While I enjoy keeping up with the myriad of Power Rankings out there as much as the next guy, I also realize they're somewhat silly and irrelevant.

What I thought might have more meaning relevance is to make categories of teams.  Just off the top of my head, I put the teams into the following 4 tiers:

Elite (6): Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Broncos, Saints, Vikings

Contenders (9): Giants, Packers, Cowboys, Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, Eagles, Cardinals, Chargers

The Fringe (8): Jets, Bears, Texans, Jags, Bills, Dolphins, Seahawks, 49ers

The Awful (9): Titans, Panthers, Redskins, Browns, Rams, Raiders, Bucs, Chiefs, Lions

Obviously that doesn't settle all the quibbling - I'm sure you might want to move a team like the Eagles, Chargers, 49ers, Steelers, etc, etc - but I do think this approach is useful, particularly this year, when the spread between teams seems to be growing.

What I then did was to look at the game results thus far this year.  Now obviously this is a little bit of a chicken and the egg problem, since a large input to my putting teams into tiers was those very results, but the results were nonetheless striking.

Tier 1 vs Tier 4: 13-0

Tier 1 vs Tier 3: 8-2 (Bears over Steelers, Jets over Patriots)

Tier 2 vs Tier 4: 20-1 (Raiders over Eagles)

Tier 1 vs Tier 2: 11-1 (Bengals over Steelers)

Tier 2 vs Tier 3: 9-2 (49ers over Cardinals, Texans over Bengals)

Tier 3 vs Tier 4: 11-1 (Browns over Bills)

(1 vs 1 = 2 games, 2 vs 2 = 6 games, 3 vs 3 = 9 games, 4 vs 4 = 7 games)

So in 79 games involving teams on different tiers, there have only been 7 upsets!

Full stats after the jump.

Tier 1

Colts

vs 1 0-0; vs 2 1-0 (Arz); vs 3 3-0 (Sea, Mia, Jax); vs 4 2-0 (Stl, Ten)

Patriots

vs 1 0-1 (Den); vs 2 2-0 (Atl, Bal); vs 3 1-1 (Buf / NYJ); vs 4 2-0 (TB, Ten)

Broncos

vs 1 1-0 (NE); vs 2 3-0 (SD, Dal, Cin); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 2-0 (Cle, Oak)

Steelers

vs 1 1-0 (Min); vs 2 1-1 (SD / Cin); vs 3 0-1 (Chi); vs 4 3-0 (Det, Cle, Ten)

Vikings

vs 1 0-1 (Pit); vs 2 2-0 (GB, Bal); vs 3 1-0 (SF); vs 4 3-0 (Det, Stl, Cle)

Saints

vs 1 0-0; vs 2 2-0 (Phi, NYG); vs 3 3-0 (NYJ, Mia, Buf); vs 4 1-0 (Det)

Tier 2

Chargers

vs 1 0-2 (Pit, Den); vs 2 0-1 (Bal); vs 3 1-0 (Mia); vs 4 2-0 (KC, Oak)

Ravens

vs 1 0-2 (Min, NE); vs 2 1-1 (SD / Cin); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 2-0 (Cle, KC)

Bengals

vs 1 1-1 (Pit / Den); vs 2 2-0 (Bal, GB); vs 3 1-1 (Chi / Hou); vs 4 1-0 (Cle)

Eagles

vs 1 0-1 (NO); vs 2 0-0; vs 3 0-0; vs 4 4-1 (Was, TB, KC, Car / Oak)

Giants

vs 1 0-1 (NO); vs 2 1-1 (Dal / Arz); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 4-0 (Oak, KC, TB, Was)

Cowboys

vs 1 0-1 (Den); vs 2 1-1 (Atl / NYG); vs 3 0-0; vs 4 3-0 (KC, Car, TB)

Packers

vs 1 0-1 (Min); vs 2 0-1 (Cin); vs 3 1-0 (Chi); vs 4 3-0 (Cle, Det, Stl)

Cardinals

vs 1 0-1 (Ind); vs 2 1-0 (NYG); vs 3 3-1 (Sea, Jac, Hou / SF); vs 4 0-0

Falcons

vs 1 0-1 (NE); vs 2 0-1 (Dal); vs 3 3-0 (SF, Chi, Mia); vs 4 1-0 (Car)

Tier 3

Jags 0-1, 0-1, 1-1, 2-0

Texans 0-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-0

Jets 1-1, 0-0, 1-2, 2-0

Bills 0-2, 0-0, 1-1, 2-1

Dolphins 0-2, 0-2, 2-0, 0-0

Bears 1-0, 0-3, 1-0, 1-0

Seahawks 0-1, 0-1, 1-2, 1-0

49ers 0-1, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0

Tier 4

Titans 0-3, 0-0, 0-3, 0-0

Chiefs 0-0, 0-5, 0-0, 1-1

Raiders 0-1, 1-2, 0-2, 1-0

Browns 0-3, 0-3, 1-0, 0-0

Redskins 0-0, 0-2, 0-0, 2-3

Lions 0-3, 0-1, 0-1, 1-0

Rams 0-2, 0-1, 0-3, 0-1

Panthers 0-0, 0-3, 0-1, 2-0

Bucs 0-1, 0-3, 0-1, 0-2