2025 NFL Defensive Tiers Week 18: Texans in Top Form; Giants Finishing Strong

It’s fitting that one of the best games of this past week, the Sunday night showdown between the Niners and Bears, featured a combined 80 points. Many defenses across the NFL struggled in Week 17. 

And it wasn’t just defenses on bad teams like the Jets and the Cardinals, who gave up 42 and 37 points in losses, respectively. It was the Packers’ defense getting completely overwhelmed against Baltimore. It was the Chargers’ defense, which gave up two touchdowns of 40-plus yards in the first quarter of a loss to the Texans. 

There was plenty of good defensive football throughout the league, too — including from teams you wouldn’t expect. 

Ahead of Week 18, the final week of the regular season, here’s my tiered ranking of all 32 defensive units (see Week 17 here):  

Houston Texans 
Philadelphia Eagles
Seattle Seahawks
Denver Broncos

In a 20-16 win on Sunday, the Texans’ No. 1-ranked defense took away every sliver of hope that the Chargers had, as Houston has done to offenses throughout the 2025 season. 

After Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and receiver Quentin Johnston connected for a 60-yard completion in the second quarter, putting Los Angeles in the red zone, Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair picked off Herbert on the next play. When the L.A. defense intercepted Texans QB C.J. Stroud twice, giving the Chargers the ball inside the Texans’ 40-yard line, those possessions resulted in just a combined three points.

Houston finished the game with five sacks, eight quarterback hits, eight tackles for loss, five pass breakups, an interception and a forced fumble.

Los Angeles Chargers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Minnesota Vikings 
Cleveland Browns
New England Patriots
Los Angeles Rams

The Vikings won’t be in the playoffs, but it’s not because of their defense. 

Brian Flores’ unit held the high-powered Detroit offense to 10 points and had six (!) takeaways in Week 17. Minnesota has held three of its past four opponents to 13 or fewer points, including a shutout of the Commanders in Week 14. 

The Dolphins’ head coach from 2019-21, Flores should garner significant interest in this year’s hiring cycle. 

Chicago Bears
Buffalo Bills
Pittsburgh Steelers
Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers
New Orleans Saints
San Francisco 49ers
Baltimore Ravens
Kansas City Chiefs
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 
Indianapolis Colts
Atlanta Falcons
Detroit Lions

The Packers’ defense, a regular in the top two tiers earlier this season, continues to struggle without injured edge rusher Micah Parsons.

Green Bay gave up a season-high 41 points in Saturday’s loss to the Ravens, who racked up 307 rushing yards. Derrick Henry’s 216 rushing yards were the most ever by a visiting player at Lambeau Field. 

Jeff Hafley’s defense has given up at least 34 points twice in the past three weeks, a span during which it has just one takeaway. 

New York Giants 
Miami Dolphins 

Don’t look now, but the Giants (29th in total defense, 26th in points allowed) are finishing the 2025 season on a high note defensively. They’ve given up just two combined touchdowns in the past two games and have six takeaways over the past three weeks. 

Perhaps the biggest development is the growth of rookie edge Abdul Carter, who had a career-high nine pressures in Sunday’s win over the Raiders, according to Next Gen Stats. The No. 3 overall pick has 16 pressures over the past two weeks and has recorded at least half a sack in four straight games.

Cincinnati Bengals 
Tennessee Titans 
Dallas Cowboys

The Bengals’ defense was easily the worst in the NFL the first half of the year, but it has made noticeable strides over the last several weeks. 

Cincinnati gave up just 14 points in its Week 17 win over the Cardinals, tying a season-low. The Bengals have allowed under 25 points in four of their past five games. 

Las Vegas Raiders
Washington Commanders
Arizona Cardinals
New York Jets

No NFL defense has been worse than the Jets’ over the past few weeks. On Sunday, New York gave up 42 points to New England. In the first three quarters. At home. Two weeks earlier, the Jets allowed 48 points to the Jaguars. 

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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