Bill Feig/Associated Press

NFL Power Rankings: B/R's Expert Consensus Rank for Conference Finalists

NFL Staff

If you like chalk, then the divisional round of the playoffs was right up your alley.

For a time, it looked like there might be an upset in the Big Easy, but when the dust settled, the top two seeds in both the AFC and NFC advanced—most in decisive fashion.

The weekend kicked off with a trouncing in the snow in Kansas City, moved to a ground-and-pound mauling in L.A., shifted to a Beantown beatdown that was brutally thorough and then finally culminated in a game in New Orleans that started one way and ended its polar opposite.

That leaves us with the Rams traveling to meet the Saints in Sunday''s NFC title game, while later that evening the Kansas City Chiefs will host the New England Patriots. Both are rematches of regular-season meetings in which the home teams (Saints and Patriots) got the win. Both are predictable semifinals.

And both should be really good games.

As we move ever closer to Atlanta and Super Bowl LIII, Bleacher Report NFL Analysts Gary Davenport, Brad Gagnon and Brent Sobleski have gathered to do what they have so many times this season—rank the league's teams (or at least the ones who played games over the weekend).

Here's their take on the pecking order of the best of the best—beginning with the week's biggest free-faller.

         

8. Los Angeles Chargers (12-5, AFC No. 5 Seed)

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

High: 7

Low: 8

Divisional Round Result: Lost at New England 41-28

The Los Angeles Chargers faced the tallest of tasks Sunday—go into Gillette Stadium and become just the fourth team in 22 tries to beat the New England Patriots in the postseason on their own field in the Brady-Belichick era.

The Bolts not only didn't accomplish that goal, but they also didn't come close.

The final score didn't reflect just how badly the Chargers got their Bolts kicked. While Los Angeles found the end zone on its first drive, the Patriots hit paydirt on their first four. This game was over (and then some) at intermission.

One week after shutting down the Baltimore Ravens on the road, the Chargers had no answer defensively for, well, anything. Whether it was Tom Brady throwing the ball (343 yards), Sony Michel running the ball (129 yards, three touchdowns) or Julian Edelman catching the ball (nine receptions, 151 yards), the Patriots were able to do just about whatever they wanted offensively while piling up 498 yards of total offense.

It wasn't just the L.A. defense, either. Philip Rivers had 331 passing yards and three scores, but he completed less than half of his attempts and racked up most of that yardage in garbage time. The Chargers gained 19 rushing yards on 10 carries—as a team.

"I'm not sure if we underestimated how vulnerable the Patriots were," Davenport said, "or overestimated how good these Chargers were. Beating the Patriots in Gillette in the playoffs is next to impossible, and back-to-back East Coast trips for early games may have taken a toll. But I'll confess I expected a lot more fight out of the Chargers Sunday. The Chargers had a good season, but watching Rivers complain about nonexistent penalties for most of Sunday's beatdown just about sums up how it ended—badly."

7. Indianapolis Colts (11-7, AFC No. 6 Seed)

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

High: 5

Low: 7

Divisional Round Result: Lost at Kansas City 31-13

After the Indianapolis Colts throttled the third-seeded Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round, the team became a trendy pick to pull off a second straight postseason upset in Kansas City. All three NFL analysts here at Bleacher Report picked Indy to win Saturday's game outright, and the Colts entered the week higher in these power rankings than the top-seeded Chiefs.

Um…oopsie.

There wasn't a facet of the game against the Chiefs in which the Colts were not thoroughly outplayed. Offensively, the Colts had their worst outing in over a month—against one of the most porous defenses in the NFL. Indy managed just 263 yards of total offense. The run game was effective on a per-carry basis, but after falling behind early, the Colts all but abandoned the ground game. Andrew Luck and company didn't convert a single third down the entire game.

The defense was no better. One week after putting the clamps on Houston, Indianapolis had no answer for Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City's high-octane offense. The Colts surrendered 433 yards of total offense, including a staggering 180 yards on the ground.

You know it isn't going to be your day when Adam Vinatieri misses both an extra point and a 23-yard field goal—the shortest miss of his 23-year career.

"Everything seemed to point in Indianapolis' favor with snowy conditions to help slow Kansas City's explosive offense at Arrowhead Stadium," Sobleski said. "The Colts could ride their physical offensive front all the way to the AFC Championship Game. Nope. Instead, the Kansas City Chiefs' defensive front frustrated quarterback Andrew Luck throughout the entire contest. So, the one area where the Colts felt they held a distinct advantage didn't play to expected levels, even in favorable conditions."

After starting the season 1-5, Indy's march to the playoffs was an impressive show of resilience from a young team with a bright future.

But that doesn't dull the sting of an ignominious end to the season.

6. Dallas Cowboys (11-7, NFC No. 4 Seed)

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

High: 6

Low: 6

Divisional Round Result: Lost at Los Angeles Rams 30-22

Over the team's second-half surge that led to an NFC East title and a win over the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round, the Dallas Cowboys lived by running the football and playing solid defense.

Saturday at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the Cowboys died because of an inability to do either.

After grinding out 137 yards on 26 carries against Seattle, tailback Ezekiel Elliott was shut down by the Rams, managing just 47 yards on 20 totes—a miserable average of 2.3 yards a carry.

Mind you, this was a Rams defense that allowed more YPC than any team in the NFL this year—over five yards a pop.

Elliott allowed (via Rob Phillips of the Cowboys website) that the Rams won the battle up front Saturday—in a big way.

"We played against a really good front," Elliott said. "You guys kept asking me about stats and 5.1 yards a carry all week and I told y'all it's playoff football, none of that matters anymore.

"That defense didn't play that way today. They did a great job winning the battle up front and stopping the run."

Los Angeles was equally dominant in the trenches on the other side of the ball. Both Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson went over 100 yards on the ground, and as a team the Rams racked up 273 rushing yards—a franchise record for the postseason.

That the Cowboys won the division at all after a 3-5 start is an accomplishment, and a young core is in place that should keep Dallas in the thick of things in the NFC East over the next few years.

But like the other teams who saw their season end over the weekend, that's little solace right now.

"The Cowboys aren't really a final-four-caliber team, and we received proof of that in Los Angeles Saturday night," Gagnon said. "That defense was probably a little overhyped (I'm a guilty accomplice), the offense always had its limitations, and the Cowboys just aren't the same outside of Jerry World. To become the first repeat NFC East champion in well over a decade, they'll need the offensive line to get healthier and the pass-catching corps to become stronger in general."

5. Philadelphia Eagles (10-8, NFC No. 6 Seed)

Bill Feig/Associated Press

High: 5

Low: 8

Divisional Round Result: Lost at New Orleans 20-14

Things almost got wacky in New Orleans.

One week after stunning the Bears in Chicago, the Philadelphia Eagles almost delivered an even more shocking upset of the top-seeded Saints. The Eagles came out on fire against New Orleans, nabbing a quick takeaway and finding the end zone on the first two drives.

At the end of the first quarter, it was 14-0 Eagles.

From there, though, it all fell apart. After going eight for his first nine for 113 yards and a score, Nick Foles was just 10-of-22 for 88 yards with a pair of interceptions. The ground game vanished. The defense began ceding ground and then points—and just couldn't hold.

Simply put, the Eagles were outclassed over the game's final 45 minutes by a better team in just about every aspect of the game. The stats bear that out even more than the score.

"The Eagles aren't as good as the Saints," Davenport said. "That's not a knock. Not many teams are. Maybe none are. But the smoke and mirrors that Foles somehow seemed to subconsciously conjure both this year and last disappeared as Sunday's game wore on. Injuries also hit this team hard from the first game of the season to the last. There's a good reason it's been so many years since we had a repeat champion. So many things have to go right just to win one Super Bowl—two requires lightning of good fortune to essentially strike the same place twice. But the Eagles were able to get back into the tournament and notch the biggest upset of these playoffs. The Eagles will be back in contention in the NFC East in 2019, but Foles has probably played his last game with the team. He'll land on his feet, though—I hear Jacksonville's hiring."

4. Kansas City Chiefs (13-4, AFC No. 1 Seed)

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

High: 4

Low: 4

Divisional Round Result: Won vs. Indianapolis 31-13

Kansas City has long been a town famous for its barbecue. On Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts, however, something else was on the menu.

More than a few pundits pegged the Chiefs as being ripe for an upset. Kansas City hadn't played its best football over the regular season's last month, the team possesses one of the worst defenses in the NFL in a number of statistical categories, and the Chiefs have a long history of postseason disappointments—especially at home.

It didn't take long to see that prediction was nowhere near accurate.

En route to piling up 433 yards of total offense and 31 points, the Chiefs scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and added a field goal with their third. When Kansas City responded to a special teams score by marching right back down the field to make it 24-7, this game was all but over.

"Quarterback Patrick Mahomes stole the show all year," Sobleski said. "He even made some tremendous throws in Saturday's 31-13 victory over the Colts. Yet, the presumptive league MVP didn't throw a touchdown pass in a game for only the second time this season. Instead, the Chiefs defense came alive by knocking down passes, sacking Andrew Luck three times and allowing only 263 yards. Furthermore, Kansas City became the first team in postseason history to get rushing touchdowns from a quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Mahomes is spectacular. His play isn't the only reason the Chiefs are still alive, though."

The Chiefs also didn't allow a third-down conversion the entire game.

The win ensured that the only thing standing between the Chiefs and a trip to Super Bowl LIII is a home date with the Patriots in the AFC title game.

If the Chiefs can duplicate that defensive performance, they are going to be mighty hard to beat. 

3. New England Patriots (12-5, AFC No. 2 Seed)

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

High: 2

Low: 3

Divisional Round Result: Won vs. Los Angeles Chargers 41-28

There was a lot written over the last week regarding the vulnerabilities of this Patriots team. Sure, the Pats won a 10th straight AFC East title and earned yet another first-round playoff bye, but they didn't appear as dominant on either side of the ball as some past iterations.

Even the folks who predicted the Patriots would defeat the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday (including two of the three NFL analysts here at B/R) figured it would be a close game.

Well, they were half-right. The Patriots won, all right.

But the game was nowhere near as close as the final score.

New England's first four drives of the game all ended the same way—in the end zone. The Patriots led 35-7 after a first half in which they did as they pleased offensively. Tom Brady finished the game with a completion percentage north of 75 and 343 passing yards. Rookie tailback Sony Michel piled up 129 yards and three scores on 24 carries. New England came up just short of 500 yards of total offense—and spent over a quarter with its foot off the gas.

It was a complete and thorough dissection of a very good Chargers team as well as a reminder of two things. The first is that the Pats do not lose at home in the postseason. The second is that the road to Atlanta still goes through the Patriots—even if next week's AFC title game is in Missouri.

"Just three weeks ago," Gagnon said, "I wrote that you'd be kidding yourself if you thought the less-than-dominant Patriots weren't getting back to their third straight Super Bowl. On Sunday, you saw why. This is just a different team in January, especially in Foxborough. Now, the Pats won't play there again these playoffs, but does anybody feel confident the Chiefs will get past the Pats in the AFC Championship Game? New England just embarrassed a team that was playing better than Kansas City. Tom Brady is back on track, the Pats are running the ball exceptionally, and they're playing far better defense than they did last year at this time."

2. Los Angeles Rams (14-3, NFC No. 2 Seed)

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

High: 2

Low: 3

Divisional Round Result: Won vs. Dallas 30-22

For most of the 2018 season, the Los Angeles Rams have been defined by their prolific offense and passing attack. Whether it was because of a deep receiving corps or tailback Todd Gurley's ability to catch the rock out of the backfield, the Rams could move the ball through the air with the best of them.

However, in Saturday's win over the Dallas Cowboys, grip-and-rip gave way to ground-and-pound—and it was every bit as effective.

Against a Cowboys defense that's been playing as well as any defense in the league of late—a defense that shut down the Seattle Seahawks run game a week ago—the Rams took the football and crammed it down Dallas' throat. Gurley picked up 115 yards and a score on just 16 carries. C.J. Anderson (who wasn't even on the team six weeks ago) rolled to his third straight 100-yard effort, gaining 123 yards on 23 carries with two scores.

All told, the Rams gouged the Cowboys for a staggering 273 yards on the ground. It was a franchise playoff record for L.A. and the first time Dallas allowed 200 rushing yards in a playoff game in three decades. Dallas hadn't allowed a pair of 100-yard rushers in a playoff game since the AFL-NFL merger.

That the Rams have been able to run the ball this effectively despite Gurley being less than 100 percent makes an already formidable offense borderline terrifying. Play the Rams straight up, and they will grind you to dust. Load up the box to stop the run, and it's just a matter of time before single coverage outside leads to a big play down the field.

1. New Orleans Saints (14-3, NFC No. 1 Seed)

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

High: 1

Low: 1

Divisional Round Result: Won vs. Philadelphia 20-14

Early on Sunday in the Superdome, it looked like we might finally be getting an upset special. Drew Brees' first pass for the Saints was intercepted, and the Eagles scored a touchdown on each of their first two drives. At the end of one it was 14-0 Philadelphia, and you could hear a pin drop.

By the end of the game, though, order was restored to the universe, the Saints were moving on to host the NFC Championship Game, and the Superdome was as rowdy as ever.

The six-point victory engineered by the Saints was a squeaker that no doubt frayed some nerves. But it also showed the resiliency of this team. That 14-point lead is the biggest playoff comeback in Saints franchise history.

The stats at the end of the game would lead one to believe that New Orleans won going away. Brees out-passed Nick Foles by 100 yards and tossed two touchdowns. The Saints piled up a robust 137 yards on the ground. New Orleans out-gained the Eagles by 170 yards and won the turnover battle.

It was a tale of four quarters. The first belonged to Philly. The other three were all Saints—and it left Davenport confident that New Orleans will punch a ticket to Atlanta next week.

"The Eagles are not an easy team to push around," he said, "but the Saints were dominant in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Were this game in L.A., I might have a different opinion—both conference title games are going to be heavyweight slugfests. But the Saints demonstrated Sunday just how tough an out they are. The Eagles gave the Saints their best shot—and it wasn't enough in front of a crowd that's going to be all the rowdier with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line."

   

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