For more than 20 years, I have been using least squares (a simple but powerful approach) to compute NFL power rankings. I have computed them for every season back to 1945. More often than not, the teams that make it to the Super Bowl are near the top of the rankings. There are only so many ways to objectively compute power rankings, and the least squares rankings are usually fairly close to other data based (as opposed to whim based) rankings. In some previous seasons, I have computed them during the season, starting after after six or so weeks (so that there is sufficient data). This year, I didn't get around to it until today. I was very surprised to see the team at the top. It's not any of the teams that might be obvious, such as the Chiefs or Packers. I won't mention which team it is until after today's games. I will mention that it's not the Rams, who are currently at number 8. That's higher than I would have expected, but the rankings are based on the entire season, not just on recent weeks when the Rams performance dropped off.
Least Squares Power Rankings
