NFL 2025: Post-Week 8 Power Rankings

Through eight weeks of play in the 2025-26 NFL season, the landscape of the league is starting to come in to focus more and more.

There are ten teams with two losses or less through eight weeks, and if you throw in the 5-3 Kansas City Chiefs who are always a contender with Patrick Mahomes on the field, you’ve realistically got eleven teams that have been elite so far this season.

If you expand the criteria to include teams with three losses or less, there are 16 “potential contenders” in the league: teams that have winning records through eight weeks, and can secure a postseason berth with a strong second half to the season.

The previously mentioned Chiefs are one of this week’s Power Rankings risers, after handling the Washington Commanders 28-7 at home on Monday Night Football for their fifth win in six games.

The Indianapolis Colts continue to dazzle and hold down the number one spot in my Power Rankings for the third straight week. The Colts aren’t just winning, they’re dominating week after week behind Daniel Jones, Jonathan Taylor, and the most efficient offense we’ve seen in over 25 years in terms of points per drive. This week’s punching bag was the woeful Tennessee Titans, who the Colts dispatched 38-14 for their fourth straight win.

After the Colts, an obvious and clear #1, things become hairy as those ten other elite teams can really be ranked in any order. Are the 6-2 Philadelphia Eagles right back on track to defending their Super Bowl 59 title, after a big 38-20 win over the New York Giants? Are the Buffalo Bills back on track as well after snapping their two-game losing streak with a 40-9 win over the Carolina Panthers?

What about making room for the 5-3 Seattle Seahawks, the 5-2 Detroit Lions, the 6-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 5-1-1 Green Bay Packers, the 5-2 Los Angeles Rams… the list goes on.

Drake Maye and the New England Patriots continue to impress, improving to 6-2 with a 32-13 win over the Cleveland Browns, as do Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos, who also improved to 6-2 with a 44-24 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

With so many good teams, how does my Top 10 shake out? Which of the 11 “elite” teams I mentioned is the odd team out? Read on for my 2025-26 NFL Post-Week 8 Power Rankings, and if you’d like to debate or discuss any rankings, join the conversation with Sakmann Sports on Twitter/X, on Facebook, or by commenting directly on this post!

2025 NFL Power Rankings: Preseason, Post-Week 1, Post-Week 2, Post-Week 3, Post-Week 4, Post-Week 5, Post-Week 6, Post-Week 7, Post-Week 8

Post-Week 8 Power Rankings

Indianapolis Colts (7-1) [Last Week: 1]
Detroit Lions (5-2) [Last Week: 2]
Philadelphia Eagles (6-2) [Last Week: 5]
Kansas City Chiefs (5-3) [Last Week: 9]
Seattle Seahawks (5-2) [Last Week: 3]
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-2) [Last Week: 4]
Buffalo Bills (5-2) [Last Week: 6]
Los Angeles Rams (5-2) [Last Week: 7]
New England Patriots (6-2) [Last Week: 11]
Denver Broncos (6-2) [Last Week: 10]
Green Bay Packers (5-1-1) [Last Week: 12]
Los Angeles Chargers (5-3) [Last Week: 14]
San Francisco 49ers (5-3) [Last Week: 8]
Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) [Last Week: 13]
Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3) [Last Week: 17]
Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1) [Last Week: 15]
Washington Commanders (3-5) [Last Week: 16]
Houston Texans (3-4) [Last Week: 22]
Chicago Bears (4-3) [Last Week: 18]
Carolina Panthers (4-4) [Last Week: 19]
Atlanta Falcons (3-4) [Last Week: 20]
Minnesota Vikings (3-4) [Last Week: 21]
Arizona Cardinals (2-5) [Last Week: 23]
Baltimore Ravens (2-5) [Last Week: 30]
New York Giants (2-6) [Last Week: 24]
Cincinnati Bengals (3-5) [Last Week: 25]
Miami Dolphins (2-6) [Last Week: 29]
Cleveland Browns (2-6) [Last Week: 26]
New York Jets (1-7) [Last Week: 31]
Las Vegas Raiders (2-5) [Last Week: 28]
New Orleans Saints (1-7) [Last Week: 27]
Tennessee Titans (1-7) [Last Week: 32]

Biggest Winners

The Baltimore Ravens rose six spots by making one simple move: removing quarterback Cooper Rush and going with Tyler Huntley at the position, with Lamar Jackson sidelined another week. The move paid off: Huntley has succeeded in the Ravens offense before and did so again in a 30-16 win over the Chicago Bears.

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans rose four spots with a win over the San Francisco 49ers, and Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs rose five spots to the 4th overall position, as their early season struggles continue to be further and further away in the rearview mirror.

Biggest Losers

The San Francisco 49ers got knocked down five spots, as injuries continue to mount and their record starts to look less dominant after a loss to the Texans.

The New Orleans Saints fell four spots after a poor 23-3 showing at home against a hobbled Tampa Bay Buccaneers team.

The Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons should have fallen more in my opinion, but I already had them in a weird purgatory, and can’t really rank them below the likes of the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants. But unless something major changes, Minnesota and Atlanta are not looking like good teams right now.