NFL Power Rankings Week Seventeen: Packers Go Wire To Wire On Top

The Green Bay Packers were the best team in the NFL when the season ended last February, and now they have themselves another accomplishment. For the first time ever, a team has gone wire to wire in the regular season as the top team in our weekly Power Rankings.

Green Bay started the season with thirteen straight victories coming off their Super Bowl from last year. Green Bay slipped up in week fourteen with a loss at Kansas City, but they had a strong enough lead in the rankings to stay at the top. The Packers then finished off the regular season with two wins, the last of which was an offensive shootout against Detroit.

Coming in at number two behind the Packers is another NFC team. San Francisco only turned the ball over ten times the entire season, and their defense ranks second in the league behind only Pittsburgh. The 49ers finished at 13-3 under new head coach John Harbaugh, and are the number two seed in the NFC playoffs, holding on to a bye the last week of the season.

The team chasing them for that bye is number three this week. New Orleans has as good a shot as any team in the playoffs to advance to the Super Bowl. The Saints quarterback, Drew Brees, broke Dan Marino's passing yardage record for a single season, a record that stood for 27 years.

The first AFC team in the rankings comes in at number four. The Baltimore Ravens are the two seed in the AFC, but they hold wins this season over top seeded New England and fifth seeded Pittsburgh. The Patriots close out the top five, with the Steelers coming in at number six. Pittsburgh will travel to Denver this week to face the Broncos in the wild card round.

Atlanta finished the season strong, as did the New York Giants. The two teams struggled at times this year, and they will face off in an elimination game Saturday, with the winner having a good chance to upset the top seeds in the next round. The Falcons are number seven this week, followed by the Giants at eight.

Detroit lost that high scoring affair to Green Bay Sunday, but showed they have an offense that can play with any team in the league. The Lions are the number nine team in this week's rankings. Houston stumbled into the playoffs, finally feeling the effects of losing quarterback Matt Schaub to injury, but they managed to finish the season in the top ten in the rankings.

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