NFC Record Predictions

Look, this does come from a place of optimism, even though I have them finishing as the worst team in the NFC. I understand what they are trying to do; with moves like drafting Love in the top 5, they are trying to sell tickets. I kind of like the direction the offense is building towards (outside the QB position). The defense has some nice young pieces as well, but this is a dogfight of a schedule in by far the most difficult NFC we have seen in years. When you look across the landscape of the NFC, there are easily more teams that are good than not, and there’s going to be very good teams that miss the playoffs entirely. Keeping that all in mind, trotting out Jacoby Brissett as your QB1 is obviously not a recipe for wins, just simply put. This was a bottom-5 offense and defense by EPA/play last season, and even if this team shows improvement from the team they were a year ago, which I believe they will, it’s going to be too little. I want to believe in this team, but man, they are going to have a tough season ahead of them. I hope that they have some fun young players, and that they really improve in the trenches for their QB of the future to step in next offseason. For any Cardinals fans out there looking for some hope, I do believe that they have plenty of talent at the skill positions. They have the best tight end in the league in Trey McBride, an elite talent in Love at RB, and a WR core with Michael Wilson, Marvin Harrison, and Kendrick Bourne. So I do believe that there is enough talent for them to score some points; it’s going to be a matter of whether the QB can distribute the ball to them enough and efficiently. If MHJ leaps this season, that could leap and bounds in shaping the future of the franchise, and I do still personally believe in him. I also do really like the head coaching hire of Mike LaFleur; just unfortunately, he brought in the worst OC he possibly could have brought in (Nathaniel Hackett). Other than that, Cardinals fans, I would suggest tuning into some more college football this season to see who your QB of the future may be.

Unfortunately, the NFC South is probably the division that is furthest away from a Super Bowl title compared to every other division in the league. With that comes how I feel about the Falcons this upcoming season, which is not very good. To start, I believe this pairing of team/situation and head coach is not a good fit. Stefanski is a solid coach with strengths and weaknesses. Looking at his time in Cleveland, I think it’s fair to say he didn’t really have the greatest QB situation outside of Baker, and that he struggled to generate offense with a lackluster QB (for being an offensive coach, mind you). Now look at the QB situation he is being given in Atlanta: Penix, who is talented, but it does seem to be that injuries keep piling up and are affecting his play, and Tua, whom a rebuilding Dolphins team cut. I want both of these QB’s to be able to turn it around; I truly do, especially considering the stigma around giving black QB’s multiple chances. That being said, it’s a situation where Stefanski is going to have to be a rather large help in getting good play out of them, and how his last season ended with Sheduer Sanders is not very inspiring. As far as the overall offense is concerned, there is obviously a lot of elite talent. For a unit that was ranked 23rd in EPA/play last season, they have a lot of weapons to work with, and it seems that they have solid complements at WR to Drake London in Dotson and Zaccheaus. I don’t really see the production getting much better than 23rd in the league, even with all the talent. The defense wasn’t terrible last season, but they didn’t necessarily add a whole lot of firepower on that side of the ball, and potentially could be losing James Pearce Jr, who was a big piece of the unit last season. Overall, though much like the Cardinals, this NFC is too good to be so unsure of your QB situation. As you are going to read, a lot of NFC teams have something that they can point to that they did this offseason to inspire some sort of optimism for this upcoming season. It’s really hard to find that for the Atlanta Falcons, unless you truly believe that the Browns were holding Stefanski back from his full potential as a head coach, which, even if that were the case, I can’t see an immediate turnaround for success this season. Sorry, Falcons fans, but at least you have Bijan, Pitts, and London to enjoy watching.

I have a feeling people could take shock to this record prediction. I do not have much, if any, confidence in the New York Giants this season. There are a few reasons, and I will go one at a time, starting with John Harbaugh. I knew that whenever he got fired from the Ravens, someone was going to give him a head coaching job. The issue there is that they should have evaluated why he was fired from the Ravens, because if you look at it realistically, the Ravens have a generational talent at QB, a star running back, and plenty of stars on defense, and he couldn't get it done with them. He was also horrible in close games and ran practices controversially. Known as a 'defensive mind', the unit was only as good as it was because of the talent there, not the coaching, although that is my opinion. I just don't see how him coming off one of his worst seasons as a coach would then, all of a sudden, take one of the worst franchises and turn them into contenders in one year. It's just a hard leap in logic to me. Not to mention, having Matt Nagy as the OC, the only OC I've seen make Mahomes look human. My next reason is the man under center: Jaxson Dart. I think Dart profiles for a sophomore slump. I think he wasn't a great passer last season, and I think that his running style is both dangerous to himself and predictable to defensive coordinators scheming against him, who now have his rookie season tape. Most of all, I just don't take him seriously as an NFL Quarterback yet. I think there are a lot of telling things that he has done that show his lack of awareness and ability to put the team first in his head. The third reason I think this team won't do well is, yet again, the same reason for every team below them: The NFC is just too good. Their schedule has the NFC West, the AFC South, the Lions, and the Saints. Almost all of those games, they will not be favored to win. This team's ceiling is 8 wins to me, or just an average team. Now, in the future, they could turn into a playoff team; now that would depend on the growth of Dart as a QB. I want to like the offseason that they had; I think they had a pretty solid draft, but it got to a point where I felt like they were just signing players just to sign them. I just don't know how much the needle moves with guys like Calvin Austin and Shelby Harris. Not that they didn't sign good players; I like Isaiah Likely, although he is going to a worse QB, and Greg Newsome. I just don't think it's quite enough to make them contenders this year. I haven't even brought up the Malik Nabers situation, and his window to return is questionable as well, not that Harbaugh knows what to do with good WR talent anyway. You'll see plenty of analysts have high expectations for the Giants, and some people might lose their minds if they start hot (they won't), but I will not be one of them.

This might be the team I have the least to say about, and I don't know if it's because there isn't much to talk about or if I'm not as knowledgeable. Can you blame me, though? They went from being in the NFC Championship game to finishing 5-12 last season; trying to find out who the Commanders really are is easier said than done. I think what likely went wrong was they invested in a lot of older veterans in 2024, and had one of the best rookie QB seasons in recent memory. Last season, they had arguably the worst defense in the league and dealt with injuries to Jayden Daniels. For what it's worth, I like Daniels, and I think he is a good QB. However, I don't think he is quite good enough to pull this team out from where it currently resides, and I don't think Dan Quinn is either. If the defense doesn't improve with SEVEN new starters this season, then Quinn has to be out of the building. For what it's worth, though, I want to believe in this team. Like I've said, I like Daniels, and I really like the additions on defense. Settle, Oweh, Chenal, Styles, Chaisson, Cross, and Robertson put all together is, on paper, not a bad unit at all, but it may take about half of the season for them to get settled into the system. However, I think their biggest flaw was not addressing the offense at all. Even when Daniels was healthy last season, they were average at best. I think they are hoping Chig Okonkwo and Rachaad White are bigger factors than they actually are, and I think more should have been done on that side of the ball to see an increase in wins. After putting all this information together and then trying to go through their schedule and assess a record for this team was difficult because the schedule wasn't too kind, and because their strengths teetered this offseason. I think their defense will be better, maybe a little above league average, but I think their offense declined this offseason. Just factoring all these different variables into their win/loss record, what I ultimately go back to in terms of how I feel about teams is 3 things: QB, Coach, and GM/roster construction (have you allocated resources correctly). This team has a QB who I think is good, although he is coming off a poor season in which he suffered a serious injury. They have a head coach who I think is realistically coasting off the random NFC Championship game appearance. As for roster construction, I think they did a sort of good job this offseason, but this doesn't feel like a roster that can contend this season. I think ultimately these work against the Commanders this season. I guess I did have enough to say about the Commanders.

I’m afraid the Bucs are a long shot to make the postseason this year. Usually when a team collapses the way that the Bucs did, it bleeds into the following season, and the Bucs didn’t do a whole lot to stop the bleeding this offseason. First off, and this may come off harsh, but it was a mistake not to fire Todd Bowles. Going 2-7 after the bye, losing to teams that they shouldn’t be losing to, and having a poor defense when Bowles is a “defensive-minded HC” is grounds to press reset, especially when many believe you have your franchise QB in the building. Instead, you delay the inevitable, so next offseason you’ll have to find a new head coach, and make a decision on keeping Mayfield, and what that contract would look like. The long-term optics aren’t great, and the short-term optics are just trying to win a weak division, but I don’t think this team is better than the Panthers or Saints, let alone any of the other NFC playoff contenders. Overall, I think there is solid talent on offense, but they didn’t add a starter to the unit this offseason, which is slightly concerning, given the output Mike Evans has brought to the team since joining. As for the defense, I do really like the pick of Rueben Bain Jr, and they’ve added solid depth to the defense, but I’m not sure if it’s enough to make a sizable difference. I could see myself being wrong here, though, as there is a recipe for success in Tampa: they still have the best QB in the division, their run game was top 10 last season, and Egbuka could break out even more than he did last season. I wouldn’t be 100% hopeless, Bucs fans, but from where I stand, I’ve seen this story play out with other teams before that disastrously finish the previous season and don't necessarily bounce back.

First off, don't necessarily read into the conference placement. As you will soon find out, I gave the Panthers and the Saints the same record this season: 9-8. That is because I am a man who can't make up his mind about the NFC South winner this season. I mean, like, genuinely, I do not know between these two. However, I had to make a decision, and the 50-50 split had to be 51-49, and I went with the Saints. But about the Panthers, I think they have gotten better each of the past few seasons, and I think they made some really good moves this offseason, like getting Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd. I like Bryce Young, and I think he is becoming a better passer each season. That being said... I think there are reasons to believe that they will stop improving this season. Firstly, I think the biggest flaw to this team is that they don't have an identity. Tell me: What is the recipe to win games for the Panthers? Is it running the ball? If it were, they probably would've kept Dowdle, but they didn't. They aren't necessarily elite/top 5-10 at anything on offense or defense. The stat that I value the most is EPA/play, and their ranks in that last season were not great. Overall offense: 22nd, Passing: 25th, Rushing: 19th. Overall defense: 23rd, Passing defense: 25th, Rushing defense: 22nd. Even some of the deeper stats, they aren't truly elite at anything. Now that could all change, but the only thing that I could point to would be something on defense due to the additions they made. I think this is a truly pretty mid-tier team in the league, but I just don't see enough that gets them over the hump this season, unless it is something completely unpredictable like another leap in play from Bryce Young or a breakout from Jonathan Brooks. This is all without bringing up the injuries that have bit them this offseason. Nic Scourton, Ikem Ekwonu, and even Jaycee Horn have battled injuries this offseason and will miss time this upcoming season. Nothing incredibly massive as far as injuries, but a starting tackle and a promising young player on defense going down like that can take the wind out of your sails. I could still see them winning the division; I am just leaning slightly more towards the Saints.

I think the Lions find themselves in a very interesting position in the NFC. They were, for a couple of years, a top contender in the NFC, highlighted by their elite offense. Going into 2026, I'm not sure they are either. I'm not going as far as to say that they are going to be bad; 10-7 is a pretty good record. I just think perspective-wise, they aren't one of the clear contenders in the NFC. They've won one playoff game in this Campbell-Goff era, and as far as the elite exciting offense, some of that went out the door and to Chicago. That all being said, it is still a good offense by EPA/play and based on the talent there, but I think there will be questions about the offensive line mainly, as it's been dominant for years, but it lost a couple of pieces this offseason. Overall lost quite a few pieces, and I think they filled the holes left behind, but not in a way that really makes you excited. I think the whole NFC North is going to be an absolute bloodbath, and I feel like the Lions are slowly trending in the wrong direction out of the 4 teams. I think they could absolutely still win the division and have 12+ wins, but I am leaning more towards a competitive team that misses the playoffs due to the strength of both their division and their conference. They have such a high ceiling, but a low floor as well. I think the biggest hit for me is losing David Montgomery. Not that I think Gibbs is bad, but that Montgomery was still an important piece to the offense, and that kind of production isn't easy to replace in the NFL. Not to mention, they weren't that good at running the ball last season, as they were 24th in EPA/play in the rushing offense. Now they lose one of the feature backs, and the offensive line may not be as dominant either. On the flip side, they should have a full season of Aidan Hutchinson, who was on pace to be a DPOY candidate. I think Lions fans can be cautiously optimistic, but as you are about to read, the NFC North is going to be TOUGH.

I have gone back and forth about the fate of the Eagles this season. On one hand, I think this roster is still very well put together. On the other hand, they did lose quite a few pieces like AJ Brown, Jaelan Phillips, Nakobe Dean, Sydney Brown, Jahan Dotson, and Reed Blankenship, who is important to Vic Fangio. Obviously, I ended up lower on this team than most, and my main reason is that I don't think they are a better team this year compared to last. Last season, I think they had far more talent than they do entering this season. They replaced the players that they lost, but none of them feel like an upgrade over what they lost. A lot of the moves they made this offseason feel more long-term-sighted than short-term. Like, eventually Makai Lemon will be the guy, along with Eli Stowers, once Goedert is gone. I'm less so questioning Howie Roseman, and more so the coaching staff and Jalen Hurts. I think Jalen Hurts is a fine quarterback, but I don't think he necessarily makes the players around him better. Losing AJ Brown, someone who was the primary deep threat, just takes away another asset from Hurts, thus making him a more predictable quarterback. I get Patullo was the problem last season, but is Sean Mannion, a journeyman QB who has one year of coaching experience, the answer that just fixes all the problems, along with replacing the production of an elite WR with a rookie one? I personally don't see that happening, and I think it's going to be either Sirianni or Hurts losing their job if they miss the playoffs like this. Now, they obviously still could make the playoffs this year; in fact, I had them making the playoffs in my first draft of this, but after careful consideration, I don't see it this year for the Eagles. 10-7 is still a good record, but the standard has been set in Philly.

The trend of the NFC North being a bloodbath continues with the Packers. I have them just missing the playoffs at 10-7. Personally, if I could, I would give them the final playoff spot instead of the NFC South winner, but unfortunately there is going to be a team that is a playoff team, not make the playoffs. The Packers had a top-5 offense in the league last year per EPA/play, as they were technically the top passing offense per EPA/play, despite being a rushing-centered offense. This offseason, they lost Doubs, who was their number 1 receiver, yet I would assume Matthew Golden will step into that role quite well. Other than that, not much changed about the offense, as we potentially could see Jacobs miss time due to off-the-field issues; however, if he doesn't, they are running back the same unit. However, EPA/play may say they were a top offense; many normal metrics like ppg and yards/game would suggest they were just outside the top 10, which is important to note. Usually, when you don't address a side of the ball, regression is often expected, so I think we are going to see just how good Jordan Love actually is. People are pretty split on whether he is an elite quarterback or not, but I think he is going to be put in a lot more difficult positions, and we'll see how he does. As for the defense, they made a lot of changes. They lost several pieces along their front 7, yet added names like Hargrave and Zaire Franklin to it as well. I think they had a pretty solid draft all around, as far as depth pieces go. I think it's fair to say that the Micah Parsons injury derailed their season, as they were 9-3-1 at the time of his injury and lost all their remaining games after. He is expected back about midseason, which is important because the back half of their schedule is tougher than the front half. I'm not 100% sure that gaining him back will automatically make them a top contender again, but they were playing good, all-around football before he got hurt. Overall, I just feel like not enough was added on either side of the ball for them to have a much different fate from last season. They finished 9-7-1 last year, so I think 10-7 feels right here as well. It's essentially the same offense, and the defense lost a little more than it added, so I think this ballpark feels good for such a loaded division and conference.

I get this is a risk, but I am high on the Vikings at 11-6. I think this is going to be a fun team to follow all season long. We all know what Kevin O'Connell does with quarterbacks, and he earned himself the best possible QB to 'fix' in Kyler Murray. If O'Connell can get good enough production from Kyler, I don't see any reason this team can't be competitive for a playoff spot. If they have the QB that they can get production out of, an elite talent at WR in Jefferson, and even a sliver of a run game, they will win more games than they lose. Let's not forget that their defense last season was not only top 10, not only top 5, but by EPA/play they were the number 3 defense in the league. Sure, they lost a couple of pieces, but they filled those holes, so even if the defense regresses, it will still be an easily top-10 unit. Complement a top 10 defense with at least a league-average offense, then you start to see how this team can win games. Now, Murray will have to have a great connection with JJetas, and other aspects of the offense are going to have to show up, like the offensive line and run game. It also goes under the radar that they have a good pass-catching unit. Hockenson, Addison, and now Jennings to complement Jefferson is a pretty good group of guys to throw the ball to. When you step back and look at this offense, you do have to wonder how bad McCarthy was to make it ranked 30th in the league. Now, Kyler Murray isn't a shoo-in for stepping up and playing well, as he technically hasn't even officially won the starting job yet, as that is obviously the make-or-break for the Vikings this season. I am personally moved on from McCarthy as of right now; maybe one day in the future he will get another shot, but this team could potentially have a real window here. I'm not trying to be crazy and say this is my Super Bowl pick, but the Vikings are my dark horse pick to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC. I think the pieces are all in place.

It just feels like the same story year after year with the 49ers. It's one of those weird things in sports where you can't really 'say' a player or team is injury-prone, because it's not accurate necessarily, but it just continues to happen with these 49ers players. It's always some variation of 3-4 of their top 8 players suffering massive injuries that derail their season. I think it's an issue that 49ers fans and football fans should take more seriously, as it's not good for the game for a team that is as massively impacted by injuries as the 49ers are. Despite all of that, they were a top-10 offense in terms of EPA/play, and a fine enough defense by the end of the season. As far as their offseason, they responded a way that gets blown out by their division rival should respond. Adding Mike Evans is such a good get, as he is an experienced veteran to a receiver room that could use some consistency. I also like the addition of Christian Kirk and the depth to the offensive line. As for defense, losing Saleh is a pretty big loss, but I think they added solid depth pieces. For the most part, they have the talent on defense, it just needs to stay healthy. They are in such a tough division with the two best teams in the sport, but I think this can be just as much of a contender... if they stay healthy.

Yes, I have the betting odds favorite, the most Super Bowl or Bust team I've ever seen in my lifetime, as the 5 seed in the NFC. I'm not going to spend my time trying to find a way to deny how good this team is, because they are very good. All I am going to try and do, is explain why I am not as high on them as the Seahawks. Firstly, I want to address the Ty Simpson draft pick: It's pretty odd. Stafford just won MVP and was the best quarterback in football. Sure, he could retire soon, but to act like finding a quarterback to work in that system would be difficult. They could have traded for Anthony Richardson and only given up a 5th-round pick, and would have found success with him. I'm not going to say that it's a bad pick, though either, as I think it's an ideal system for Simpson, and there weren't many glaring holes on the roster... besides one. Rob Havenstein, their starting RT, retired this offseason and wasn't really replaced. It's not the biggest deal in the world, but I personally feel like that's worth noting, considering the age of their QB. Now the elephant in the room: trading for Myles Garrett. It's the kind of move a team makes when they feel like they can surely win a Super Bowl. Sure, it is scary to think about Myles Garrett added to an already awesome team... However. I would be more scared if they didn't trade Verse away as well. Now, obviously, Garrett is a better player than Verse, but Verse is still a very good young player who has gotten better each season. My point is, they would be far scarier if they paired the two up, instead of going from a great player to the best at the position. It also wasn't as big of a need, as opposed to, say, RT. I'm also not very moved by Trent McDuffie either. He is a good corner, but Kansas City's secondary was bad last season, and he was a part of that, plus they made him the highest-paid corner, which was a bit of an overpay. I suppose my main point is that yes, I still think they are by far the second-best team in football, but giving yourself the biggest expectations to win a Super Bowl that we've seen in a very long time is not very healthy. Think about Super Bowl-or-bust teams in the past. Did they actually win a Super Bowl? The only exception to me is the Rams a few years back, but they made the moves they needed to mid-season, in a weak NFC. This is not a weak NFC, and they are not the big dog.

I feel like it is fair to say that the Saints improved drastically over the course of the 2025 season. The brand of football they played was changed and more defined. Most importantly, I think they are the strongest team in a weak division. Tyler Shough showed enough promise with no weapons to work with; they decided to give him some to use. Jordan Tyson and Travis Etienne are good additions for a young QB, a veteran running back to take control of the rushing offense, and a young receiver for him to develop a connection with. They also invested in the offensive line depth as well, which is appreciated. The defense last season eventually ended up being top 10 by EPA/play, and they didn't really have much changes on that side of the ball. They lost some players, but they filled the holes pretty nicely. I don't think this is an amazing team by any means, but it's a good young core on both sides of the ball that are building quite nicely. I think it will be really interesting to see how well this team plays against contenders this season, but I think there are more reasons to be optimistic in New Orleans, than there is to be pessimistic.

I feel like it's pretty easy to point at Caleb as the reason I am high on the Bears. Going into 2026, I imagine it would be hard to find a QB who has a higher ceiling than Caleb Williams. I think what makes me the most excited for Caleb is the fact that it's his second year in the system, and the young core around him will also be able to grow and get better. I think combining Ben Johnson's offensive genius with the pure ceiling of Caleb Williams' talent, not to mention Loveland, Odunze, and Burden, they are going to be a top offense for years. There's not a question in my mind that this team's offense will be great; in fact, Caleb Williams is my MVP pick for the 2026 season. The only thing that concerns me is whether the defense can keep up. Last season, it was a below-average unit by EPA/play, but they were able to get a lot of turnovers. Naturally, turnovers are also a matter of luck, and they likely wouldn't get that many turnovers again. The defense could have regressed this offseason, but they added good talent this offseason, in the draft and in free agency. Coby Bryant, Dillon Thieneman, Malik Muhammad, and Devin Bush are good players, and I think their defense still has an opportunity to improve. If they can at least be league average, then the offense can carry them to many wins and a successful season. I would say there is potentially still some room for regression with this team, but I feel like the natural progression of their young players will be enough to make them dangerous.

I've probably said this before, but I think the hate that Cowboys fans get is a little exaggerated. Not many Cowboys fans actually say every year, "It's our year!" That being said, this year, I see no issue with them saying it. I think this could be one of the most well-equipped Cowboys teams we've seen in a while. First off, I want to issue an apology to Shotty. He was phenomenal as a head coach last season and led the Cowboys to having the top offense in the league last season, outside of the Bills. The offense is going to score plenty of points this season, with essentially everyone on Offense returning for 2026, including George Pickens. What is far and away this team's X-factor for this season is if their defense improves. They are similar to the Bears' situation as well, except this is an established top 3 offense running it back, instead of a team still needing to develop into that top offense. The defense of the Cowboys was worse than the Bears', though. However, there are EIGHT potential new starters on that defense for the Cowboys. Ogbonnia, Gary, Winters, Bullard, Thompson, Durant, and Downs. That is a LOT of talent to add to a defense in one off-season, and the defense is naturally going to improve a little bit. Much like the Bears, all they really need to be is league average; anything above that would simply only make them a Super Bowl Team. They aren't my pick out of the NFC, but they are probably my second pick. I don't know if anyone is going to be able to keep up with this offense if their defense is above average.

I feel like there has been a massive disservice to the Seahawks' credit in the Media. People are not putting enough respect on this team, and it's, realistically, for silly reasons. Keep in mind the caliber of team/roster was last season: By EPA/play, the number TWO defense, only behind the historically great Texans defense, and the number SEVEN offense, with the OPOY, JSN. The most balanced team in the sport, and they showed that in their dominant run to the playoffs. Many people point to the losses in free agency, and I think those will not affect this team at all. Kenneth Walker was a great running back in the playoffs, only because Charbonnet was hurt. Walker is a very injury-prone running back when he is taking a lot of carries, and he was only healthy this season when he had a split-backfield with Charbonnet. Not trying to diminish the talent that Walker has, because he is one of the most talented backs in the league, but he was always going to split carries because he couldn't stay healthy. I also feel like they went above and beyond by replacing him with Jadarian Price. Price is just as versatile as Walker and offers a lot of promise as a talented running back for the future. They lost Riq Woolen, who nearly cost them the NFC Championship game, and they added 4 players to the Cornerback Room to compensate. They lost Boye Mafe, but added Dante Fowler to replace him. The last starter on the team that they lost was Cobie Durant, who they ALSO replaced with a good player in Bud Clark. So in reality, no holes were made in the roster this offseason. I repeat, there is not a hole made on the best roster in football, so realistically, why would they take any sort of step back whatsoever? This is an incredibly young team, with plenty of players only getting better with time, like JSN, Emmanwori, and Byron Murphy, to name a few. I only see this team getting better, not worse, and when you're already the best, you stay the best. The only concern for regression I have for the Seahawks is that they lost Klint Kubiak. There is no telling how that could affect that offense, but I think there are plenty of players on that offense that regression would be slight, if at all. I think it goes without saying, but the Defending champs are my pick for the Super Bowl out of the NFC.