HispanicBusiness

Here's how the league appears at this point: There are the Packers, who are clearly better than everyone else, followed by six teams all at 10-3 who essentially seem to be interchangeable. Then, there's a large group of teams at 8-5 and 7-6, all with enough flaws to make you doubt their ability to win a postseason game. At least four of those teams will make the playoffs, and at least one of them will probably pull an upset or two. My pick right now: The Tim Tebow-led Broncos. Stay tuned.

On to the rankings ...

1. Green Bay Packers (13-0, previous rank: 1): It should be interesting to see how Mike McCarthy approaches the next three weeks after Sunday's big scare, a knee injury that will keep wide receiver Greg Jennings out at least until the playoffs. The Packers can clinch the NFC's top seed if the 49ers lose to the Steelers at home on Monday night, which would make their final two games -- against NFC North rivals Chicago and Detroit -- meaningless. Unless, of course, McCarthy cares about a 16-0 regular season.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3, 2): The Steelers' playoff hopes flashed before their eyes when Ben Roethlisberger went down with a gruesome-looking leg injury against the Browns. Big Ben returned and played well enough to finish off Cleveland, but he'll face a much bigger challenge this week against a 49ers defense that might be the league's most talented.

3. New Orleans Saints (10-3, 3): Fact: The Saints prefer to play inside, and they're not very good on the road (3-3 this season before Sunday). That's why Sunday's gritty 22-17 win in Tennessee, while at first glance not very impressive, was important as New Orleans faces a possible playoff game at Lambeau Field down the road.

4. New England Patriots (10-3, 4): The Tom Brady-Bill O-Brien sideline dust-up during Sunday's 34-27 win over the Redskins made for nice theater and column fodder. It also couldn't have happened at a better time, since the hype machine will quickly crank up to obsess over the Brady-Tim Tebow matchup, and the image of Brady screaming at his offensive coordinator will drop right off the radar screen.

5. Baltimore Ravens (10-3, 5): Like the Steelers, the Ravens were relatively unimpressive against a weak opponent last week, downing the winless Colts 24-10. There aren't any style points in the AFC North, though, and if Baltimore is going to win the division, the Ravens might have to win a couple of tough upcoming road games against the Chargers and Bengals.

6. Houston Texans (10-3, 7): Almost any other season, T.J. Yates would be the most compelling out-of-the-blue quarterback story in the league. But Tim Tebow has the corner on that story for now. Instead, Yates will have to be content with playing well enough not to get in the way of the good things the Texans have going this season, namely the franchise's first playoff berth and a chance to unleash their stout defense and running game on the AFC playoff field. Not a bad consolation prize.

7. San Francisco 49ers (10-3, 6): Not only did the 49ers for all practical purposes lose their shot at catching the Packers for the NFC's top seed with Sunday's loss in Arizona, they lost starting left tackle Joe Staley with an apparent head injury. With linebacker Patrick Willis already out with a bad hamstring, the Niners are banged up heading into what figures to be a very physical Monday nighter against the Steelers.