2026 NFL Power Rankings: How all 32 teams stack up for Week 6 - ESPN

NFL teams are averaging 23.3 points in the 2026 season. Though some of those points have come from defensive touchdowns and one punt return TD from the Vikings, it's mostly an indicator that offenses are getting into scoring territory a lot.

So why are defenses struggling so much? In addition to our updated 1-32 rankings, we asked our NFL Nation reporters to pick out the biggest defensive issue for each team. From secondary depth to third-down defense, what is causing each team to falter?

To form the list, our power panel of more than a dozen NFL analysts evaluates how all 32 teams stack up against one another. Here are a few highlights from this week's rankings:

The Patriots have returned to the top 10 after back-to-back wins over the Bills and Raiders. Sunday's win was catalyzed by another strong performance from quarterback Drake Maye, who led the team to its most points (45) and yards (536) in a game since 2021. The Patriots could continue their hot streak with matchups against the Jets and Dolphins in two of the next three weeks.

The Packers are also climbing back up our list after two losses in their first three games. Green Bay entered Sunday's matchup against Chicago as 1.5-point underdogs, but it completely dominated the Bears to avenge its wild-card loss last season. Quarterback Jordan Love's 367 passing yards were the second most by any QB in Bears-Packers series history, per ESPN Research.

The bottom three teams in our rankings (Chargers, Titans and Dolphins) are all 0-5. It's the fifth time since the 1970 merger that three teams from the same conference have started a season with that record, per ESPN Research. Los Angeles had the most excruciating loss of the bunch this past weekend, blowing a seven-point