Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings Week 17: Aaron Rodgers is your MVP

Patrick Mahomes is ridiculous.

But with apologies to the Kansas City Chiefs signal caller, Aaron Rodgers is the league’s MVP.

The Green Bay quarterback threw four more touchdown passes Sunday night in a snow-covered rout of the Tennessee Titans. He’s now got 44 scoring tosses and six games of four touchdown passes this season.

That number of touchdown passes bodes well for his chances to win a third Most Valuable Player award, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Aaron Rodgers is up to 44 touchdown passes this season, tied for the 8th-most in a single season in NFL history.

Of the eight previous times a QB had at least 44 touchdown passes in a season, six of them won the NFL MVP. pic.twitter.com/0oNb7j5JVT

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 28, 2020

Meanwhile, Mahomes and Kansas City slogged through a three-point win over lowly Atlanta to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But hey, a win is a win.

Here’s our second-to-last look at the league’s pecking order for 2020.

Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings Week 17

1. Kansas City Chiefs (14-1) —
Win over Atlanta was unimpressive, but I’ll buy into the “Chiefs are bored” theory.

2. Buffalo Bills (12-3) —
The Bills are rolling and will be a tough playoff foe.

3. Green Bay Packers (12-3) —
I think Aaron Rodgers wrapped up his third MVP trophy with four more touchdown passes against Tennessee.

4. Seattle Seahawks (11-4) ▲2
The transformation they’ve made on defense is nothing short of miraculous.

5. New Orleans Saints (11-4) ▲2
Alvin Kamara with six touchdowns vs. Minnesota. Believe it or not, it was only his third career 100-yard rushing game and first since 2018.

6. Pittsburgh Steelers (12-3) ▲2
Still can’t run the ball to save their lives, but that was an impressive comeback against Indy.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-5) ▲3
Tom Brady with his first perfect game (158.3 QB rating) in 10 years. TB12 has eight TD passes and no picks during a three-game winning streak.

8. Baltimore Ravens (10-5) ▲3
Ravens averaging 233 rushing yards per game over the last four weeks. I wouldn’t want to face them in the playoffs.

9. Tennessee Titans (10-5) ▼5
Gave up an average of 40.5 points and 453 yards in their last two losses to Cleveland and Green Bay.

10. Miami Dolphins (10-5) ▲2
I hope Brian Flores has room on his mantle for his Coach of the Year trophy.

11. Cleveland Browns (10-5) ▼2
I know they were shorthanded, but losing to the Jets?

12. Indianapolis Colts (10-5) ▼7
Blowing a 17-point lead to the wounded Steelers might cost them a playoff spot.

13. Los Angeles Rams (9-6) —
An incredibly hard team to figure out, even after 15 games.

14. Chicago Bears (8-7) ▲1
Mitchell Trubisky is now 6-2 as a starter this year.

15. Arizona Cardinals (8-7) ▼1
Way too many consistent questions about urgency and energy to be considered a threat.

16. Las Vegas Raiders (7-8) —
Not sure what Jon Gruden was thinking at the end of the Miami game, but hey, he doesn’t regret it, so …

17. Washington Football Team (6-9) —
When an organization as historically dysfunctional as Washington says “Dwayne Haskins, you’re too toxic for us” in Year 2, that really tells you something.

18. San Francisco 49ers (6-9) ▲4
Robert Saleh will be missed when he inevitably lands his head coaching job.

19. Dallas Cowboys (6-9) ▲1
How ’bout them Cowboys? Dallas is averaging a whopping 36 points per game over a three-game winning streak. They averaged 15.0 over previous seven games.

20. New England Patriots (6-9) ▼2
Cam Newton has thrown for less than 100 yards in four different starts this year. Feels like his time in the league (not only New England) may be done.

21. Los Angeles Chargers (6-9) —
Chargers quietly went 4-2 over their last six. Will that be enough to save Anthony Lynn’s job?

22. Minnesota Vikings (6-9) ▼3
Mike Zimmer isn’t lying. The Vikings’ defense is HORRIBLE.

23. New York Giants (5-10) —
They’ve scored a total of 26 points in three games after upsetting Seattle.

24. Carolina Panthers (5-10) ▲2
Tough year, but I think Matt Rhule has this thing going in the right direction.

25. Philadelphia Eagles (4-10-1) ▼1
For as good as Jalen Hurts looked against Arizona, he posted three turnovers in a crushing loss to Dallas.

26. Denver Broncos (5-10) ▼1
The Broncos are strangely now 1-3 this year when they amass 390 total yards or more.

27. Detroit Lions (5-10) —
The Lions were outgained by 402 yards against the Bucs. Yuck.

28. Atlanta Falcons (4-11) —
Hung with the champs for an entire game. Congrats on that.

29. Cincinnati Bengals (4-10-1) ▲1
Rolled up 540 yards on Houston with Brandon Allen at QB.

30. New York Jets (2-13) ▲1
Kudos on winning even though it will cost you the best QB prospect in a decade.

31. Houston Texans (4-11) ▼2
Sports would be so much better if everyone cared as much as J.J. Watt.

32. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-14) —
Trevor Lawrence can’t be excited about this, can he?

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