New AFC top contenders: Colts, Broncos, Patriots, Chargers - ESPN

If you don't like the team at the top of the heap in the AFC, just wait a week. Heading into the 2025 NFL season, there was a consensus that the teams with MVP-caliber quarterbacks that are perennially atop the conference — the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens — would quickly reestablish their rightful place atop the AFC, a tier above the other 13 teams.

In reality, we've had total chaos. The Chiefs started 0-2 and actually sit outside the playoff picture at the midway point as the eighth seed in the AFC. The Ravens opened the season 1-5 before turning things around after their bye. The Bills have beaten both of their frequent playoff rivals, but they've also lost to the Falcons and now to the Dolphins, who blew them out Sunday.

That three-team top tier has given way to a larger, messier group of claimants to the top spot in the AFC. None of them has a foolproof résumé. Some teams that had seemingly announced themselves as candidates have already fallen out of favor — like the Jaguars, who went to 4-1 with their Week 5 win over the Chiefs on «Monday Night Football» before losing three of their next four, including a heartbreaking loss to the Texans on Sunday afternoon. Houston scored 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull out a 36-29 victory.

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Which team should we put faith in at the top of the AFC? Can we default to the Chiefs or Bills because of what we've seen in the past? Or should we be ahead of the curve and get behind a team like the Broncos, Chargers, Colts or Patriots — the four teams that have better records in the AFC than the old guard?

I'm here to make a case for that new group of contenders, the teams trying to convince us that it won't inevitably be the Bills,