By many accounts, this year’s Philadelphia Eagles have the classic characteristics of a Super Bowl-caliber team.

They have an elite offensive line with approximately zero turnstiles. Saquon Barkley is an otherworldly MVP-type tailback tailor-made to take advantage of the massive running lanes such a line gives him on a routine basis. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith comprise arguably the top receiver duo in the league. Most importantly, Vic Fangio’s defense is elite, with a young, revamped secondary setting the table for a unit that makes quarterbacks and offensive coordinators lose countless hours of sleep. That kind of defense will always give you a chance to hang around in tight games.

With all of that said, there’s a big elephant in the room concerning the NFC’s current No. 2 seed.

Is Jalen Hurts good enough to take the Eagles over the top?

This might sound ludicrous for a quarterback less than two years removed from a 374-yard, four-touchdown game in an actual Super Bowl, but Hurts has lost the benefit of the doubt. At first, in 2023, you thought the Eagles’ nonsensical coordinator changes were to blame for an alarming Hurts slump. But with the respected Kellen Moore now running the show, Hurts still looks kinda … broken. As a passer, anyway. This, despite having one of the most talented supporting casts in football.

On an expected points added (EPA) per play basis, Hurts is just 14th in the NFL. His passing success rate of 45.8 percent — which measures how many yards a quarterback gets in sequence on first, second, and third/fourth down through the air — is just 17th in the league. The worst of it is Hurts’ glaring sack percentage of 9.72 (this is a quarterback stat). Only names like Will Levis and Caleb Williams, who are both mired on some of the worst teams in pro football, are ahead of him. The only other quarterback playing for a genuine contender in the top 10 is Russell Wilson.

It’s great that Hurts is a dynamic rusher who gives the Eagles’ offense an electric element most other NFL teams could only dream of. But you have to pass well to win in the winter in this league. And you have to be a plus-passer who doesn’t make backbreaking, self-inflicted mistakes against the sticks. Full stop.

The Eagles have a roster that is good enough for a Lombardi Trophy, so Hurts might be able to take them all the way anyway. But saying he’s trustworthy as a passer for a full three or four-game playoff gauntlet where Philadelphia has no margin for error is a leap too far. He has to prove it again.

Nonetheless, Hurts’ Eagles are a focal point of For The Win’s NFL Power Rankings in Week 15. Let’s see where the entire league stands with just a month left to go in the 2024 regular season.

32. New York Giants

Last week's rank: 31

The question isn't whether a hard reset is coming. It's whether it will include Brian Daboll, who was NFL Coach of the Year two seasons ago and is 8-22 since. He deserves the chance to do his job without having to rely on Daniel Jones behind center. We'll see if he gets it. -- Christian D'Andrea

31. Jacksonville Jaguars

Last week's rank: 32

Doug Pederson was apparently supposed to get fired several weeks ago. I guess the Jaguars figured it was worth seeing what Mac Jones could do in the meantime. Note: Jacksonville would probably be the only NFL franchise that would think something like that. -- Robert Zeglinski

30. Las Vegas Raiders

Last week's rank: 27

Well, now is as good a time as any to see if there's some untapped potential left in Desmond Ridder. The former Atlanta Falcon will take over at quarterback following season-ending injuries to Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O'Connell. If he stinks, well, every loss pushes Las Vegas one step closer to drafting Shedeur Sanders. -- CD

29. Tennessee Titans

Last week's rank: 30

Sunday confirmed what the Titans already knew: the Will Levis era will be a footnote in franchise history rather than a chapter. He stared down the league's worst defense and came away with six points. Disgusting. -- CD

28. New York Jets

Last week's rank: 29

Aaron Rodgers wanted to make it clear that he wasn't around for all of the Jets' failures over the last decade and a half. No, no, just the last two years (he said one, but it's really two) where they sold their soul only for him to play like a washed-up has-been who is wasting everyone's time. That's an important distinction. -- RZ

27. Cleveland Browns

Last week's rank: 26

Myles Garrett promised revenge on Steelers fans for chanting the Browns suck while Pittsburgh justifiably dreams of a Super Bowl. The Browns are 3-10 and have two winning seasons in Garrett's entire eight-year career. They're not sending their best. -- RZ

26. New England Patriots

Last week's rank: 28

Jacksonville's Week 14 win leaves the Patriots with just two teams to jump in order to earn the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. This is what New England has to look forward to now that both Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are gone. Well, that and watching Drake Maye create magic behind one of the NFL's most talent-deficient offenses. -- CD

25. Dallas Cowboys

Last week's rank: 25

Dallas found a way to lose a game on a blocked punt. Not one that came off the leg of its own punter, mind you. Truly stunning behavior. Well, four more weeks until Jerry Jones can regroup and plan for his next failure. -- CD

24. Carolina Panthers

Last week's rank: 24

If not for Xavier Legette's brutal final-minute drop, Bryce Young's recent ascendance becomes one of the biggest stories in pro football. On Sunday, against a vicious Eagles defense, Young put the Panthers on his back. We're starting to see why he was a No. 1 overall pick. Talk about sentences I thought I would never type. -- RZ

23. Chicago Bears

Last week's rank: 23

After firing Matt Eberflus, the Bears had 10 days to prepare for the 49ers, who were playing without Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, and Christian McCaffrey. They responded with four total yards of first-half offense -- the least in a half for them this millennium. The Thomas Brown era feels like it's over before it even began. -- RZ

22. New Orleans Saints

Last week's rank: 22

Beating the Giants on a blocked field goal pushed the Saints toward their destiny: a draft pick outside the top 10. New Orleans remains just good enough to be a headache and never bad enough to make its rebuild easy or logical. In the mess that is the NFC South, there are worse strategies. -- CD

21. Indianapolis Colts

Last week's rank: 20

Anthony Richardson has shown much more promise than expected after his midseason benching. Mind you, he's still mostly terrible and remains one of the NFL's worst quarterbacks, but the promise is there. Kind of. Let's see whether he can build on it in a kinda meaningless end-season stretch for Indy. -- RZ

20. Atlanta Falcons

Last week's rank: 17

Kirk Cousins has eight picks in his last four games. Meanwhile, the Falcons haven't scored more than 21 points since early November. These two things are actually extremely correlated for an Atlanta team that might lose the NFC South despite sweeping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Only the Falcons, dearest readers. -- RZ

19. Cincinnati Bengals

Last week's rank: 17

It's not a great sign when you need a muffed block punt to overcome Cooper Rush. But hey, Cincinnati's defense got a key stop (rare), and the Bengals kept their slim playoff hopes alive for another week. -- CD

18. San Francisco 49ers

Last week's rank: 19

San Francisco got the win it badly needed, thoroughly ruining Thomas Brown's head coaching debut while holding Chicago to four (four!) total yards in the first half. But the finish to the 49ers' season is loaded with other teams in the playoff hunt, casting reasonable doubt on the Niners' ability to finish 2024 with a winning record, let alone a postseason invite. -- CD

17. Miami Dolphins

Last week's rank: 18

Tua Tagovailoa doesn't have an MVP case, but you can't deny his value. Miami is 4-2 since his return to the lineup and he's thrown 11 touchdowns without an interception in his last four games. That's got the Dolphins on the periphery of the Wild Card race as a reasonable finish to the 2024 season looms. -- CD

16. Arizona Cardinals

Last week's rank: 14

Kyler Murray's early-season success now looks like a mirage, and so does whatever the Cardinals were trying to accomplish. The former top pick has five interceptions in his last three games, and the Arizona deep passing game, which once looked so promising, has all but evaporated. By no means is Arizona's season over, but it's hard to imagine this group turning it around enough after getting swept by the division rival it has to catch. -- RZ

15. Houston Texans

Last week's rank: 13

Houston needed a week off to jumpstart its offense. C.J. Stroud's passing offense ranked 13th in dropback efficiency in his rookie season. That's down to 20th this winter as a Year Two leap eludes him. Can offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik make this aerial attack click again? Or is he doomed to vacate all the head coach hype he'd built in 2023? -- CD

14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Last week's rank: 16

Tampa Bay is on a three-game win streak, but it hasn't been especially encouraging -- you're supposed to beat the Giants, Panthers, and Raiders. Still, only one team remains on the schedule with a winning record (the Los Angeles Chargers), and Atlanta's collapse creates the opportunity to host a playoff game for the fourth straight season. -- CD

13. Washington Commanders

Last week's rank: 11

A bye week came at the perfect time for Washington, which had lost three of its last four games while losing its grip on the NFC East division lead. A soft schedule awaits, but concerns about Kliff Kingsbury's overly simplistic offense make nothing automatic for this upstart team. -- RZ

12. Los Angeles Rams

Last week's rank: 15

The Rams accrued over 450 yards of offense on Sunday. They were 12-of-16 on third/fourth conversions. And now, after being once dead at 1-4, they have a legitimate shot at the playoffs. Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford are football deities. -- RZ

11. Los Angeles Chargers

Last week's rank: 9

Justin Herbert rolled into Kansas City without the rookie wideout who'd provided 80 percent of his passing offense a week earlier and still battled back from a 13-0 deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead against the Kansas City Chiefs. That didn't result in a win because the football gods love barbeque, but it validated this team's ability to punch above its weight class. -- CD

10. Denver Broncos

Last week's rank: 10

Denver is just glitchy enough not to be trustworthy. Bo Nix is capable of big throws but also some concerning ones that remind you he's a rookie working to combine his progressions and footwork against elite secondaries. A top-five defense occasionally gets shredded. But there's no doubt Sean Payton has restored his value as a game-changing head coach. That could be enough to create problems this postseason. -- CD

9. Seattle Seahawks

Last week's rank: 12

After a midseason malaise, the Seahawks have now won four straight games in resounding fashion, including two of three against the once-second-place Cardinals. As a result, Seattle is in line for the first home playoff game of the short Geno Smith era. With an eclectic mix of playmaking and timely defense, something tells me the Seahawks have a real shot of at least getting to the divisional round. -- RZ

8. Green Bay Packers

Last week's rank: 6

There's just something off about these Packers. Even when they mostly play well, someone makes a costly mistake at the most inopportune time. Someone is somehow out of position in coverage. Someone runs a bad route. Someone is screwing up somewhere. But that wasn't really the case against the Lions, who simply have more talent and better coaches. That usually wins out in most games. It's better to accept reality rather than fight it. -- RZ

7. Baltimore Ravens

Last week's rank: 8

The Ravens have a bit of an anti-Chiefs vibe: they're an expected 5-5 in one-possession games. Pair that with a defense that's given up 400-plus yards four times and at least 24 points in the majority of its games, and you've got enough reason to worry that 2024 will be, yet again, a year with an unsatisfying playoff exit for Lamar Jackson. -- CD

6. Minnesota Vikings

Last week's rank: 5

Minnesota quietly has one of the playmaking trios in football. In any given week, Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are liable to victimize you, as both have built up impeccable chemistry with Sam Darnold. On Sunday, the duo combined for five touchdowns (!) and 265 receiving yards (!!!). These Vikings are no ordinary potential wild-card team. -- RZ

5. Pittsburgh Steelers

Last week's rank: 7

The Steelers are now 6-1 in games where Russell Wilson starts, who has looked more and more like his old Seattle self lately. As a result, a top-two seed in the AFC, even an outside shot at the conference's first-round bye, is in sight. That is, provided Pittsburgh can come out of a final slate featuring Philadelphia, Baltimore, Kansas City, and Cincinnati mostly unscathed. Gulp. -- RZ

4. Philadelphia Eagles

Last week's rank: 3

The mystique of Philly's rising defense was cracked by Bryce Young a bit, but there's logic behind the argument Week 14 was a bit of a trap game for a team with pivotal games looming the next two weeks. Showdowns with the Steelers and Commanders will put Nick Siranni's nine-game winning streak to the test -- and let us know how good his secondary really is. -- CD

3. Kansas City Chiefs

Last week's rank: 4

12-1 with a 10-0 record in one-score games. We saw how this played out with the 2022 Minnesota Vikings, who won 13 games that year with a negative point differential. They are the only team in NFL history to lose a playoff game to Daniel Jones. Kansas City isn't nearly as cursed, but this team is tough to trust. -- CD

2. Buffalo Bills

Last week's rank: 2

Josh Allen became the first NFL player in history to throw and rush for at least three touchdowns each in a regular-season game on Sunday. The Bills lost anyway because Sean McDermott's defense couldn't get a stop. We'll give Buffalo a pass, considering that defensive ineptitude came at the hands of Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford. A potential Super Bowl 59 preview showdown with the top team on this list looms. -- RZ

1. Detroit Lions

Last week's rank: 1

The Lions were down three defensive starters and were also without left tackle Taylor Decker against a nine-win Packers team. It never really felt like they would lose -- Jared Goff's stumble on a wild fourth-down call from Dan Campbell aside -- as much as the final score would indicate. At this point, all Detroit needs is to clinch the NFC's first-round bye ASAP and start resting for the playoffs. Because there's nothing else to prove in the regular season. -- RZ

This article originally appeared on For The Win: NFL Power Rankings Week 15: Jalen Hurts is the uninspiring anchor who could sink Eagles’ Super Bowl hopes