With nine weeks of play almost in the books and no undefeated teams left— there’s still tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Titans and Cowboys — there are still four powers in the NFL that are in a league of their own.
In the NFC, the Rams and Saints are clearly the teams to beat and the same can be said about the Patriots and Chiefs in the AFC.
No matter how you rank them, the Rams, Saints, Patriots, and Chiefs have a combined record of 30-5 and seem destined to face one another in their respective conference championship games and then the Super Bowl.
Of the five combined losses, three have come to teams outside of the power quartet (Lions, Buccaneers, Jaguars). The Patriots beat the Chiefs and the Saints beat the Rams to account for the other two defeats.
What that appears to signify is that the Rams, Saints, Patriots, and Chiefs can all probably beat each other on any given Sunday, but the rest of the NFL likely can’t.
Of the teams that have a shot, albeit small, the 6-2 Panthers, 6-2 Chargers, and 5-2-1 Steelers, probably have the best one. But all three of those teams will have to raise their games if they want to be in the same conversation as the NFL’s current big four.
“There is the class of the league. It would be crazy to write anything in pen. This is the NFL. Surprises happen,” according to The Washington Post. “For now, though, Week 9 reaffirmed what the rest of the season had already told us. The Patriots, Chiefs, Saints and Rams are in one class, and the rest of the league can be sorted out behind them. There’s still another half of the regular season left, but it’s hard to see that changing.”
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