It is that time of year again, the National Football League (NFL) season is upon us. With the season at our doorstep, there are still many questions that are being asked. Will the Carolina Panthers and Jake Delhomme bounce back after the horrid playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals? Can Brett Favre co-exist with Adrian Peterson and take the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs and possibly the Super Bowl? Will Tom Brady bounce back after missing last year and have a breakout year? Can the Detroit Lions win at least 3 games? Can the Panthers do enough to save John Fox’s job? It will take a Super Bowl to do that.
Unlike a lot of students here at Adrian College, I am not a Lions fan. I am not a Cleveland Browns fan, or a Dallas Cowboys fan, or a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I am a diehard Panthers fan. With that, I would love to pick the Panthers to be in the Super Bowl and win it, but even I know, the probability of that happening is pretty slim. I predict this year will be crazy in a way. Of course the New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, and the San Diego Chargers will be contenders in the AFC and on the NFC side, the New York Giants, Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles, Panthers, New Orleans Saints, just to name a few. There will be some surprises. For instance, I predict the San Francisco 49ers will make the playoffs with a wild card berth in the NFC. Winning the MVP, will be either Eli Manning or DeAngelo Williams.
Another surprise is that at least one coach will be fired by week 6 or so and that will be either Tom Cable of the Raiders or Jim Zorn of the Redskins. Cable’s boss is the dinosaur Al Davis, and Zorn’s is mad money man Daniel Snyder. Both of these owners are known to be impatient and get rid of coaches left and right.
My predictions for who wins the divisions and wild cards are as follows: winning the AFC East is the Patriots; AFC North will be the Steelers; AFC South, it’s a shocker, the Tennessee Titans. Rounding out the divisions, winning the AFC West will be the Chargers. The two wild card winners are the Miami Dolphins and the Colts. I think the Kansas City Chiefs will be somewhat improved, winning five games. The Denver Broncos have a mess on their hands and will be lucky to win four or five games. The Browns with Mangini as coach, I think six games for him and his team.
Over on the NFC side, I have the Giants winning the NFC East; NFC North will be the Chicago Bears; NFC South going to the Panthers; the Cardinals repeating as NFC West champions. The two wild card winners are the 49ers and the Eagles. The Saints and the 49ers would be 9-7 but the 49ers will have the better conference record. The Lions will be improved, winning four games or so. In the Super Bowl, I have the Chargers and the Giants.
I predict the Giants will win the Super Bowl. The Chargers will play the Steelers in the AFC Championship game and the Giants will play the Bears in the NFC Championship game. This was hard to choose because I think the NFC is wide open this year and in the AFC, there are always the same three or four teams.
This should be a good NFL season. It will be weird not hearing John Madden broadcasting games and somehow bringing Brett Favre into the conversation. It will be an interesting, and for some teams a long football season.