NFL Power Index: Seahawks finish season as NFL’s best team
By Keith Myers
According to the NFL Power Index, the Seattle Seahawks were the best in the NFL in 2015.
The 2015 regular season is over, and the NFL Power Index says a familiar team is the NFL’s best. For the third-straight season, the Seattle Seahawks are statistically the best team in the NFL.
The Seahawks had to jump two over two to take the top spot, and their beat-down of Arizona was exactly what they needed. It also helped that Arizona was one of the teams they needed to pass, and KC had a lackluster game as well.
The other big change this week was the 49ers jumping out of the NFL Power Index basement. They’ve been the worst team in the NFL for most of the season, but a big win over the Rams propelled them up to No. 31.
It is interesting note that wins are not input into the NFL Power Index formula. This was done so that it could be used to predict wins. Even without that, the entire playoff field is included in the top 14 teams.
The only 2 in that group that didn’t make the playoffs are the Jets and the Bills. There are three teams below them that made the playoffs. Two are in the other conference, and the last is a division winner. Clearly the NFL Power Index has done a its job here.
Final 2015 NFL Power Index
| Rank | Last | Team | Yds | Pt Dif | SoS | Power |
| 1 | 3 | Seattle | 2.1 | 9.1 | 1.5 | 96.24 |
| 2 | 1 | Arizona | 1.4 | 11.0 | 0.9 | 91.22 |
| 3 | 2 | Kansas City | 1.2 | 7.4 | 1.2 | 87.74 |
| 4 | 4 | Cincinnati | 0.7 | 8.8 | 1.2 | 79.17 |
| 5 | 5 | Pittsburgh | 1.1 | 6.5 | 1.7 | 70.91 |
| 6 | 6 | Carolina | 1.5 | 12.0 | -1.9 | 68.62 |
| 7 | 9 | Minnesota | 0.4 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 68.36 |
| 8 | 7 | New England | 0.1 | 9.4 | -0.3 | 65.53 |
| 9 | 8 | Denver | 1.5 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 62.95 |
| 10 | 10 | NY Jets | 0.7 | 4.6 | -1.3 | 60.96 |
| 11 | 12 | Buffalo | 1.0 | 1.3 | -0.1 | 58.33 |
| 12 | 11 | Green Bay | -0.6 | 2.8 | 1.3 | 57.12 |
| 13 | 13 | Houston | -0.4 | 1.6 | -1.1 | 56.91 |
| 14 | 17 | Washington | -1.2 | 0.6 | -1.2 | 50.42 |
| 15 | 14 | Oakland | -0.2 | -2.5 | 1.1 | 50.13 |
| 16 | 16 | Atlanta | 0.0 | -0.4 | -2.3 | 47.84 |
| 17 | 15 | Tampa Bay | 1.5 | -4.7 | -2.2 | 47.52 |
| 18 | 18 | New Orleans | -1.7 | -4.3 | -1.8 | 45.51 |
| 19 | 19 | St. Louis | -0.1 | -3.1 | 1 | 44.66 |
| 20 | 20 | NY Giants | -0.8 | -1.3 | -1 | 44.00 |
| 21 | 23 | Philadelphia | -0.7 | -3.3 | -0.6 | 39.41 |
| 22 | 21 | Jacksonville | 0.4 | -4.5 | -1.5 | 38.40 |
| 23 | 22 | Chicago | -0.7 | -3.9 | 1 | 38.14 |
| 24 | 26 | Indianapolis | -1.5 | -4.7 | -1.1 | 37.68 |
| 25 | 28 | Detroit | -0.8 | -2.6 | 1 | 36.16 |
| 26 | 25 | San Diego | -1.7 | -4.9 | 0.8 | 35.59 |
| 27 | 27 | Miami | -0.1 | -4.9 | -0.4 | 35.23 |
| 28 | 24 | Tennessee | -0.5 | -7.7 | -2 | 35.16 |
| 29 | 29 | Baltimore | -0.6 | -4.6 | 0.9 | 29.55 |
| 30 | 30 | Dallas | 0.0 | -6.2 | 0 | 26.84 |
| 31 | 32 | San Francisco | -0.8 | -9.3 | 1.5 | 22.42 |
| 32 | 31 | Cleveland | -1.5 | -9.6 | 1.2 | 21.69 |
The NFL Power Index by combining 32 team sats using a model created with 15 years worth of historical data. All stats are either per-game or per-play with the exception of Strength of Schedule. SoS is provided by Team Rankings.