Shutdown Corner NFL Power Rankings: Can anyone stop Pats-Seahawks showdown?

The gap in the AFC has been growing gradually over the past couple months.

The gap in the NFC has been busted wide open in just a few weeks.

No matter how we got to this point in each conference, we're here now. The New England Patriots are the class of the AFC, the Seattle Seahawks look like a runaway train in the NFC, and it's hard to identify who might stop either one before they meet in the Super Bowl.

The Patriots have been gaining steam for almost three full months, and the Denver Broncos clearly aren't the same team they were earlier this season. Nobody would voluntarily build an offense around C.J. Anderson if Peyton Manning was still playing at his peak. It would be quite an upset at this point if they won at Foxboro. And after the Broncos lost on Monday night, the Patriots clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers can get hot and outscore the Patriots on the right day. Since it's a one-game elimination scenario, anything can happen. But the Patriots are miles ahead of every other AFC team.

The Seahawks look fairly unstoppable in the NFC, too, especially since they're a win away from locking up home-field advantage for the playoffs. Their win at Arizona on Sunday night was dominant, and not just because the Cardinals don't have a competent quarterback anymore. The Seahawks are playing very well, and if they get the No. 1 seed, who is coming to Seattle and winning? The Packers aren't a great road team and the Seahawks' secondary nullifies Green Bay's biggest strength. Maybe the Cowboys can win in Seattle again, but it will be really tough to do that twice in one season. The Lions? Again, in a one-game elimination scenario anything is possible, but nobody will be betting on it.

Will these playoffs be that anticlimactic? Things rarely go as cleanly as we expect in the playoffs, so maybe not. But it will take a pretty significant upset to keep the Patriots and Seahawks from a date in Glendale, Ariz. on Feb. 1.

Here are the post-Week 16 NFL power rankings:

32. Tennessee Titans (2-13, Last Week: 32)
There are reports already that they're looking into Jay Cutler. Trading for him would be amazingly dumb, but really, not too surprising either.

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-13, LW: 30)
I just can't get over how badly they've botched the quarterback situation this season. It's inexcusable. Don't let Lovie Smith near Marcus Mariota.

30. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-12, LW: 31)
This team has missed on a lot of top-10 picks lately. Offensive tackle Luke Joeckel, the No. 2 overall pick last year, ranks as the No. 63 tackle in the NFL this year according to Pro Football Focus' grades. They can't afford that.

29. Chicago Bears (5-10, LW: 27)
With Jimmy Clausen out, Jay Cutler will start again. It was an interesting choice. The Bears could have started rookie David Fales, and made sure that Cutler didn't get hurt before they could trade him. But, if they would have started Fales and had to bring Cutler back in 2015, good luck mending that fence.

28. New York Jets (3-12, LW: 26)
They really played hard, and got a lot of pass rush on Tom Brady. Rex Ryan is still a really good defensive mind.

27. Oakland Raiders (3-12, LW: 29)
Three wins in five games is a pretty nice start to the offseason. But there's a ton of work still to do: hire the right coach, do better in free agency than last year's nightmare and have a draft that's more like 2014 than the few before that.

26. Washington Redskins (4-11, LW: 28)
Jay Gruden's "The only quarterback stat that matters is wins and losses" is still hurting my head.

25. New Orleans Saints (6-9, LW: 22)
It's not going to get better anytime soon. Their salary cap is an absolute mess next year. On Sunday, we might have seen the end of a great run by these Saints.

24. Minnesota Vikings (6-9, LW: 21)
Nobody really cared because it didn't matter to the playoff race, but they put on an absolute clinic on how to blow a game late in the fourth quarter at Miami on Sunday.

23. St. Louis Rams (6-9, LW: 19)
Unfocused, prone to taking costly penalties and regularly losing their cool. That's not a long-term formula for success.

22. New York Giants (6-9, LW: 24)
If Tom Coughlin was really a 99.9 percent chance to return, finishing the season strong might push it to 100.

21. Carolina Panthers (6-8-1, LW: 23)
Jonathan Stewart's 437 rushing yards over the last four weeks lead the NFL. I wonder if he still has it left in him to put together a full season like that, although he'd also need the opportunity.

20. Atlanta Falcons (6-9, LW: 25)
If the Falcons make the playoffs, they will do so with a 1-9 record against non-division opponents and a 6-0 record against the NFC South. That's just weird.

19. Cleveland Browns (7-8, LW: 20)
Strangely, there are worse things than if they get a full game to look at rookie quarterback Connor Shaw, even if it comes because the top two quarterbacks are hurt.

18. San Francisco 49ers (7-8, LW: 17)
Does anyone really think that the 49ers' next coach will do a better job over the long haul than Jim Harbaugh? Are the 49ers' head honchos the only ones who don't see what's coming?

17. Buffalo Bills (8-7, LW: 14)
Brutal way to get eliminated from the playoffs for yet another season. I can understand the impatience with Buffalo, and I assume that's why Doug Marrone's job is rumored to be in some danger, but I don't know what firing the coach after two years would accomplish. That wouldn't help the quarterback problem.

16. Houston Texans (8-7, LW: 18)
With the first pick of the second round of this year's draft, Houston took guard Xavier Su'a-Filo. Three picks later the Raiders took quarterback Derek Carr. Su'a-Filo has started one game this season. Carr has become a very promising quarterback, while the Texans have no clue who will be their quarterback of the future (and their record means it'll be hard to find that answer in the draft next year). Su'a-Filo might turn out to be a very good guard, but ...

15. Miami Dolphins (8-7, LW: 16)
With so many young quarterbacks struggling, I'm not sure why more hasn't been made of Ryan Tannehill's nice step forward this season.

14. Kansas City Chiefs (8-7, LW: 13)
Looking back, it's incredible the Chiefs didn't get one wide receiver in what is looking like the greatest rookie receiver class ever.

13. Philadelphia Eagles (9-6, LW: 12)
In 14 days, the Eagles lost three games and went from first place to out of the playoffs. Priority No. 1 in the offseason has to be finding better cornerbacks. Or maybe getting a better pass rush.

12. Arizona Cardinals (11-4, LW: 9)
It appears the Cardinals will start rookie Logan Thomas at quarterback over Ryan Lindley, and while I'm no fan of Thomas, there was no choice. It can't get worse. Hard to see what has happened to a good team because of injuries. If Drew Stanton magically comes back soon they would move up a few spots, but they can't be any higher than this with their quarterback situation.

11. Baltimore Ravens (9-6, LW: 8)
It's really, really hard to explain what happened to Joe Flacco on Sunday. It's possible that was the worst game all season by one of the NFL's opening-day starting quarterbacks.

10. San Diego Chargers (9-6, LW: 15)
An unbelievable comeback at San Francisco put them in a position to get in the playoffs with one more win. If they can win at Kansas City, which is also alive for a playoff berth but needs help, they'll have really earned their spot.

9. Indianapolis Colts (10-5, LW: 6)
They're 5-0 against the terrible AFC South and 5-5 against the rest of the NFL. The allure of Andrew Luck carrying the Colts beyond their talent level is the reason they've been overrated. But now even Luck is in a slump.

8. Cincinnati Bengals (10-4-1, LW: 10)
The Bengals took a chance on running back Jeremy Hill, who had plenty of off-fieid issues in college. It paid off. And that probably means they'll keep talking themselves into those types of players.

7. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-5, LW: 11)
The problem was never what they can do on their best day. It was always the concern about why they showed up unprepared and unmotivated against bad competition. Maybe it's a good thing there won't be any bad opponents the rest of the way. If someone is pulling off a 2012 Ravens, maybe it's them.

6. Detroit Lions (11-4, LW: 7)
If the Lions want to be taken seriously as a true contender, maybe it's time to go win a game like Sunday at Lambeau Field. Big spot for them.

5. Denver Broncos (11-4, LW: 3)
I didn't get the often-told argument that the Broncos' shift to the running game was brilliant because it gave them a better chance to win a Super Bowl. They made the Super Bowl last season. And they were going to beat that Seahawks team in the Super Bowl if only they had C.J. Anderson to carry it 30 times? How does that make any sense?

4. Dallas Cowboys (11-4, LW: 5)
DeMarco Murray, who has a broken hand and an amazing 427 touches in 15 games, got eight carries after the Cowboys took a 28-0 lead. Only once in NFL regular-season history has a team come back from 28 points down to win. Why is Jason Garrett trying to run Murray into the ground?

3. Green Bay Packers (11-4, LW: 4)
Is Aaron Rodgers' pulled calf going to be 100 percent? He'll play on Sunday, obviously, but you don't want to be a step slow against that Lions pass rush.

2. Seattle Seahawks (11-4, LW: 2)
The Seahawks look dominant, but don't forget that the Rams play them tough and have beaten them once. I don't think I'd pick the Rams to get the upset, but it's not a gimme either.

1. New England Patriots (12-3, LW: 1)
Not going to really worry about a lack of style points from them on Sunday. The Jets played hard and well, and escaping with a one-point win at a division rival is good enough for them. You really have to hate the Patriots to think that somehow they were exposed all of a sudden because of that result.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab