NFL.com’s Nick Shook just dropped the first rendition of his 2026 NFL power rankings and while I didn’t have much for expectations going into it, I somehow walked away feeling very conflicted at what I was seeing. The first half of his power rankings held all the teams you would have expected, but in a very unexpected order.
Here’s Shook’s top 16 before we go further:
- Rams
- Broncos
- Seahawks
- Bills
- Eagles
- Ravens
- Bengals
- Cowboys
- Jaguars
- Texans
- Bears
- Packers
- Patriots
- Chiefs
- Lions
- Chargers
Yes, you’re seeing that right.
The Chargers — who are winners of 11 games in back-to-back seasons — are ranked right in the middle of the NFL at No. 16.
Shook has SIX (6) teams who won nine or less games in 2025 ahead of the Chargers. The Chiefs and Bengals won six games a year ago. The Cowboys won seven and the Ravens won eight. That means four of them also finished with sub-.500 record.
And then here are the Chargers, who weathered one hell of a storm up front offensively to win 11 games and make the postseason, sitting behind all of them despite becoming an objectively better football team across the board based on the group that went 11-6.
I just don’t get it. Far, far too many teams are poised for a rebound and that’s overall fine! But the Chargers no longer get the benefit of the doubt (at least during the regular season) to finally be consistent and go for 10+ wins a third year in a row?
Looking at this list, the Bengals did not do enough to get that benefit of the doubt. Burrow is crazy good when he is able to stay healthy, but he has played a single season of 17 games. He missed nine games last year. History says he won’t be healthy the entire year and the team will suffer.
The Cowboys? Top 10? Why? Recent history says the same thing. After back-to-back seven-in seasons, chances are they aren’t much better than that while sitting behind the Eagles in the NFC East.
Obvious these are not super-detailed and analytical reasons I’m using here, but there just seems like something is missing. When you spend long enough in this industry, you start to see how the media likes to give the benefit of the doubt to certain teams over and over. And then when it comes to teams who actually have earned that benefit in recent years, they’re still hard-pressed to do the same. That’s how I see this in regards to the Chargers.
Maybe all it will take is the first playoff win of Justin Herbert’s career. Maybe that’s truly it. But I think they’ve done enough, as a whole, to warrant more respect out of the gate this year.
