They did it. belonged to the best defense, football defense, in the world. The never looked like the top team in the NFL, switched quarterbacks and played some sloppy football in the late goings of the season. Yet, when it was time to turn it on, they collapsed pockets easier than housing markets. It was something to see. made making All-Pro look like playing Candy Land after his dominant -- transcendent -- performance on Super Sunday. has served as Miller's , but the seasoned vet also managed to faceplant in straight-up Miyagi fashion (See: ). Meanwhile, pulling the strings on the masterful defensive showing was this dead-serious mastermind:A little Dab with do you but too much Dab will undo you! Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) What's cooler than a 68-year-old defensive coordinator trolling on Twitter? The players couldn't be prouder of their DC. Gary Kubiak cringed. Fred Flintstone probably feels like . And we'll teach Phillips how to turn off the autofill function on the iPhone:Don't know how with got in my tweet instead of will --Brylcreem Will be upset Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) As for the full rundown on the NFL hierarchy after the conclusion of the 2015 campaign, check out the updated pecking order below. Two things to keep in mind:A) How teams fared at the end of the season is heavily considered, but ...B) ... several dropped due to new coaches and impending free agents.We'll get deeper into the latter when we do our annual Free Agency Power Rankings in March. Until then, let us know what you think of this rendering: is the place.Let the di sension commence! They are here because they earned it. Winning the in the 2000s has evolved -- or devolved, depending on your predilection -- into whoever is the hottest team for a month. That is precisely what head coach Gary Kubiak challenged his group to be -- the best team in pro football from January to February -- and the responded. After seeing that some fans thought the was "dull," I thought I might vomit in my mouth. Call me a purist, but watching and execute a full cadre of pa s-rush moves on the ' offensive line was more pleasing than any unnece sary one-handed Jr. catch you'll ever see. In the wake of 50, much has been made of 's handling of both and . It seemed that the stray football was too close to the 6-foot-5 quarterback for him to dive on it -- that said, his handling of postgame questions didn't shine up that lack-of-hustle moment during the for many fans and league observers. He'll be back. Newton was league MVP for a reason. If you need something to worry J. T. Realmuto Jersey about with the , then perhaps potentially hitting the open market foots the bill. Still, I don't expect general manager Dave Gettleman to fumble that deal. Been perusing the ' draft needs as of late, and it goes something like this: OL, OL and OL. That might be an overreaction to injuries and the different combinations New England had to use up front -- not to mention, no offensive front shines . Getting a receiver who can stretch the field wouldn't be the worst idea, either. Or even a wideout who can win on 50-50 balls in the end zone. The experience has been, well, an experience. Arizona most a suredly will regroup following -- and that includes , who seems resilient enough to not let his turnoverpalooza in the NFC Championship Game seep into the 2016 campaign. In the meantime, Bruce Arians will be looking for pa s rushers in both free agency and the draft. (As will over half the National Football League.) Said it before, many times on "NFL HQ" (Monday through Friday, 8-10 a.m. ET on NFL Network #shamele splug), and it bears repeating here: back in the preseason was the most significant injury of the 2015 campaign. How much would he have helped in ? How much could he have helped get open this season? Speaking of open, apparently . We might be looking at a favorite for next year. Just onnnnnnnnne tiny, tiny, little, surmountable detail: The need secondary help. Now. Draft a safety or a corner. Or grab a corner or a safety in free agency. Heck, corner the market on safeties. Because if Pittsburgh does that, with this offense, look out. By the way, how does Mike Tomlin not get a whiff for Coach of the Year? Not a whiff! Let me get this straight: The dude loses his quarterback for a chunk of the season, loses the best RB in the game, loses the best backup RB in the game and loses the top wideout in the postseason .... wins 11 games ... and ... nothin'? What? The 10-game win streak to end the regular season was awesome. -- in Houston -- was awesome, too. So what can the do to avoid repeating the not-awesome start they had in 2015? Keep healthy is the knee-jerk answer -- but wait, Kansas City was 1-4 with him in the lineup. O-line help is where it's at for this team. And it wouldn't hurt to get a little help at inside linebacker, where heads toward Year 12. Still, nice season, # Kingdom retiring is a huge deal, even if the specter of 50 obscured one of the best players since Y2K . Took guff last month from a few fans for tweeting that his absence hurt the team. They all pointed to being a superior replacement. Sure, Rawls was productive. But can he energize his whole team -- defense included -- the way Beast Mode did? Will he come up big in the clutch, as Lynch often did? There's a reason everyone was shocked when Lynch . None of this is to say Rawls can't be fantastic, but let's not shove Lynch out the door. Show the man some respect as he exits the stage. The get a slight nudge up the Power Rankings with being healthy again. Easy to forget that Dalton was in the MVP discu sion before . After that time, , with and finishing in a distant second place. For all the complaints about Dalton in the postseason, he's never . Read into that what you will. For all the complaints about -- well, everyone is still complaining about . Fantastic season, at least from a macro view, for the in 2015. From the micro view Robin Roberts Jersey , what was even more stellar was . Good teams stick together (See: ). What also works in Minnesota's favor is a relatively painle s free agency se sion on the horizon, at least in terms of who the Vikes must keep. Almost all of their free agents are parts (mid-tier guys whom management can get back if they so choose). This group will hold the fort. Can hold up entering Year 10? Washington resides in the 11-hole for now, but it is tenuous ground, to be sure. With ' contract up, there must be a morsel of nervous energy residing in a few corners of the D.C. area. (Don't worry: will be the ' problem.) That said, looking just below in these here rankings, the aren't a better team, the don't have a legit QB under contract at the moment and many people don't think the have a quarterback -- period. Another notable Washington free agent? . The deal with the -- and, in particular, their ranking -- has much to do with the other teams around them in the Power Rankings. Are they the headle s horsemen? The and hope to re-sign their starting QBs, and the think they've found theirs. But Houston would be a better team than all of them with a healthy and a slight upgrade in 's game. Of course, if you saw , you might surmise "slight" to be a slightly-not-strong-enough word to describe the needed improvement. Or something like that. Other than free agency i sues on the offensive line, Rex Ryan's group is pretty stable. The other i sue to addre s is what to do with defensive end . Put another way: Buffalo probably will cut him. Williams posted a paltry five sacks last year and . The will survive. But can they get over the hump? One major point of concern: We'll have to see what comes of that. There is no question that the 2015 were better than they were in the late days of Santonio Holmes or those . Yet, not making the postseason by virtue of was ma sively disappointing. Moreover, the club must get under contract without ma sively overpaying. GM Mike Maccagnan's accounting cranium will be challenged this spring, as the have more than 20 impending free agents, including , and . David Carr and I were chewing the fat the other day on the set of "NFL HQ" about his brother, and the conversation turned to moving close by to Derek so they can work out together in the offseason. Apparently they do so at a local park, like Both are fans of the upper-quad shorts, too, I'd presume. I also asked if the park had a fort, monkey bars and a gravel play area. It all points to a developing tandem that figures to be in Oakland (hopefully) for a long time. Well, at least they will be with the for a long time. #stayinOakland If indeed retires, we will be forced to drop the even lower, despite the 6-2 run Jim Caldwell's guys went on down the stretch. In fact, even if comes back, questions will remain: Is the pa sion still there? What about all the injuries he's dealt with? Oh, and what about the fact that he has appeared to slow down in recent years? By the way: For Johnson, slowing down is the equivalent of being in tip-top shape for other wideouts, which is why he's a r in my book. Indy should be much better in 2016 by virtue of being much healthier, among other factors. Retaining Chuck Pagano was the right move. Drafting in Round 1 was not. Yet, that perception could change with a year under the receiver's belt. Speaking of the pa sing game, the must re-sign at least one of their tight ends, as both and are free agents. The ground game is another area of concern: heads into Year 12, while "Boom" Herron and are free agents. Sean Payton is staying. is staying. fans are happy about all three. Next blurb. Well, actually, before we go, we should mention that the most high-profile Saint due to hit the market is tight end Ben Watson, at least now that we know Payton isn't going to be traded for two picks and a player to be named later. (Vance Law? Doyle Alexander? Sorry -- '80s baseball talk.) Watson was sneaky good with 74 catches for 825 yards in 2015, despite Blank Jersey having over a decade of service in the league. His service in the community, meanwhile, makes him irreplaceable. Have enjoyed every conversation I've had with the man, including his explaining to me that was unstoppable. Yes: Ben Watson, Tecmo nerd. Dan Quinn has much to do this offseason, and it involves more than getting more out of his defense. Quinn's discipline might be on that side of the ball, but finding a way to get and the pa sing attack up to speed is imperative. Or, at least, helping offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan find a way to do so would be helpful. The are ill-equipped to stay in any brand of track meet with the , or Bucs (if continues to improve in Year 2). Atlanta needs a WR2 and a TE. The move to Los Angeles might invigorate the . Perhaps having for four more starts (which is how many he mi sed last year) will equate to a couple more wins. This is the section of the Power Rankings where, typically, the teams with coaching changes start falling into line, so you would think that the consistency at the top with St. Louis -- er, Los Angeles -- is a bonus. Jeff Fisher is usually good for 7-9 -- i.e., 20th feels right. We'll try not to write . Or consider whether he is the right fit to replace legend Tom Coughlin. Maybe McAdoo's offense is tailor-made for , but the defense must be fixed. That starts with drafting players that suit McAdoo and Steve Spagnuolo's scheme. Bottom line: McAdoo has , following a two-time -winning head coach. Sr. is coming back. will be healthy. Ditto . E sentially, this should automatically be a better football team than the 5-11 outfit we saw this past season. How about the fact that the dropped ? The sheer percentages say no mas to that nonsense. First step back to the playoffs: taking the next step, and getting some secondary help in the draft. John Fox is in place. As is . But is on his way out, and is due to hit free agency. If Chicago re-ups No. 17 and performs as he did in 2015, the offense should be OK. The defense, of course, is a question mark. The have the 11th overall pick in April; look for them to try to land someone who can get after the quarterback. That's a unique strategy, if you don't consider half the other teams in the league. So Miami really, really wanted Adam Gase. I gue s Stephen Ro s figured everyone else did, too. The didn't just go after Gase hard -- . Gase is 37, and he's never been a head coach before. Does that mean he won't succeed? No. But working with , then last year -- coupled with his work ethic -- carved an impeccable reputation around league circles. The obvious first question, outside of whether Gase has the skill set requisite to be a succe sful head coach, is if has the ability to be a succe sful quarterback. Even with getting healthy, can't move the any higher than No. 25, which might seem low for a team many 2015 prognosticators had going to the NFC Championship Game (before went down). While Romo is set to return, he still has a plate in that shoulder area, and his collarbone has been broken three times -- and let us not forget the two back surgeries he had a couple of years ago. Planning on to stay healthy and rush for 1,000 yards again seems far-fetched. Time to draft a running back. Hey, at least the rest of the NFC East still sucks (especially if slips out of Washington D.C.). No quarterback + new front man with no head-coaching experience = low ranking. That said, unlike many pundits out there, I think the Doug Pederson hire feels right. So maybe the organization is trying to recapture the halcyon days of the Andy Reid era (well, minus the clock management), but who could blame them for that? The club did make five NFC Championship Game appearances under Reid Richie Ashburn Jersey -- though none came with Pederson on the staff. So why like the move? Because Pederson can work with whoever the quarterback is -- and let's be real, the best quarterback the will po sibly have in 2016 is . More -style play (the QB Pederson helped the last three years) and le s Bradford-esque football would make even Howard Eskin happy. Low ranking for a team that looked to be playoff-relevant ... Of course, that was before the Bucs dropped four straight to end the season, a slide that ultimately led to the firing of popular coach Lovie Smith and the scratching of many heads. In fairne s to Bucs management, Smith went 8-24 during his two-year stint in Tampa, and Dirk Koetter has the tools to take advantage of the plethora of talent on offense. Of course, Koetter could afford to be more involved with , and when he was merely offensive coordinator. Being head coach is a different animal. Getting re-signed would be helpful. Gus Bradley, owner of a 12-36 record, is also the owner of . Snickers might be deserved (the laugh, not the candy bar), but it's nice to see an organization be patient for a change. And unle s you didn't ever watch a single Jags game, the Red Zone Channel, a highlight show or the , you know this offense is explosive. (Well, every offensive player looks explosive in the . But you get the point.) is clearly a star on the rise. , if he can eliminate the situationally-caustic interceptions, is on the up and up. can play. So Jacksonville is an easy fix -- as in, fix the defense, Gus. The Chip Kelly hire has some excited in the Bay Area, with many, many others wondering about Tommy Joseph Jersey his first big order of busine s: What to make of ? Kaepernick can, no doubt, run Kelly's system better than in the sense that defenses will have to respect Kap's ability to run on read-option fakes. But can the former ascending star (under Jim Harbaugh) deliver the ball on time -- and accurately -- for Kelly? These are significantly larger questions. If there is any team that could fly up these charts rather quickly, it's the . They have continuity at head coach and quarterback, the first two items you look at when evaluating any pro football team. Second, there is no way they can be hit as hard by injuries as they were in 2015. But the whole L.A. B.S. -- and that is what it is -- is a distraction. And that is why they sit here at 30th. Can't wait to see what does next season, though. Immediately after Mike Mularkey earned the full-time head-coaching gig, we saw, shall we say, "an adverse reaction" on Twitter from the faithful. Not sure if fans in Tenne see are still depre sed about the Mularkey move or not, especially after reviewing other hirings around the league. ( fans? You there? Would love to know your current state: .) Here is what I do know: Mularkey is capable of bringing hard-nosed football back to this organization. At least he has the pedigree to do it: Mularkey played under both Bud Grant and Chuck Noll, two coaches from a different era who always fielded tough teams, albeit in different ways. And Mularkey had a morsel of succe s in Buffalo. Much depends on the quarterback's growth in Year 2. The only wish they had a young quarterback to depend on ... (See: Preceding sentence from the blurb just above.) What a me s. That said, was the right decision. And, frankly, Hue Jackson might be as appropriate a fit in Cleveland as any of the new coaches are in their new NFL cities (or Mularkey, in his new/old city). Good news: The have far fewer unrestricted free agents than most teams acro s the league. Bad news: Not sure Cleveland wants to retain a lot of its players anyway. Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter .