ESPN released their 2016 Ultimate Standings this week, ranking all 122 major professional sports franchises (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) against each other. As you could imagine, several NFL teams were are the top of those rankings - but they also had four of the six worst franchises. According to those rankings, here are the five best and five worst franchises in the NFL:
FIVE BEST FRANCHISES
5) New England Patriots
ESPN: "If quarterback Tom Brady serving a four-game suspension to open the NFL season was supposed to get Patriots fans down, it didn't work. In fact, optimism for the team might be at an all-time high as the Patriots improved eight spots in ESPN's Ultimate Standings, after making an 18-spot jump the year before. The only nitpick for fans is the rising cost to attend a game."
4) Seattle Seahawks
ESPN: "The Seahawks are no strangers to the top of these standings, and this year is no different: Top-10 finishes in title track, ownership, coaching, players and bang for the buck mark some of the categories most important to fans. All those pieces have been put together to impressive effect on the field: The Seahawks have gone to at least the divisional round in four straight seasons, have made the Super Bowl twice and brought home the Lombardi trophy once."
3) Arizona Cardinals
ESPN: "With victories comes not just the spoils, but also a fast rise up ESPN's Ultimate Standings. Cardinals fans' title hopes increased after a 13-3 season last year which ended with them in the NFC Championship Game, and a 27-point jump in these standings soon followed. But their 34 wins in three years had more to do with coach Bruce Arians than anything else."
2) Green Bay Packers
ESPN: "The Packers are the model of consistency for NFL franchises. They're regular contenders (only the Packers and Patriots have been in the playoffs each of the past seven seasons), their finances are in order both off the field and in terms of player contracts, and they've had more than a decade of outstanding quarterback play with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. What team wouldn't want to emulate all of that?"
1) Carolina Panthers
ESPN: "It's amazing what a 15-1 regular-season record, a trip to the Super Bowl and having the league MVP will do for your franchise. The Panthers moved from an overall rating in the mid-20s the past two years to No. 3 overall, the highest ranking by an NFL team. The jump in players from No. 35 to No. 4 tells you the story. Carolina has two of the league's marquee stars in quarterback Cam Newton and middle linebacker Luke Kuechly. Good news: They're both signed long-term, so this rating shouldn't change much in the coming years."
FIVE WORST FRANCHISES
28) Detroit Lions
ESPN: "For years now, the Detroit Lions have been toward the bottom of these rankings. Most of it has to do with the years -- decades, really -- of losing. They have had two of the best players in NFL history, and both retired close to their prime with only one sniff of a chance at a Super Bowl between them. They are a franchise that has shown loyalty to their front-office employees, sometimes to a fault. While some of that is changing, with new leadership in owner Martha Ford, team president Rod Wood and GM Bob Quinn, it is way too soon to tell the long-term effects of their presence with the franchise."
29) San Diego Chargers
ESPN: "Quarterback Philip Rivers and his bolo tie remain the best thing going for this franchise, which has reached the playoffs just once since 2010. Threats of the team moving have pushed fans away locally, while the product on the field has produced shoulder shrugs on a national scale. At least the Chargers still have those iconic, powder-blue uniforms!"
30) Cleveland Browns
ESPN: "It seems like it might take a front-end loader to get the Cleveland Browns out of the bottom of these rankings. A year ago the Browns were 109th; this year they are 119th. Going 3-13 in 2015 probably accounted for most of the drop (the Browns had the second-worst score in sports in "consistently wins more games than they lose"). The latest plan to fix things: Build with as many talented young players as possible, and let them all grow under coach Hue Jackson. It's a new approach, and it might work, but it will take time. And patience."
31) Los Angeles Rams
ESPN: "The Rams' move from St. Louis back to Los Angeles doubled their value, but it didn't necessarily make them more popular. At least, not yet. They return to the West Coast as the Ultimate Standing's second-worst franchise, down another 13 spots even after a poor showing last year. But they have greater revenue streams, a young roster and the prospects of a new stadium, so they are ever-hopeful of a better day. Things can only turn up ... right?"
32) San Francisco 49ers
ESPN: "For a franchise with as much history and tradition as the 49ers, it's hard to believe they've sunk to this level -- dead last among 122 professional sports teams. It's the result of a lack of on-field success, the dysfunction that led to the departure of coach Jim Harbaugh (and the uninspired choice of Jim Tomsula as his replacement), and the overwhelming cost to watch it all unfold at Levi's Stadium. They dropped 76 spots in last year's rankings, and now, down 19 more, bottom out this year. At least now there's nowhere to go but up."