2024 NFL Team Defense Rankings: Ranking the Four Defenses in the Conference Championship Round
We're just days away from the NFL Conference Championship Round. Jason Radowitz ranks the four remaining NFL defenses left. Which defense will carry their team to the Super Bowl?
Jason Radowitz - January 25, 2024, 10:54 AM EST
5 min2024 NFL Team Defense Rankings: Ranking the Four Defenses in the Conference Championship Round
We're just days away from the NFL Conference Championships!
Sunday's lineup will start with the Kansas City Chiefs against the Baltimore Ravens. Then, the San Francisco 49ers will follow that game against the Detroit Lions.
The winners of those two games will earn a trip to the Super Bowl.
While most analysts, critics, and fans talk about the offenses and quarterback play, we will look at the defense between the four remaining teams in the NFL Playoffs.
We've ranked the final four teams regarding defense.
Best NFL Defense Rankings in the NFL Conference Championship Round
1. Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens allowed few points defensively in the regular season. They gave up just 191.9 yards passing and allowed under 110 yards rushing while earning 60 sacks.
Baltimore also added 18 interceptions, deflected 92 passes, and added 13 fumble recoveries off 16 forced fumbles.
The Ravens have the best secondary of the four teams and a reliable pass rush that has earned the most sacks in the NFL this season.
Plus, Baltimore didn't even allow an offensive touchdown to the Houston Texans in last week's Divisional Round matchup.
2. San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco has the best pass defense in the NFL. They're better than the Ravens.
However, they earned 12 fewer sacks and only recorded six fumbles recoveries with 51 hurries.
The Niners are ranked second thanks to their 22 interceptions this season. They've also allowed under 90 yards per game on the ground this year.
Although the Packers outplayed San Francisco for most of the Divisional Playoffs, the squad stepped up and held the Packers to no points in the fourth quarter.
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3. Kansas City Chiefs
Without the defense, I'm not sure Kansas City is in this spot that they're in. The Chiefs only grabbed eight interceptions this year. However, they forced 15 fumbles and allowed only 15.8 points per game this year.
Kansas City allowed just 289.8 yards per game and gave up 176.5 yards in the air. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they will have to face Lamar Jackson, who is about to win the MVP Award.
He's more of a runner, and the Chiefs have allowed 113.2 yards per game on the ground this season.
Kansas City is probably the weakest team against the run of the four teams. But the pass defense has been consistent enough to keep them in ball games. The Chiefs have earned 57 sacks, the second-best in the NFL during the regular season.
4. Detroit Lions
Detroit was the most inconsistent defense of this bunch. In the regular season, the Lions allowed 22.1 points per game, which was 23rd in the NFL.
Opponents also added 336.1 yards per game but rushed just 88.8 yards per game. Therefore, it was really the pass defense that fell apart.
That was mainly due to the secondary. The secondary for the Lions is easily the worst of the four. However, the pass rush for Detroit has helped the secondary to not collapse in the playoffs.
Detroit still added 16 interceptions and added 74 hurries with 79 pass deflections. But while the Lions have a very solid pass rush, the group only added 41 sacks in the regular season.
They even allowed 23 points to the Buccaneers, including points in every single quarter in the Divisional Playoffs.
Detroit must now head out on the road to face the 49ers. That will be a challenging task, mainly after the Lions first played back-to-back home playoff games.
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