I only rank 12 teams, the reason is simple, no one out side of ESPN guru’s John Clayton’s office cares that the Raiders are the worst team in the league not named the Cardinals. The other more important reason is that only 12 teams make the playoffs. So here is a formula that is complicated, complex and a little convoluted. The teams are ranked on whether or not they will make the playoffs. For instance if these rankings existed last week, Jacksonville may have been looking at a six seed in January, but since they lost to Houston this week, the result is simple, Temple has a better shot at a BCS game. So here they are, the top 12.

 NFC

1.       Chicago-They had a week off to think about almost losing to Arizona, now they can think about real teams…wait no they can’t, they play San Francisco next.

2.       Seattle-Matt Hasselbeck might be hurt and Shaun Alexander might be hanging with him in the whirlpool, but the NFC isn’t deep, and neither is Seattle’s running game.

3.       N.Y. Giants-A strong win over the Cowboys, but can they keep it up against the suddenly hot Buccaneers.

4.       Carolina-How is the third place team going to win the south you ask, New Orleans still has Pittsburgh, Cincy and Baltimore, so I’m going to go with the more experienced Panthers. Sorry to rain on your parade Saints.

5.       Minnesota-Are the purple people eaters for real? We’ll find out this Monday when they host the Patriots.

6.       New Orleans-To go from 5-1 to out of the playoffs would be pretty humiliating for the whole city, so let’s give them the wild card and then go toast them with 5 margaritas in the French quarter.  

AFC

1.       Indianapolis-Indy loves making the playoffs and then not making the Super Bowl, so I’ll just play along…

2.       New England-Rumor has it that the Patriots will be starting 5 rookies, 3 high school players, 2 fans and Tom Brady in Minnesota this week., I’m not sure, but I think that’s bad news for the Vikings.

3.       Denver-Denver will be hosting Indianapolis this weekend, the winner will have home field advantage, the loser can kiss a first round bye…well, good bye.

4.       Cincinnati-The Bengals are better then the Ravens and the Ravens are better then the Steelers, guess who that leaves at home sulking in their iron city beer.

5.       San Diego-Imagine, Bengals vs. Chargers in the playoffs, can anyone say Freezer Bowl.