This is an objective, unbiased ranking in the same vein as the NFL Title Belt. As such, the number 1 ranked team will always be the same as the current NFL Title Belt holder.
This is Week 16 of the NFL Title Rankings of the 2023 season. See here for last week’s rankings.
There were a few moves this week. 6 of the 16 games ended with the lower ranked team winning.
The Steelers beat the Bengals to take the NFL Title Belt and first ranking. The Steelers will play the Seahawks next weekend for control of the NFL Title Belt and first. With only 2 weeks left, First and the Title Belt can go to the Steelers, Seahawks, Ravens, and Cardinals. If the team who gains First and the Title Belt does not go to the playoffs, it will remain with that same team until their next loss. The highest ranking belonging to a playoff team will eventually go to the Super Bowl champion.
With the Commanders losing to the Jets, the Commanders will remain last place. The Commanders can move up next week when they play the 49ers.
Let me know if you’d like to see more of this, if you’re curious about how I came up with these rankings, or if you noticed any mistakes.
| Ranking | 2023 Wk16 | Δ | Notes | |
| 1 | Steelers | +12 | The Steelers beat the Bengals to take the NFL Title Belt and first. | |
| 2 | Bengals | -1 | ||
| 3 | Browns | -1 | ||
| 4 | Ravens | -1 | ||
| 5 | Bucs | +17 | The Bucs jumped 17 spots by beating the Jaguars. | |
| 6 | Jaguars | -2 | ||
| 7 | Dolphins | -2 | ||
| 8 | Jets | -2 | ||
| 9 | Texans | -2 | ||
| 10 | 49ers | -2 | ||
| 11 | Bears | +13 | The Bears jumped 13 spots by beating the Cardinals. | |
| 12 | Cardinals | -3 | ||
| 13 | Raiders | +13 | The Raiders jumped 13 spots by beating the Chiefs. | |
| 14 | Chiefs | -4 | ||
| 15 | Patriots | -4 | ||
| 16 | Falcons | +15 | The Falcons jumped 15 spots by beating the Colts. | |
| 17 | Colts | -5 | ||
| 18 | Lions | -4 | ||
| 19 | Broncos | -4 | ||
| 20 | Rams | -4 | ||
| 21 | Bills | -4 | ||
| 22 | Cowboys | -4 | ||
| 23 | Seahawks | -4 | ||
| 24 | Saints | -4 | ||
| 25 | Eagles | – | The Eagles maintained their ranking by beating and jumping the Giants. | |
| 26 | Giants | -5 | ||
| 27 | Packers | -4 | ||
| 28 | Chargers | -1 | ||
| 29 | Titans | -1 | ||
| 30 | Vikings | -1 | ||
| 31 | Panthers | -1 | ||
| 32 | Commanders | – | The Commanders will remain last after losing to the Jets. |
This ranking assumes that there are never any fluke games and all teams are appropriately ranked. If you beat a team that is higher ranked than you, you move ahead of them and they move down one spot. However, other teams can jump in front of teams that are higher ranked than you, moving you further down the rankings.
Bonus rankings! This one is more straightforward. Teams get points for wins. They get more points for beating good teams and fewer points for beating bad teams. (+32 for beating the best team, +1 for beating the worst). Teams lose points for losses. They lose more points for losing to bad teams and fewer points for losing to good teams. (-32 for losing to the worst team, -1 for losing to the best) The points total has been reset with the first game of the season.
TEAM Ranking Points Ravens 1 251 49ers 2 187 Browns 3 177 Bengals 4 124 Steelers 5 99 Jaguars 6 97 Eagles 7 92 Rams 8 83 Seahawks 9 75 Colts 10 54 Texans 11 50 Lions 12 49 Cowboys 13 43 Dolphins 14 25 Bills 15 13 Bucs 16 10 Chiefs 17 2 Titans 18 -32 Vikings 19 -54 Falcons 20 -62 Broncos 21 -63 Saints 22 -69 Packers 23 -70 Raiders 24 -79 Cardinals 25 -84 Jets 26 -93 Bears 27 -100 Giants 28 -114 Chargers 29 -118 Patriots 30 -139 Commanders 31 -149 Panthers 32 -205 One thing, I usually see the title belt is forfeited if team doesn’t make the playoffs. If your champ can carry it into next year, what was the original starting point? The chiefs in week 1? The first super bowl? I guess the giants beating the undefeated pats would prob be less legwork than the first super bowl…
I believe the starting point was the first Super Bowl winner. But if you start with each team, eventually it will converge, sometimes it will take multiple seasons. So it doesn’t really matter.
Usually it will end up in the playoffs, which means it will usually go to the Super Bowl champ. And sometimes a locked in team will sit their players and give up the belt to a non-playoff team in the last week.
By the way, here is the basis for The Belt, they haven’t updated it in a couple months though.
