ESPN Computers Reveal The NFL’s 5 Worst Teams After Week 1
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
ESPN’s computer wasted little time after the first NFL Sunday of 2026. The Football Power Index now ranks five franchises as the league’s weakest clubs. Miami sits last, while Cleveland follows. Tennessee, Las Vegas and the Jets fill out the bottom five.
Week 1 already produced lopsided scores. Jacksonville crushed Cleveland 34-10. Las Vegas beat Miami 27-13. The Jets handled Tennessee 23-10. Those results fed the model right away. The ESPN FPI board updates daily and treats one Sunday as new evidence, not noise.
NFL Computer Model Puts Miami and Cleveland Last
Miami owns the worst rating at minus 7.5. The Dolphins dropped their opener in Las Vegas and still look like a rebuild on both sides of the ball. Cleveland sits at minus 7.1 after the Jacksonville blowout. The Browns offense graded as the weakest unit in the entire index.
Tennessee ranks 30th at minus 5.4 after a home loss to New York. The Raiders sit 29th at minus 3.6 even after they beat Miami. The Jets hold 28th at minus 3.2 despite a road win in Nashville. Wins did not lift those two clubs out of the basement. The model still sees thin rosters and hard remaining slates.
That bottom group matches an earlier ESPN FPI forecast that already flagged Miami, Cleveland, and the Jets as long-term problems. One Sunday did not rewrite that picture. It sharpened it.
NFL Week 1 Results Did Not Spare the Bottom Five
The first Sunday also flipped the top of the board. San Francisco jumped to No. 1 after a 27-7 win over Los Angeles in Melbourne. That same FPI Super Bowl shift knocked the Rams from first to sixth in a single night.
The gap between those franchises and the bottom five looks huge. The 49ers rate plus 5.6. Miami rates minus 7.5. That spread is more than 13 points against an average opponent on a neutral field. Cleveland’s offense sits at minus 6.2 in expected points. Few NFL units start a season that far underwater.
Some of these clubs already appeared on lists of teams headed toward disaster. Miami’s quarterback change, Cleveland’s stalled offense, and Tennessee’s early hole all fit that pattern. The computer is not inventing new villains. It is confirming the same names after real games.
The index will move again after Monday night and every week that follows. Right now it says five NFL teams sit well below average, and three of them lost by double digits on Sunday. Fans of Miami, Cleveland, and Tennessee already knew the feeling. ESPN’s model just put numbers on it.
