Final Rankings

Here are the final NFC North rankings from the "experts". Notice that a few of them only ranked the playoff teams this way. As always, Detroit is #32 in every ranking.

ESPN.com: MIN-10, CHI-15, G.B.-24

Michael Silver (Yahoo!): MIN-9

CBS Sports: MIN-10, CHI-18, G.B.-23

Jeff Sagarin (USA Today): MIN-8, CHI-11, G.B.-18

FOX Sports: MIN-10, CHI-14, G.B.-24

Don Banks (SI.com): MIN-11

Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News): MIN-10

Top Five, Bottom Five

1. New York Giants: Best team in the league, not even close.

2. Tennessee Titans: One of the easiest wins I have ever seen. They should wrap up the AFC South soon.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers: Toughest schedule in the league, and they just keep winning. Really one of the better defenses in recent memory, at least statistically. 

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I still feel like after Pittsburgh, the next six or seven spots are a jumble. Dallas is really close to getting back into the Top Five. Tampa is playing as consistent as anybody.

5. Indianapolis Colts: An ugly win against Cleveland, but when a team keeps winning, that means they are good.

12. Minnesota Vikings: If they had Kevin and Pat Williams the rest of the way, and could beat Detroit this week, the division would pretty much be theirs. But they almost certainly won't have those two, and without them, even Detroit is not a guaranteed win.

19. Chicago Bears: They have officially come back to Earth. They did a good job up piling up wins before this bad stretch though, and still have a shot at the playoffs.

21. Green Bay Packers: Their schedule is seriously weak, and that is their only hope. Houston, Jacksonville, Chicago, and Detroit are all very beatable, even for the struggling Packers. They'll have to win all four.

28. Oakland Raiders: Not sure what to say about the Raiders. They show up every week, but they aren't that good. Nice defense though. 

29. Seattle Seahawks: Mike Holmgren should have sat this year out. He could have started fresh in 2009 with San Francisco, a team that he might be able to take to 9-7 or so. Instead, he either won't get that year off, or he won't get a shot with the 49ers.

30. Cincinnati Bengals: I think the Bengals and Chiefs deserve some sort of consolation pat on the back for fighting so hard despite never having a chance in 2008. A lot of injuries here, too.

31. St. Louis Rams: The Rams are actually almost as bad as the Lions, if you can believe that. It is too bad for Marc Bulger, who is having an awful year. I would like to see him get a shot on a better team, because he is a legit quarterback, probably could win a Super Bowl with a decent team around him.

32. Detroit Lions: 

ESPN.com: MIN-15, CHI-19, G.B.-20

Michael Silver (Yahoo!): MIN-9, CHI-17, G.B. 20

CBS Sports: MIN- 13, CHI-18, G.B.-21

Jeff Sagarin (USA Today): MIN-8, G.B.-12, CHI-13

FOX Sports: MIN-14, CHI-18, G.B.-20

Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News): MIN-12, CHI-19, G.B.-21

Week 12 Rankings

1. New York Giants: They just keep on rolling, and beating quality teams in the process. Their next three games are all against NFC East teams. It is possible they will win the division during that stretch, but they might get their second loss either at Washington or at Dallas.

2. Tennessee Titans: The loss won't hurt them in the long run. They will win the division in the coming weeks, when they play at Detroit, host Cleveland, and then go to Houston. They finish with Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, but might have home-field wrapped up by then.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers: New England, Dallas, Baltimore, Tennessee. They will win at least two of these games, but man that is a tough stretch.

4. New York Jets: I will finally put them in the mix up here. Brett Favre has been protecting the ball the last few weeks. If they keep playing this way there is no reason why they can't run the table (DEN, at SF, BUF, at Sea, MIA).

5. New England Patriots: I like this team. Even with Matt Cassel at quarterback, they have a ton of weapons, and their defense is pretty tough.

14. Minnesota Vikings: A nice win for the Vikings, but they will have to be able to throw the ball down the stretch.

15. Chicago Bears: A nice win for the Bears, but they are going to have to beat a quality team at some point.

20. Green Bay Packers: A terrible loss for the Packers. Their biggest strength got dominated. 

28. Seattle Seahawks: Playing better with Matt Hasselbeck, but they are bad.

29. Cincinnati Bengals: Ok, so they play hard every week. Win a game once in a while though.

30. Kansas City Chiefs: Same as above.

31. St. Louis Rams: They look real real bad lately.

32. Detroit Lions

Chicago got a few 15's and minnesota got two 11's and two 16's. Everybody has Green Bay as the third best in the NFC North. Check out Vinnie Iyer from the Sporting News, giving Detroit some respect.

ESPN.com: CHI-15, MIN-17, G.B.-20

CBS Sports: CHI-16, MIN-17, G.B.-19

Michael Silver (Yahoo!): MIN-11, CHI-15, G.B.-18

Jeff Sagarin (USA Today): MIN-11, CHI-12, G.B.-13

Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News): CHI-15, MIN-16, G.B.-17, DET-31 (He has St. Louis at 32.)

FOX Sports: CHI-15, MIN-16, G.B.-18

Ranking the NFL

1. New York Giants: Contradicting myself by moving the Titans, but the Giants are simply the best team in the league right now.

2. Tennessee Titans: They keep doing what they do.

3. Carolina Panthers: From this point on it felt like nobody deserved to be so high, but somebody had to go here.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers: They are winning extremely close games. Will they wear down?

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: They are one of the more balanced teams in the league, mostly because of Jeff Garcia.

16. Minnesota Vikings: They lost to a better team, and moved up because Chicago and Philadelphia fell apart.

17. Green Bay Packers: I'm not ready to say they've righted the ship just yet.

20. Chicago Bears: Two in a row, but they get the Rams next.

28. Kansas City Chiefs: They have some nice young players. I wonder how long they will keep Herm Edwards around.

29. Seattle Seahawks: They suck.

30. St. Louis Rams: It seems to be getting worse.

31. Oakland Raiders: At least they kept it close.

32. Detroit Lions

ESPN.com: G.B.- 16, CHI-19, MIN-21

Michael Silver (Yahoo!): G.B.-11, MIN-12, CHI-17

CBS Sports: G.B.-15, CHI-18, MIN-20

Jeff Sagarin (USA Today): G.B.-9, CHI-12, MIN-15

FOX Sports: G.B.-14, CHI-17, MIN-18

More rankings.

Yet again the  top five are intact. New England drops a few spots, and is replaced at 5 by Washington.

1. Tennessee Titans: This deep into the season, you can't drop the only undefeated team below first.

2. New York Giants: If you were going to drop the Titans, it would be for New York. They dominated the floundering Cowboys, and are head and shoulders above the rest of the best division in the league.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers: They have the best back up quarterback in the league, and he came through in a big Monday night win.

4. Carolina Panthers: Playing mostly consistent, looking to come off their bye week and keep the momemtum.

5. Washington: Tough loss to Pittsburgh. Still one of the few six-win teams in the league.

10. Chicago Bears: Found a way to win despite Detroit playing one of its better games. They need to make a few weeks with Rex Grossman at quarterback.

18. Green Bay Packers: Still not convinced by this team, as they seem to play to their opponents level every week. Need Aaron Rodgers to stay healthy.

21. Minnesota Vikings: An even less convincing team, but they played their best game of the season so far.

28. Cincinnati Bengals: They finally finished a game, and get their first win of the year.

29. San Francisco 49ers: Haven't seen enough of this team, but they don't seem to have a lot going for them.

30. Seattle Seahawks: Really bad.

31. Oakland Raiders: Worst team performance of the season on Sunday. By any team in the league, that is.

32. Detroit Lions: Like the Titans, you can't move a team from this spot until they win a game.

The experts stayed about the same this week with their NFC North rankings. Most had Chicago highest, and all had Detroit at 32. Michael Silver has consistently ranked NFC North teams higher than ESPN, CBS, and Jeff Sagarin's computer have. He currently has two division teams in the top 10, and by his average ranking for the Vikings is five spots higher than ESPN's and seven spots higher than CBS's. Interesting?

ESPN.com: CHI-9, G.B.-16, MIN-20, DET-32

Michael Silver(Yahoo!): G.B.-7, CHI-9, MIN-13, DET-32

CBS Sportline: CHI-15, G.B.-16, MIN-19, DET-32

Jeff Sagarin(USA Today): CHI-8, G.B.-14, MIN-14, DET-32

FOX Sports: CHI-7, G.B.-12, MIN-19, DET-32