Not completely sold on the new uniforms yet, but at least they'll be wearing these great throwbacks for a game.
Every year, I try to predict which teams will make the playoffs. This is my performance thus far:
I should go easy on myself, last year I threw my picks together last minute without a ton of thought compared to usual because I forgot to write my predictions until the day before the season started... which is exactly what I'm doing again this year!
Every year, the NFL on average has half of the teams return to the playoffs as the year before, so I always force myself to eliminate half of last year's playoff teams. Here are those teams and my thoughts:
AFC
Ravens - bubble, they did not look good in their last playoff game and lost their DC
Bills - either them or Dolphins for AFC East
Chiefs - auto-include
Texans - auto-include at least as a wild card team
Browns - definitely not, they're the only team that somehow made a worse QB trade than the Broncos did
Dolphins - I'll see how I feel between them and the Bills by the end of this
Steelers - easy removal
NFC
49ers - auto-include
Cowboys - easy removal, I think this is going to be an all time Dallas disaster year
Lions - auto-include
Buccaneers - weakest division winner is easy to replace with someone else so I'll take them out
Eagles - auto-include simply due to how bad I think the rest of the division is, I think they're your 2024 NFC 4th seed
Rams - bubble
Packers - it is best practice to remove the 7th seed, their playoff win I think says more about the Cowboys being in freefall than anything else
As far as the teams that didn't make the playoffs, these are the ones that are historically much harder to predict (understandably), so I always start with the easy picks:
Bengals - Anytime I can pick Burrow as one of the 7 returnees, I will
Chargers - Same goes for Herbert, while also considering the effect Jim Harbaugh has wherever he goes
Jaguars - Same thinking for Trevor Lawrence, they were doing great before his injury last year
No one in the NFC screams to me as an easy inclusion to return, so I'll hold it there for now. Looks like I indeed will have to choose one or the other for Bills/Dolphins, I think it is a coin flip so I'll go Bills to appease the majority of the few people that read this haha.
Bengals, Bills, Jaguars, Chiefs, Texans, Chargers are 6 for the AFC right now, I'd lean Ravens or Dolphins right now, but let me focus back on NFC because I might have to pick a new team for that last AFC spot.
NFC - Since I've already put the Lions, Eagles, and 49ers in, I need a team to win the NFC South. I didn't want to jump on the Falcons bandwagon with everyone else, but then they brought in Broncos great Justin Simmons which won me over.
That makes me notice that I already have 6 of 7 returnees, and I'm still considering Ravens/Dolphins/Rams. I think I'll remove the Dolphins from that and then between Ravens/Rams, I'll pick the Rams to return due to naturally assumed regression from the Ravens having that great defense last year. The Rams looked better in their loss to the Lions than the Ravens did in their loss to the Chiefs.
Two more remaining for the NFC, here are my general thoughts going by team I haven't discussed yet:
Vikings - Sam Darnold has shown he isn't a good QB, nah
Bears - There always seems to be some phenom rookie QB that leads his team to the playoffs, and people seem to love Caleb Williams, on my short list
Giants - Nah, they've relied so much on Saquon for their offensive success and now he's gone
Commanders - I want to pick them but everything I hear about the weakness of their roster like offensive line and defensive line (which are things a layman like me doesn't know a lot about) makes me say no, I'll trust the experts on this one
Panthers - If they've got a good coach now, good for them, but hard to pick last year's worst team when they didn't even get to enjoy having the #1 overall pick in the draft
Saints - It is best practice to not pick the team with the coach who is the most probable coach to get fired after he arguably should have been fired last season
Cardinals - On my short list, Kyler is fully healthy
Seahawks - Also on my short list, and picking them would go along with the defensive regression from the Ravens.
Short list is Bears/Cardinals/Seahawks and I need to pick two. I'll go with Bears and Seahawks because the Bears will represent a team with an awesome new rookie QB in the playoffs that seems to happen every year, and Seahawks representing a team that was in playoff contention last year that gets a boost from getting the most exciting new head coach.
Back to the AFC, have to pick one from the following:
Patriots - They have the Vegas odds to be the worst team this year, so I'll stay away from them
Jets - On my short list, they almost made it to the playoffs last year with Zach Wilson, Aaron Rodgers has to be somewhat decent, right?
Colts - Also on my short list, they were also right on the cusp of the playoffs and they get their QB back, and a lot of the troubles the Eagles have been having have been credited to Shane Steichen going to the Colts
Titans - Not really in consideration for me, especially since I expect the rest of their division to be good. Is this the first time this configuration of the AFC South has been exciting, ever?? I think so
Raiders - Despite my friend's love for Gardner Minshew, I don't think the Raiders realistically have a chance
Broncos - Always on my short list, but my actual expectation for them this season is a respectable 7-10 with a new QB and optimism going into next year.
That means I'm looking at the Jets and the Colts. I'll go Colts because it is safe to assume that things will go terribly wrong for the Jets.
There you have it! My 14 playoff teams:
AFC North - Bengals
AFC East - Bills
AFC South - Jaguars, Texans, Colts
AFC West - Chiefs, Chargers
NFC North - Lions, Bears
NFC East - Eagles
NFC South - Falcons
NFC West - Rams, 49ers, Seahawks
Super Bowl prediction time!
I basically always try to pick a team other than the Chiefs, but for those of you who don't follow the AFC West as close as I do... that was the worst Mahomes' Chiefs team yet, and they somehow STILL won the Super Bowl!
I hate to do it, but I think they will be back.
The NFL needs a hero to stop them, and in our time of need, I look to my friend, Mackie, who was forged in the fiery crucible of Detroit Michigan. She is confident that her Lions have what it takes to defeat the NFL tyrant that is the Taylor Swift Chiefs. It is my friend, Mackie, who gives me the confidence that the fall of Taylor Swift is coming - Dan Campbell and his giant podium are gonna do it! Let's go Lions!!!!!!
Again, I give Mackie the credit for the downfall of Taylor Swift. Please don't come at me, Swifties.
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