NFL Power Rankings: The Streak ends at Nine

1. San Francisco 49ers - Season defining victory over the Pats on Monday Night Football. San Fran can beat teams through the air, on the ground, and slugging it out on defense.

2. Denver Broncos - Peyton Manning, he's back baby. Broncos have won nine straight. Big question is how he performs in the playoffs.

3. New England Patriots - The AFC playoffs are going to be really exciting with the Pats, Broncos, and Texans.

4. Houston Texans - Houston controls its own destiny in their pursuit of the number one seed in the AFC. Homefield advantage could be big if they face Denver or New England.

5. Green Bay Packers - The Green Bay Packers will go as far in the playoffs as Aaron Rodgers can take them. Injuries could be huge when they face the elite.

6. Seattle Seahawks - Over one hundred points scored in their last two games will push the Seahawks up a lot of Power Rankings.

7. Atlanta Falcons - Its tough to put the likely number one NFC seed in the six hole, but their play is conducive of their ranking, this week notwithstanding. Matt Ryan and the Falcons will have to overcome their supposed playoff hump this year, or they'll officially be labelled as chokers.

8. New York Giants - Giants are are good team but they'll have to find that December magic again or else they might not make it to the postseason.

9. Washington Redskins - Two rookie quarterbacks find themselves in "win and your in" situations, and will make it a very interesting Rookie of the Race down the stretch.

10. Cincinnati Bengals - In seasons past, facing Baltimore and Pittsburgh to end a season would be an apparent death sentence to a team's playoff hopes, but both teams are banged up and the Bengals have a legitimate shot at being proclaimed the best of the NFC North.

11. Pittsburgh Steelers - Pittsburgh's season hangs in the balance this week. Big Ben has usually played big in the big game, and he'll need to do so or the Steelers are done.

12. Indianapolis Colts - In the most respectful way possible, I hate the Colts. Manning to Luck? Not fair.

13. Baltimore Ravens - Ray Rice will be in competition with CJ Spiller as the most criminally underused runningback in the NFL.

14. Chicago Bears - Bears fans know our pain. Lack of an offensive line, horrible streak after starting the season strong. Bears can at least make the playoffs, though.

15. Minnesota Vikings - MVPeterson.

16. Dallas Cowboys - Dallas'll face the Redskins to end their regular season, and that game will in all likelihood decide who wins the East/who makes the playoffs.

17. New Orleans Saints - Spoiler Alert.

18. St. Louis Rams - Remember last year when the Cardinals had, admittedly unlikely, an outside shot at making the playoffs. The Rams find themselves in that scenario.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Playoff hopes disappear in the worst possible way.

20. Miami Dolphins - Miami is a good example of what Arizona could be next year. Young offense, good defense. I personally like our defense better, and our offense weapons better too.

21. San Diego Chargers - Norv Turner will be gone, perhaps he'll find a new job as the offensive coordinator in Arizona?

22. Buffalo Bills - Bills got embarrassed in front of their "home town" fans in Canada.

23. Carolina Panthers - Cam Newton has finally broken out of his sophomore slump, and might have saved some jobs in the process.

24. Cleveland Browns - Cleveland deserves a better record than what they have, and with a good draft, they could be a surprise team next year.

25. Tennessee Titans - Good for them, they won a game in front of a national audience. Pretty much the only positive from their season.

26. Arizona Cardinals - Moral victory, victory on the record, but the victory actually hurts the Cardinals. Cardinals find themselves 11th in draft position, and two more wins would put them in a much worse position.

27. Detroit Lions - Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald are in my opinion the top two receivers in the NFL, and also hold the distinction of being the only two players in recent memory to break the Madden curse.

28. Oakland Raiders - Who's going to take the reigns at QB next season, it could potentially one of three former USC quarterbacks: Palmer, Lienart, of Geno Smith.

29. New York Jets - If the world does indeed end on Friday, that Jets vs Titans game will be the last NFL game in history.

30. Philadelphia Eagles - Dream team, to team in need of a major rebuild. Expect huge changes in the offseason.

31. Kansas City Chiefs - Is there a QB outside of Geno that the Cheifs would be comfortable taking second overall, if that is where they indeed pick?

32. Jacksonville Jaguars - Genocide. The Jaguars have some good offensive pieces and as we've seen with Luck and RG3, a rookie QB can turn a team completely around.