NFL 2025: Post-Week 12 Power Rankings

Week 12 of the 2025-26 NFL season brought plenty of change to the Sakmann Sports NFL weekly Power Rankings.

There’s no change at the top, after Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams powered their way to 9-2 with an easy 34-7 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who fell seven spots with the loss, fading away after a strong start to the season.)

But with the Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles, and Buffalo Bills are losing, there’s plenty of chaos in the Top 10 and beyond. The 9-2 Denver Broncos rise to #2 despite a bye week, and Drake Maye and the 10-2 New England Patriots are right on their tail after a gritty win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Houston Texans and Chicago Bears are red-hot, and maybe I underrated them in previous rankings, because Houston rose ten spots this week with a home win over the Bills, and Chicago rose five spots after outdueling the Pittsburgh Steelers to improve to 8-3.

And near the bottom of this week’s Power Rankings, in his first NFL start, Sheduer Sanders digs the Cleveland Browns out of the #32 spot, and we have a new worst team in the NFL: the Las Vegas Raiders.

Read on for my 2025-26 NFL Post-Week 12 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 9, Post-Week 10, Post-Week 11, Post-Week 12

Post-Week 12 Power Rankings

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

Biggest Winners: Houston Texans (+10), San Francisco 49ers (+5), Chicago Bears (+5),

Biggest Losers: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-7), Los Angeles Chargers (-6), Detroit Lions (-5), Minnesota Vikings (-4)

Note: Sorry Los Angeles Chargers fans, and to a degree, Detroit Lions fans as well. Your teams didn’t necessarily do anything wrong in Week 11: Los Angeles had a bye, and Detroit had an overtime win over the Giants. But so many teams did good or better things, rising in the rankings, and pushing some others down.