Los Angeles Rams last two weeks had unimaginably difficult knowing all of the destruction and devastation going on back home. They were able to focus on football in the biggest two weeks of the season and almost came up with a heroic comeback win late in the game from Philly. In a snow globe game from the Link, it was going to have to be the defense that stepped up against Saquon Barkley and an Eagles team that ran for over 300 yards in their first match up of the season. Unfortunately for the Rams, three big plays from Philly cost them their season. The early 44 yard TD run from Jalen Hurts, the Saquon Barkley TD from 62 yards put the Eagles in command through the first 15 minutes of the game, and the Barkley closed the door with a 78 yard run with under 5:00 minutes left in the game. Everything in between those plays kept the Rams in the game, and even after Barkley’s game sealing touchdown LA almost came back to wi the game. Stafford put on his superhero cape and cut into the 13 point lead, and the defense gave the Rams a chance with two and a half to go, but LA was one big play away from one of the most remarkable late game comebacks in playoff history.
8) Houston Texans, last week 8
The Texans went into Kansas City facing a monumental task, trying to knock off the two time defending champions in Arrowhead. Give a lot of credit to DeMeco Ryans team, who looked down and out heading into the postseason but a win over the Chargers seemed to wake them up and instill belief in the AFC South champs. CJ Stroud played better than Patrick Mahomes despite being under constant pressure from the Chiefs front four. The run game racked up almost 100 more yards than Kansas City’s, but they lacked minor details that seperates championship teams from championship contenders. On Saturday in Arrowhead those details came down to the kicking game. Ka’imi Fairbairn missed a 55 yard field goal in the first half, which is excusable but his missed PAT that would have tied the game up early in the second half took the wind out of the Texans’ sails. It’s hard to keep pace with the Chiefs and when you have a chance to draw level, you have to take it or else they will punish you and that’s exactly what Patrick Mahomes did on the next drive. Fairbairn would have another FG blocked late in the second half and when you tally up the points left on the board because of the kicking game, you see see it would have been 21-21 had the Chiefs not conceded a late safety to basically close out that game in the final seconds of the 4th quarter.