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 2026 season. See here for last year’s results.
7 of the 16 games ended with the lower ranked team winning. The largest jump were the Patriots and Browns who both jumped 11 spots after they beat the Steelers and Bucs, respectively. The Raiders are the lowest ranked team to win their game.
The Patriots beat the Steelers to take first and the NFL Title Belt. The Jaguars will have a chance to beat the Patriots and take first in Week 3. The Colts lost to the Chiefs and will remain last. The Colts will have a chance to move out of last next week when they play The Texans.
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 | 2026 Wk2 | Δ | Notes | |
| 1 | Patriots | +11 | The Patriots are now first after beating the Steelers. | |
| 2 | Steelers | -1 | ||
| 3 | Panthers | +8 | The Panthers jumped 8 spots by beating the Falcons. | |
| 4 | Falcons | -2 | ||
| 5 | Bills | +8 | The Bills jumped 8 spots by beating the Lions. | |
| 6 | Lions | -3 | ||
| 7 | Saints | -3 | ||
| 8 | Seahawks | -3 | ||
| 9 | Bengals | -3 | ||
| 10 | Browns | +11 | The Browns jumped 11 spots by beating the Bucs. | |
| 11 | Bucs | -4 | ||
| 12 | 49ers | -4 | ||
| 13 | Rams | -4 | ||
| 14 | Vikings | +8 | The Vikings jumped 8 spots by beating the Bears. | |
| 15 | Bears | -5 | ||
| 16 | Texans | -2 | ||
| 17 | Chiefs | -2 | ||
| 18 | Broncos | -2 | ||
| 19 | Jaguars | -2 | ||
| 20 | Eagles | -2 | ||
| 21 | Cowboys | +6 | The Cowboys jumped 6 spots by beating the Commanders. | |
| 22 | Commanders | -3 | ||
| 23 | Ravens | -3 | ||
| 24 | Packers | -1 | ||
| 25 | Cardinals | -1 | ||
| 26 | Raiders | +2 | The Raiders jumped 2 spots by beating the Chargers. | |
| 27 | Chargers | -2 | ||
| 28 | Giants | -2 | ||
| 29 | Dolphins | – | ||
| 30 | Jets | – | ||
| 31 | Titans | – | ||
| 32 | Colts | – | The Colts will remain last after losing to the Chiefs. |
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 point total was reset with the first game of the season.
TEAM Ranking Points Seahawks 1 44 Bills 2 35 Vikings 3 33 Patriots 4 22 Rams 5 18 49ers 6 17 Bengals 7 17 Saints 8 16 Eagles 9 15 Broncos 10 14 Chiefs 11 13 Packers 12 10 Raiders 13 7 Lions 14 6 Cardinals 15 2 Bears 16 1 Panthers 17 1 Cowboys 18 -2 Steelers 19 -7 Texans 20 -9 Colts 21 -10 Browns 22 -11 Jaguars 23 -13 Dolphins 24 -13 Giants 25 -17 Chargers 26 -17 Ravens 27 -18 Jets 28 -21 Bucs 29 -26 Titans 30 -29 Falcons 31 -30 Commanders 32 -48