NFL playoff power rankings: Can the Lions leave the 49ers to languish in misery en route to Super Bowl 58?
The Detroit Lions look vulnerable, but that’s about what we expected. Dan Campbell’s team, crafted from a mix of impact young players and savvy veterans, has carried the growing pains that come with a rise from 3-13-1 to the NFC championship game in just two years throughout the 2024 NFL Playoffs.
The San Francisco 49ers look vulnerable as well, and that’s more concerning. Saturday night’s comeback win over the Green Bay Packers proved Kyle Shanahan’s team could erase a late deficit — it was his first win in 32 tries after entering the fourth quarter trailing by five points or more. But it also proved the NFC’s top seed is flawed, from Brock Purdy’s early struggles with accuracy to the run defense that got torn up by Aaron Jones on its home turf.
That’s what makes this week’s NFC title game between the Lions and 49ers so compelling — and what keeps the Baltimore Ravens in the top spot as the penultimate weekend of the 2023 NFL season looms.
The Ravens didn’t allow a single offensive touchdown en route to a 31-10 dusting of the Houston Texans. Next up are the Kansas City Chiefs, who took advantage of the Buffalo Bills’ miscues to advance to a sixth straight AFC title game but serve as three-point underdogs in Maryland. Here’s how the rest of the playoff field, and the 28 other teams in the NFL, sorts out behind them.