Sturg’s Week 5 NFL Power Rankings (2026)

Going into Week 6, the league is becoming more competitive.

Week 5 NFL football. Photo by Dave Adamson on Unsplash

After Week 5 of the NFL, the season is starting to come into focus. We are seeing the teams that are elite when healthy, and the teams that can manage without their superstars for at least one game. Also, there are some young, struggling clubs, some even on a historic level. Defense has been a huge driver of success this year, but so has elite offense. Anyway, here are the 32 teams in order.

Not much to celebrate in Los Angeles these days as the Chargers appear hopeless and in the middle of a lost season. Photo by Anders Krøgh Jørgensen on Unsplash

Bottom Quarter (The Caboose) 32–25

32. Miami Dolphins (0–5): This is my third week this season doing the rankings. In all three, this team, the youngest in the NFL, has shown me nothing to move them up. They have a historically bad offensive efficiency this year. At times, Malik Willis looks out of his element. The 31–24 loss to the Bengals looks a lot better than it actually was. They were down by 18 late and only came back to make the score look competitive. They did rush for 217 yards in the game, with Ollie Gordon II gaining 88 yards on 18 carries, with a touchdown to boot. That is one promising sign in the loss, but this team will remain here…