Ranking the final 4 teams in NFL playoffs

The stage is set. Four teams remain. Aside from some gut-wrenching, soul-crushing losses by the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys, these are pretty much the teams we expected to make it this far.

Check out our rankings from the wild card and divisional rounds. With just one more slate of games before the Big One, here are the best remaining teams in the NFL playoffs.

Are the Chiefs back? It sure looked like it against a Buffalo Bills team that Patrick Mahomes and Andry Reid routinely shove into a locker every other postseason. Kansas City averaged 7.7 yards per play as they gashed through a Buffalo defense marred by injuries. They got key contributions from the likes of Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, players who have been M.I.A. most of the 2023 season. And yet…

That was just one game – their best game of the season, at that. Looking at the totality of the 2023 season, this just isn’t the Chiefs we’ve come to expect. They boast the best quarterback in the league, but they’re extremely thin at receiver. That won’t be great against the league’s best defense featuring All-Pros Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton. The Chiefs defense, while excellent getting pressure on Josh Allen and locking up Stefon Diggs, struggled to contain the Bills on the ground. That bottom-five run defense should have fun covering a rushing attack third in rush EPA and rushing success rate.

I’ve said it in every entry of these rankings: You cannot count out the Patrick Mahomes-Andy Reid Chiefs. This is just the worst offense that the team has had. They were uniquely advantaged against a Bills team that constantly blitzes and was bone-thin at linebacker. They now get one of the best defensive minds in the league leading one of the most loaded defensive rosters of 2023. That doesn’t even mention an offense that can keep up with Mahomes, nor does it mention that the offense is getting All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews back.

Detroit is almost like San Francisco-lite, in a way. The quarterback situation isn’t ideal, but the surrounding skill-position players are some of the best in the league and the defense is pretty damn good. The Lions are just a little early to the party. In their game against the Buccaneers, their leading rusher, leading receiver, and leading tackler were all rookies. Their biggest names on either side of the ball – Amon-Ra St. Brown and Aidan Hutchinson – are still on rookie contracts. Detroit is chock-full of youngsters, veteran reclamation projects, and spare parts. They’ve made one of the most potent teams in the league out of scraps and lottery tickets.

The +6.5 opening line for Detroit feels like it’s discrediting the Lions just because they haven’t been here before, This is a damn good team! Their biggest weakness from the regular season – a lackluster pass defense – has been ameliorated by the return of C.J. Gardner-Johnson and creative scheming by Aaron Glenn. Glenn and Ben Johnson are both deep in their bags this postseason and have absolutely earned their right to their head coaching interest. The creativity these two have shown as play-callers is enough to elevate the talent on this roster and keep any opponent on its toes.

They lack the household names, they don’t have the quarterback pedigree, and they haven’t been to a conference championship in 32 years. The way this team has played, though, Detroit looks capable of just about anything right now,

San Francisco has a fantastic roster: an All-Pro tackle, the league’s best running back, a top-five tight end, two top-15(ish) wide receivers, and a top-five overall defense. Brock Purdy is the X-factor here, for better and worse. Purdy is limited – there’s a reason he was drafted last overall – but he’s also running one of the most efficient versions of Kyle Shanahan’s offense. The dichotomy reared its ugly head against the Packers. Purdy was pretty bad against a weak Packers defense. Then the final 49ers drive came around, and he accounted for 58 of San Francisco’s 69 yards on 7-for-8 passing during the game-winning drive. Purdy has it in him to be good within the confines of this offense. It’s just a matter of how far that offense can carry him.

Lamar Jackson proved his status as the favorite for the league MVP Saturday night. The Baltimore Ravens were the only team to hold the Houston Texans offense to zero touchdowns all season – and they did it twice. Jackson has never had a better receiving corps and now gets his favorite target back in Mark Andrews. Mike McDonald is leading the league’s best defense and has two All-Pro talents at his disposal.

No quarterback is playing better, no offense is this deep, and no defense is this stifling. This is the team to beat.