Top And Bottom of the NFL: Week 17

Power rankings. You hate them. They’re so arbitrary and pointless, especially when they include all 32 NFL teams. All you want to know after a good week of NFL action is who the bestest team in the NFL right now, and which one is the absolute worst. The one so awful, it probably will be playing against New Orleans in a playoff game this weekend. That’s why we have TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE NFL, where we go to great lengths to tell you who’s the top dog in football right now, this very minute. LET’S GO!

THE TOP: New England Patriots Bill Belichick compiled his fourth fourteen-plus win season last Sunday, making him the only NFL head coach to ever do so. Pretty much the only thing stopping Belichick from officially being the best coach in League history is that fourth Super Bowl title, and this year will be far from his last chance to wrap that up.

They had an ad for an NFL Network special this week that featured Belichick being mic’ed during practices and games. I thought this was a minor miracle. I never thought Belichick ever allowed anyone to mic him. I just assumed he was the one who always demanded listening in on others.

THE BOTTOM: Seattle Seahawks The Carolina Panthers have the worst record in football and they’ll be picking first overall in April at the Draft, but Football Outsiders still has them ranked ahead of the Seahawks, who they rate as the worst team in ALL of football, not just the playoffs.

They’re so bad, the New York Times even has them ranked second on the worst playoff teams of all time. And that’s factoring in sports such as basketball and hockey, where teams regularly make the playoffs despite losing records. But don’t think of the Seahawks as a blight on this playoff landscape. Think of them as fun little historic novelty. It’s fun to talk about how much they stink. I know I like prattling on about it, and I love seeing statistical analysis that really plumbs the depth of their awfulness.

Much more fun than your garden variety 8-8 or 9-7 playoff entrant. The Seahawks are like that 16-seed at the NCAAs that won the Horizon League tourney for no good reason. Enjoy their unwelcome presence for a weekend, and then we can get to the serious business of real football.

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