Arguably, the four best teams won on wild-card weekend (though that entirely depends on which Packers team shows up next week) which means that the divisional round will feature a rarity: the eight best teams in the NFL. So if you threw out all of the records, awards and everything else and ranked the teams like college football, how would things look at this moment of the season? Which remaining team is best? Which remaining team is worst? And which remaining team is like No. 3 or No. 4 which, as history tells us, is probably the best spot to be right about now? Our rankings are below. (And remember, this is not a list of “teams most likely to win the Super Bowl” but a straight ranking of teams. That’ll matter.)

1. Seattle Seahawks

Q: How can a team be No. 1 after it needed Blair Walsh to forever etch his name into NFL lore by missing a 27-yard field goal simply to make it this far?

A: Because they’re still here.

Seattle was the most dangerous team in the NFC field entering the playoffs, then went to Minnesota in historically bad conditions, were shut out for 45 minutes and wouldn’t have survived if not for three Vikings miscues: 1) every defender leaving his lane to pursue Russell Wilson after a band snap which then turned into a big gain, not because Wilson made such a great play but because the Vikings allowed him to; 2) Adrian Peterson’s lackadaisical fumble with Minnesota driving to end the game and 3) the not-so-talented Mr. Walsh. (Which is unfair — he didn’t put the laces in, but that doesn’t matter — no one is going to remember holder Jeff Locke.) Now the Seahawks have life, the only thing that matters in the NFL playoffs, where it doesn’t matter how you got to where you are, it simply matters that you’re there. Doesn’t it seem that every champion has a brush with defeat at some point during an NFL playoff (or the even it most closely resembles — the NCAA tournament)? Does it make them stronger? Does it free them from the pressure? Or are these games just so close that everyone’s also going to have a slogger?

2. Arizona Cardinals

Arizona’s 36-6 Week 17 loss to Seattle is going to be one of the great mysteries as the teams prepare for their respective divisional playoff games. Seattle had little to play for, except that a win would have given them the opportunity to become the No. 5 seed, if the Packers beat the Vikings. But any Seahawks meaning was contingent on another team winning. Seattle controlled nothing. Arizona had the same scenario: Win and open the possibility of getting home field if Carolina lost to Tampa. One team played a possibly meaningless game like it was the Super Bowl. Another played like it was preseason. Is there something here? Maybe Arizona figured Carolina wasn’t going to lose that game, so they had no motivation for Week 17. Maybe they were holding back so as not to tip their hand for a potential playoff meetings. Maybe Seattle really wanted to play the Redskins, even if it likely still would have seen them go Carolina in round two. But what did Week 17 means? Maybe we’ll find out in two weeks.

3. Carolina Panthers

A 15-1 team hosts the last wild-card team and is only between a 1.5-point and 3-point favorite? That’s called disrespect, straight up. Installing the Panthers as 1.5-point favorites is going to be the reason a Las Vegas oddsmaker will be nominated for player hater of the year. Upon his acceptance speech, he’ll say, pointing at Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and Josh Norman: “I hate you, I hate you, I don’t even know you and I hate your guts.”

4. New England Patriots

Go time. Posted by Tom Brady on Monday, January 11, 2016

Here’s what that last caveat matters. In a “teams most likely to win ther Super Bowl list,” New England moves up, as does the second AFC team, for the simple reason that one team has to come out of the AFC and whichever team does that has a 50/50 chance of winning the Super Bowl, while two of those three NFC teams will be long gone before the NFL’s ode to itself in Santa Clara on Feb. 7. This is a ranking of respect. Just looking at rosters, New England would be close to the bottom of this top eight, but the instant you start to count out Belichick and Brady is the instant you feel like a fool for getting played, again.

5. Kansas City Chiefs

The bandwagon is just about full, even with Andy Reid driving the bus, threatening to careen it into a ravine at every two-minute warning. And if Kansas City does happen to win the AFC, this must be recreated.

6. Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh has been our AFC tout all season but, even though their struggle came in a driving rainstorm that temporarily included Landry Jones at quarterback, that struggled was still against Raymond Anthony “A.J.” McCarron. Again, it’s meaningless come this weekend, though, for once, I think the Steelers would probably have preferred to play the Patriots than the Broncos, as Denver’s defense provides more potential trouble, even though we have Denver ranked just below Pittsburgh.

7. Denver Broncos

How fun a playoffs is this going to be? The Broncos could realistically be as high as, say, No. 3 on this list. Defense still can win championships and Denver has the defense to do it. But questions about Peyton Manning, his arm strength, whether or not he still has a throwing shoulder in the technical sense of the word and then the usual questions about Peyton Manning in the postseason are too much to ignore

8. Green Bay Packers

Aaron Rodgers was the real Aaron Rodgers for the final 35 minutes of Sunday’s wild-card game. For the first 25, he was the Aaron Rodgers of the past two months. Can he and the Packers look like everyone expected the Packers to look for two weeks in a row? Can James Starks look like Barry Sanders again? It’s doubtful but, as we said at the top, every team remaining is dangerous and Green Bay in the Super Bowl isn’t as far-fetched as you might think.

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