NFL power rankings, Week 14: We are seeing some tier separation across the NFL

Welcome back for another week of my power rankings, as we are now in the final month of the 2014 regular season. I don't think any power rankings have consistent rhyme or reason to them, and mine are no different. Sometimes I'll go in and re-assess the entirety of what I'm thinking, and sometimes I'll just make some minor adjustments. Different teams have different context to how they are rankings.

The 49ers dropped an ugly one to the Seattle Seahawks this past Thursday, and yet adjusting their power ranking shows us how some of the tiers of the NFL seem to be situated. When I do power rankings, I do some at the top, then some at the bottom, and sort of make my way up. At the top, the Packers, Patriots, and Broncos are fairly secure. The Seahawks are in the mix up there, but need to keep things up to get into that top tier.

The Seahawks are probably better suited to be included with the Colts and Eagles in the next tier. It is hard to trust a Mark Sanchez-quarterbacked team, but consider it more faith in Chip Kelly than anything else. The Colts defense is questionable, but they are a tough, tough team.

After that however, it is a huge clump of sort of "whatever" through the remaining playoff contenders. The 49ers are 7-5 and still in the thick of the playoff chase, and yet how many of us have faith in them at this point? Sure they should beat the Raiders, but even that could turn into a slogging affair if they don't figure something out. And yet, looking through the rest of that group, does anybody really stand out? I honestly don't know.

After the 7-5 teams, it is just a whole lot of ugly. The 5-7 and 6-6 teams are just sort of hanging there, and then there is everybody at the bottom. That pile of one, two and three-win teams is just plain ugly.

How would you shake out these rankings?