Culture
Ranking 18 NFL teams that missed the playoffs: Who’s most likely to rebound in 2025?
The NFL playoffs are in full swing. The wild-card round came and went this past weekend, and on tap is the divisional round, which features four games between eight teams.
Having lost in recent days, the Los Angeles Chargers, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings find themselves in a state of reflection and assessment as their offseasons begin sooner than they would have liked.
Another 18 NFL teams didn’t even make the playoffs. Some appear capable of rebounding and rejoining the ranks of the contenders next season — if they make the right moves this spring. Others have a ways to go before they can even sniff the postseason.
We’re ranking all of the non-playoff teams from most likely to rebound in 2025 to least likely.
1. Cincinnati Bengals (9-8)
A five-game season-ending win streak put the Bengals on the precipice of the postseason following a slow start to 2024. But the Broncos won their final regular-season game to clinch the AFC No. 7 seed, and that left the Bengals on the outside looking in. That final stretch showed what Cincinnati is capable of. The Bengals must pay wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and they need to invest in a defense that will have a new coordinator following the firing of Lou Anarumo. If they do so, Joe Burrow and company should have a shot at contention.
2. Dallas Cowboys (7-10)
We don’t yet know who will coach this team following Mike McCarthy’s departure this week. Improved health alone, however, should position the Cowboys’ return to the thick of things in the NFC East. The roster isn’t perfect, but Dallas certainly has enough horses to contend as long as Jerry Jones hires a strong head coach and finally addresses the run game after neglecting that area last year.
More on the Cowboys coaching search
3. Miami Dolphins (8-9)
A healthy Tua Tagovailoa will go a long way to helping the Dolphins rebound. Figuring out the Tyreek Hill situation (is he in or is he out?) also is a must. Trading him for assets to further round out the offense and fortify the defense might be the best call.
4. Seattle Seahawks (10-7)
The only 10-win team to miss the playoffs, Seattle is right on the edge. The Seahawks will have a new offensive coordinator. Can that new hire squeeze another serviceable season out of Geno Smith? The defense should improve in the second season under Mike Macdonald.
5. Atlanta Falcons (8-9)
Raheem Morris’ team is a high-end pass rusher and more consistent Kyle Pitts away from being able to win the NFC South. Michael Penix Jr. showed why the Falcons took him eighth overall despite having signed Kirk Cousins to an expensive deal in free agency. Penix could blossom into a star in 2025 after showing flashes in his late-season cameo.
6. Arizona Cardinals (8-9)
Yes, they fizzled down the stretch, but Jonathan Gannon’s Cardinals appear poised to make real strides in 2025. They doubled their win total in 2024. Kyler Murray looks comfortable in the system, and James Conner is locked in for the long term. Now they just need Marvin Harrison Jr. to make a leap to further elevate the offense, and a difference-making pass rusher to lead the defense.
The Brock Purdy contract will command a lot of attention this offseason, but the 49ers also need to fortify a defense that was ravaged by injuries in 2024. They also need offensive stars like Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams to help extend this window of competitiveness that might have only another season or two of life to it.
8. Carolina Panthers (5-12)
Bryce Young answered a pressing question with the way he finished the 2024 season, winning two of the final three games. Another offseason with Dave Canales should position the 2023 No. 1 pick for continued growth in 2025. With quarterback questions resolved, the Panthers can turn their attention to getting the help they badly need at edge rusher, defensive line and defensive back.
9. Indianapolis Colts (8-9)
The roster was solid enough for the Colts to flirt with a playoff berth in both of Shane Steichen’s first two seasons as head coach. But there are still very big questions about quarterback Anthony Richardson and whether he has the mental fortitude necessary to finally blossom into the difference-maker that could elevate Indy from 8-9 to 11-6.
10. Chicago Bears (5-12)
Caleb Williams found himself overshadowed by Jayden Daniels, and rightfully so. But Williams didn’t have a bad year (3,541 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, only six interceptions, completion percentage of 62.5). The Bears can’t miss on this head coaching hire. There’s still a gap between Chicago and the NFC North’s third-place team, Green Bay. But the pieces are there for Chicago to compete.
Drake Maye was the bright spot of another season of regression for the once-proud franchise. Mike Vrabel brings credibility and hope. A deep collection of draft picks and gobs of salary-cap space could lead to a significantly upgraded roster in 2025.
12. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-13)
The Jaguars have an important building block in Trevor Lawrence, who, as it turns out, might be solid but not elite. They still have an underperforming general manager in Trent Baalke. And they will have a new head coach, who will be tasked with maximizing Lawrence’s skills. There are some pieces to work with, but that playoff run in the 2022 season feels like a long time ago.
13. New York Jets (5-12)
Another franchise reset is on the way with a new coach and general manager. Aaron Rodgers’ plans remain a mystery, as do the Jets’ feelings about continuing this marriage. The cupboard isn’t bare, but a quick fix seems unlikely.
14. Las Vegas Raiders (4-13)
They currently have no coach, no general manager and no long-term solution at quarterback. They do have a star in tight end Brock Bowers, and pass rusher Maxx Crosby. But, also, the AFC West is tough.
15. Tennessee Titans (3-14)
Will Levis is not the answer. Brian Callahan might not be, either. Former general manager Ran Carthon, fired last week after two seasons, seemed to assemble some quality talent through the draft and free agency. Can a veteran quarterback help this squad rebound to the middle of the pack?
16. New Orleans Saints (5-12)
A familiar refrain: Aging quarterback, aging defensive stars, limited salary-cap space. … There’s not much here to sell to a leading head coach candidate.
17. New York Giants (3-14)
Malik Nabers is a star, so teaming him up with the right quarterback could help the Giants improve. But is the No. 3 pick too late for Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll to have a shot at a legit franchise savior? The quarterback pickings in free agency are slim as well.
18. Cleveland Browns (3-14)
The Browns have a mess on their hands. Deshaun Watson is unlikely to play in 2025 after another Achilles tear, but his restrictive salary-cap hit remains on the books. Cleveland has the No. 2 pick. Should it be spent on a quarterback? Even as Kevin Stefanski likely reclaims play-calling duties of an offense that will have a new coordinator (Tommy Rees) and line coach, this turnaround will take a while.
(Top illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; photos of Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow and Micah Parsons: Carmen Mandato and
Wesley Hitt / Getty Images; Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Where do you turn when you need advice? A chatbot? A life coach? A wise and trusted friend?
How about a poet? Poets may not be famous for making the best life choices, but because they subject the mess of human existence to the discipline of language, they can be as helpful as any therapist or mentor.
Good poets know the rules and when to break them, which is something they can teach the rest of us.
To wit:
Giving advice is a peculiar literary undertaking. It flourishes in certain popular genres — graduation speeches, newspaper columns, country and western songs and poems like this one — but what, in these contexts, is it really for?
I’m thinking of situations when you don’t urgently need help but nonetheless enjoy reading answers to questions you may not have thought to ask. What interests you isn’t the content of the advice — you could get all the life hacks you want from A.I. — so much as the voice of the person dispensing it.
Wendy Cope is an English poet, born in 1945, who has been a fixture of her country’s literary scene since the 1980s. More recently, her short, buoyant poem “The Orange” has been widely memed online, bringing her to the attention of new readers beyond Britain.
Cope favors rhyme, meter, brisk jokes and tart aperçus. She addresses romance, friendship and the petty absurdities of modern life with disarming good humor. The last line of “The Orange” is “I love you. I’m glad I exist.” Somehow she makes it the opposite of cringe.
This isn’t the kind of poetry you would describe as “confessional.” And yet …
Question 1/7
Stop, if the car is going “clunk”
Or if the sun has made you blind.
Don’t answer e–mails when you’re drunk.
Tap a word above to fill in the highlighted blank.Want to learn this poem by heart? We’ll help.
Fill in the missing words below. You can always refer to the reading by A.O. Scott and full
text above.Let’s start with the first stanza.
A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary geography quiz highlights places where authors were born (or lived) that later became locations in their books. To play, just make your selection in the multiple-choice list and the correct answer will be revealed. At the end of the quiz, you’ll find links to the works if you’d like to do further reading.
AMERICA, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
For those of us in the national memory-keeping business, anniversaries hold near-totemic power. Satisfyingly round units of time, ideally bearing fancy, Latin-derived names, serve as the overburdened pegs on which to hang think pieces and museum exhibits, revisionist documentaries and maudlin public ceremonies. The arbitrary nature of such occasions is precisely what gives them their charge, inviting us to set aside complacency and submit to a comprehensive check-in.
In his new book, “America, U.S.A.,” Eddie S. Glaude Jr. presents an intriguing variation on the genre, seeing the country’s 250th birthday as an anniversary of anniversaries: 50 years since the malaise-ridden, schlock-heavy Bicentennial. A century since the subdued Prohibition-era Sesquicentennial. A century and a half since telegraphed reports of George Armstrong Custer’s defeat by the Lakota and Cheyenne at Little Bighorn rudely interrupted the Gilded Age Republic’s 100th birthday party.
If an anniversary offers a snapshot of a moment, the core of Glaude’s book is an old-timey photo album, a collection of notable episodes from earlier national reckonings, long-ago glances in the mirror. An estimable scholar of Black history, politics and religion at Princeton — best known for “Begin Again,” his 2020 meditation on James Baldwin’s relevance for our times — Glaude focuses, as his subtitle puts it, on “how race shadows the nation’s anniversaries.”
Such celebrations, he contends, have never really been the moments for honest self-reflection they are often advertised to be. Instead, the nation usually shatters the mirror, refusing to accept what it prefers not to see. “American anniversaries are often moments to turn a blind eye to the evils of the past and the present,” Glaude writes, “to suppress the fact of America’s divided soul.”
It’s a clever concept, and, needless to say, perfectly timed. Last year, Glaude notes, the Trump administration executed a hostile takeover of the government’s studiously bipartisan 250th anniversary planning. It is now preparing a program that is certain to conceal more than it reveals about the country ostensibly being celebrated.
Glaude, in no mood for celebration, argues that such omissions and evasions also defined commemorations in the past. In 1875, Frederick Douglass predicted “one grand Centennial hosannah of peace and good will to all the white race of this country.” He was right: The nation reached 100 years old at a crucial moment in the post-Civil War fight over racial equality, with white Northerners ready to give up on Southern Reconstruction. The occasion would help the once-warring sections to reunite around a shared commitment to white supremacy. On May 10, 1876, at the opening of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the police tried to bar Douglass from the grandstand, until a white politician vouched for him.
The 150th anniversary came soon after a resurgent Ku Klux Klan successfully pushed for a restrictive immigration law aimed at keeping America a “Nordic” nation. At the lavishly funded, lightly attended celebrations in Philadelphia, Black veterans of World War I were excluded from marching in the opening parade. A writer with The Associated Negro Press wondered “what was in the breast of those black men who fought to make America safe for Democracy and on Monday stood on the sidelines, forgotten, as the Nordic strode by in all his vain pride.”
By 1976, when the nation marked its Bicentennial, the violence of the ’60s had destroyed any semblance of consensus. Vietnam and Watergate had eroded trust in the government. The commission initially tasked with organizing the anniversary was disbanded amid reports of corruption. Corporations filled the vacuum, Glaude explains, with “star-spangled whoopee cushions; patriotic toilet seats; Liberty hamburgers; red, white and blue beer cans.” The author, around 8 years old at the time, dimly remembers donning a pair of tricolor trousers.
A half-century later, Glaude is refreshingly honest about the depths of his despair. “I do not love America, and never have, especially now,” he writes in one of the more startling opening sentences I’ve read in some time. He dismisses this year’s Semiquincentennial as reaching back “to a storybook America that requires either the banishment of Black people from view or the reduction of our role in the country’s history, so as to affirm America’s ongoing quest to be a more perfect union.”
Undoubtedly true. But Trump doesn’t own the country, at least not yet, nor the 250th anniversary of one of the most radically liberatory and confusingly contradictory events in world history — an inspiration, as Glaude shows, even to critical observers of the American experiment, like Douglass. Far from the revanchist MAGA-palooza in Washington, I suspect this summer’s unasked-for invitation to national soul-searching may surprise us yet.
Despite his despair, Glaude concludes that “the past still offers resources for us to freedom-dream.” So, too, does this book.
AMERICA, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries | By Eddie S. Glaude Jr. | Crown | 270 pp. | $31
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