NFL Week 8 Standings Based on Strength of Schedule

We are rapidly approaching the halfway point of the NFL season and Week 8 is right around the corner. We’ve learned a lot through the opening weeks of the season.

The San Francisco 49ers are great, but not unbeatable, unless you are the Dallas Cowboys, in which case Brock Purdy is going to put a hurtin’ on. The Kansas City Chiefs‘ defense is perhaps the best it’s ever been in the Patrick Mahomes era, but the complete lack of weapons outside of Travis Kelce on the other side of the ball is becoming worrisome. The Houston Texans are not horrific but the New England Patriots are. The Cincinnati Bengals are already teetering at the edge of a lost season. It is legitimate to wonder if the Arizona Cardinals should activate Kyler Murray or keep rolling with Joshua Dobbs.

All sorts of storylines have emerged through the first seven weeks, and thus it seems a good time to take stock of how the rest of the year looks for everybody. We’re going to do that by reordering the current NFL standings based on remaining strength of schedule, rather than win-loss record. For those who do not know, strength of schedule is basically what it seems like. A high strength of schedule means there are a lot of good opponents left to play. A low strength of schedule means there are more than a few bottom-feeders to face off against.

Ordering teams by their SOS is an interesting exercise in projecting how a team might finish up their season. If they have a bunch of wins and a low SOS, then there’s a very good chance they’ll be battling for playoff seeding in January. If they have a bunch of losses and a high SOS, it’s best to start reading mock drafts.

So here are the NFL Week 8 standings ordered by highest strength of schedule to lowest (per Tankathon). The strength of schedule is determined by the cumulative win percentage of the teams remaining on a given schedule, which you’ll find in the rightmost column.