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 2 of the NFL Title Rankings of the 2023 season. See here for last week’s rankings.
There were a lot of shakeups again including a new first ranked team, again. The Seahawks beat the Lions to take the NFL Title Belt and first ranking to start the season. Next, the Seahawks will have to defend against the Panthers.
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 Wk2 | Δ | Notes | |
| 1 | Seahawks | +19 | The Seahawks beat the Lions to take the NFL Title Belt and first. | |
| 2 | Lions | -1 | ||
| 3 | Chiefs | -1 | ||
| 4 | Steelers | +5 | The Steelers jumped 5 spots by beating the Browns. | |
| 5 | Browns | -2 | ||
| 6 | Ravens | +20 | The Ravens jumped 20 spots by beating the Bengals. | |
| 7 | Bengals | -3 | ||
| 8 | Falcons | -3 | ||
| 9 | Saints | -2 | The Saints only dropped 2 spots by beating the Panthers. | |
| 10 | Panthers | -4 | ||
| 11 | 49ers | -3 | ||
| 12 | Eagles | -2 | ||
| 13 | Cowboys | -2 | ||
| 14 | Bucs | -2 | ||
| 15 | Packers | -2 | ||
| 16 | Bills | +6 | The Bills jumped 6 spots by beating the Raiders. | |
| 17 | Raiders | -3 | ||
| 18 | Commanders | +5 | The Commanders jumped 5 spots by beating the Broncos. | |
| 19 | Broncos | -4 | ||
| 20 | Jaguars | -4 | ||
| 21 | Dolphins | -4 | ||
| 22 | Titans | +7 | The Titans jumped 7 spots by beating the Chargers. | |
| 23 | Chargers | -5 | ||
| 24 | Rams | -5 | ||
| 25 | Jets | -4 | ||
| 26 | Giants | -2 | ||
| 27 | Vikings | -2 | ||
| 28 | Patriots | -1 | ||
| 29 | Colts | +3 | The Colts jumped 3 spots by beating the Texans. | |
| 30 | Texans | -2 | ||
| 31 | Bears | -1 | ||
| 32 | Cardinals | -1 | With the Colts beating the Texans, the Cardinals are now last. |
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.
I really like this method. What do you base initial ranking on to start the list? I assume from that point the list uses itself to determine the value of beating/losing to a team?
My week 0 ranking was just last year’s final ranking. The point values for week 0 determined how many points each team is worth going into week 1. Same for week 1’s rankings determining all team values for week 2’s rankings.
Now, when I started the list last year I just used my janky title belt rankings as a basis and it all shook out after a few weeks.