This is an objective, unbiased ranking in the same vein as the NFL Title Belt. As such, the number 1 ranked team will always be the same as the current NFL Title Belt holder.

This is Week 17 of the NFL Title Rankings of the 2023 season. See here for last week’s rankings.

There were a couple big moves this week and a few small moves. The rankings predicted the winners pretty well this week, including the Cardinals over the Eagles.

The Steelers beat the Seahawks to maintain the NFL Title Belt and first ranking. The Steelers will play the Ravens next weekend for control of the NFL Title Belt and first. Since the Ravens are locked into the 1st Seed, it is likely that they sit some of their starters and lose to the Steelers. If the Steelers win and miss the playoffs, the belt and first will be left out of the playoffs and cannot be won again until Week 1 of next year. The last time the belt missed the playoffs was 2021.

With the Commanders losing to the 49ers, the Commanders will remain last place. The Commanders can move up next week when they play the Cowboys. The last 8 teams can end up in last place. The highest ranked team that can end up last is the Eagles, which would require all 7 teams behind them to upset their opponents.

Let me know if you’d like to see more of this, if you’re curious about how I came up with these rankings, or if you noticed any mistakes.

	Ranking	2023 Wk17	Δ	Notes
	1	Steelers	–	The Steelers beat the Seahawks to take the NFL Title Belt and first.
	2	Chiefs	+12	The Chiefs jumped 12 spots by beating the Bengals.
	3	Bengals	-1
	4	Browns	-1
	5	Ravens	-1
	6	Saints	+18	The Saints jumped 18 spots by beating the Bucs.
	7	Bucs	-2
	8	Jaguars	-2
	9	Dolphins	-2
	10	Jets	-2
	11	Texans	-2
	12	49ers	-2
	13	Bears	-2
	14	Cardinals	-2
	15	Colts	+2	The Colts jumped 2 spots by beating the Raiders.
	16	Raiders	-3
	17	Bills	+4	The Bills jumped 4 spots by beating the Patriots.
	18	Patriots	-3
	19	Falcons	-3
	20	Cowboys	+2	The Cowboys jumped 2 spots by beating the Lions.
	21	Lions	-3
	22	Broncos	-3
	23	Rams	-3
	24	Seahawks	-1
	25	Eagles	–
	26	Giants	–
	27	Packers	–
	28	Chargers	–
	29	Titans	–
	30	Vikings	–
	31	Panthers	–
	32	Commanders	–	The Commanders will remain last after losing to the 49ers.

This ranking assumes that there are never any fluke games and all teams are appropriately ranked. If you beat a team that is higher ranked than you, you move ahead of them and they move down one spot. However, other teams can jump in front of teams that are higher ranked than you, moving you further down the rankings.