Mid July Predictions:

I can dig a Minnesota vs Jacksonville matchup, and I'd love (of course) to see the Redskins at least play in the Super Bowl. But since money is changing hands here, I'm going to go against the grain here with my July picks. Ask me again in August, and it may change

NFC East: Cowboys
NFC North: Vikings
NFC South: Nawlins
NFC West: Seahawks
WC: Rams
WC: Redskins

NFC Championship: Seahawks over Redskins (damn you TJ Duckett!!)

AFC East: Patriots
AFC North: Steelers
AFC South: Colts
AFC West: Chargers
WC: Jaguars
WC: Bills

AFC Championship: Bills over Steelers

Super Bowl: Bills over Seahawks

AFC East:
1. Pats-They are going to be hell bent to avenge their SB loss
2. Bills-Better, but still not good
3. Jets-Constantly in flux at the skill positions
4. Dolphins-They still suck

AFC North:
1. Browns-They'll live up to the hype
2. Steelers-Close 2nd but will come up just short
3. Bengals-Offense rebounds, but defense is still pathetic
4. Ravens-'With the first pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens select...'

AFC South:
1. Jaguars-It all comes together this year for Del Rio's team
2. Colts-The window closes on the end of the Dungy era
3. Titans-Lack of offensive weapons hurts this team
4. Texans-Good team in a better division

AFC West:
1. Chargers-Best in a bad division
2. Chiefs-Croyle and Bowe make a stong connection for the next few years
3. Broncos-Is this the year Shannahan is finally held accountable?
4. Raiders-They are the Raiders, duh.

Wildcards:
Colts
Steelers

AFC Champs-Jacksonville over New England

NFC East:
1. Dallas-My fingers ache just from typing that
2. Washington-Zorn has a Payton, Tomlin-like first year
3. Philly-Could this be Reid's final season?
4. NYG-The magic of '07 is long gone

NFC North:
1. Minnesota-Not as good as advertised, but good enough
2. Green Bay-Rogers struggles in his first year as a starter
3. Chicago-Lack of a QB kills any playoff hopes
4. Detroit-New year, same Lions

NFC South
1. Saints-Finally healthy the Saints rebound
2. Buccaneers-One of the 72 QB on their roster starts more than 8 games
3. Panthers-Exit John Fox, Enter Bill Cowher
4. Falcons-Still the least talented roster in the NFL

NFC West:
1. Arizona-Ok, now THIS is the year they put it together (where have we heard that before?)
2. Seattle-Holmgren goes out with a wildcard berth
3. SF-Martz makes Alex Smith loosely resemble an NFL QB
4. St. Louis-Some good young pieces but Holt, Little, Bulger start looking old

Wildcards:
Washington, Seattle

NFC Champs
Dallas (ugh) over Washington (I just shed a tear)

Super Bowl-Jacksonville over Dallas

AFC East:
Patriots - Still the best in the AFC with something to prove
Jets - Improved D & Solid OL keep the Jets in the hunt
Bills
Dolphins

North:
Steelers - Very good D, Mendenhall & Sweed contribute
Cleveland - playoff bound
Ravens
Bengals - too much turmoil

South: Dec 18th could determine the division
Colts - 1
Jaguars - 2 until they step up and knock the Colts off
Titans - D still solid, Crumpler helps Young but not enough.
Texans

West:
Chargers - Great D, great OL, LT
Broncos
Kansas City - good draft, but two years and a QB away
Raiders - secondary looks very good on paper, but the front can't stop the run. Walkers eye socket fracture will be a factor, look for increased drops.

NFC:
Cowboys
Eagles
Redskins
Giants - Offense will be solid, secondary is weak, Strahan's retirement will have a much bigger effect than many realize.

North:
Vikings - Excellent OL & ground game, very good D wins the division
Packers - solid but Favre won't be back and Rodgers won't duplicate the #2 in the NFL passing numbers
Lions
Bears - No offense and a D that no longer scares anyone

South:
Tampa Bay - solid D wins this ugly division
New Orleans
Carolina
Falcons

West:
Seahawks
Cardinals
49ers
Rams

NFC Playoffs:
Wildcard: Redskins at Tampa Bay -- Redskins win. JC & Zorn's offense are clicking after some early stumbles.
Wildcard: Eagles at Vikings -- Vikings win.
Divisional: Redskins at Cowboys -- Homo chokes again.
Divisional: Vikings at Seahawks -- Seahawks shut down run game and Jackson can't carry the Vikes
Championship: Redskins at Seahawks. Zorn's knowledge of Holmgren's playcalling dooms the Seahawks.


AFC Playoffs:
Wildcard: Jagsat Steelers -- Steelers win.
Wildcard: Cleveland at Chargers -- Chargers win.
Divisional: Steelersat Pats -- Pats win. Brady and Belicheat have figured out how to solve the pressure defense by now.
Divisional: Chargers at Colts -- Colts too much for Rivers
Championship: Colts at NE. NE wins.

Super Bowl:
Redskins vs. Patriots: NE is on a mission after last year's "Epic Fail". Patriots win.

AFC East Afc north Afc South AFC West
1. Pats 1. Browns 1. Colts 1. Chargers
2. Bills 2. Steelers 2. Jags 2. Denver
3. Jets 3. Bengals 3. Texans 3. KC
4. Fins 4. Ravens 4. Titans 4. OAK

KC and OAK very similar teams, Browns come out on top of the north circa 05 bengals. Pats continue old ways from 07. Steelers and Texans finish with same record, Texans have tie breaker in the opener.

Wildcard 6 Texans lose to 3 Browns
5 Jags defeat 4 Chargers
Pats over Jags
Browns over Colts

Pats over Browns

NFC East NFC NORTH SOUTH WEST
1. Dallas 1. LIONS! (wow) 1. Saints 1. ARI
2. Skins 2. GB 2. TB 2. STL
3. NY 3. MIN 3. CAR 3. SEA
4. PHI 4. CHI 4. ATL 4. SF

Lions crank up the offense in a division up for grabs (getting shut down by GB's secondary on both occasions but they split)..injuries plague Minn. Arizona gets it together in the west and seattle begins to slip. Patrick Willis tears it up for SF but no offense yet again. Saints cruise through a weak south... Unfortunately Dallas wins the east. If we can snag 2 of the first 3 road div games things may be different.

6 SKINS defeat 3 Cards
4 Lions defeat 5 STL

SKins over Dallas (we are the 08 Giants!!)
Lions over Saints

Skins over Lions (1991?)

SUPER BOWL PATS OVER REDSKINS.... Pats make good on what they should have done last year. Belicheck later found guilty of taping our pre-game walk through and is tarred and feathered at the opener in Fed Ex field 09'.

I'm sure I'm going to waffle on these over the next two months. Especially in the NFC East, where my pick to win the division changes depending on which way the wind is blowing, seemingly.

Also, I didn't do these based on the schedule -- I rounded the win projection off to the nearest whole number -- so these might not even be a zero win sum (which means that these predictions might have more teams winning than teams losing, which is impossible).

**Team (win total)

Giants (12)
Eagles (11)
Cowboys (8)
Redskins (8)

Panthers (10)
Saints (9)
Bucs (6)
Falcons (3)

Bears (11)
Packers (10)
Vikings (9)
Lions (4)

Cardinals (9)
Seahawks (8)
Rams (8)
49ers (3)

Patriots (13)
Jets (7)
Bills (5)
Dolphins (4)

Jaguars (11)
Colts (10)
Texans (9)
Titans (4)

Bengals (11)
Steelers (9)
Ravens (5)
Browns (4)

Chargers (14)
Broncos (10)
Raiders (5)
Chiefs (3)

AFC Championship:

Patriots at Chargers

NFC Championship:

Eagles at Bears

Super Bowl XLIII:

Chargers over Eagles

Da Bears with 11 wins?! Wow

Da Bears with 11 wins?! WowIt's more of an effect of "how bad can one predict the offense to play".

Sure, the team doesn't seem to be interested in finding a competent QB, but all Grossman has to do is have a career year, and that offense is in the top 20.

Plus, there are only a few certainties in the league, and one of those certainties is that teams will struggle to move the ball against Chicago's perennially dominant Defense and Special Teams.

So I could see the Bears winning anywhere between 9 and 12 games. They won 7 last year, so to expect them to win fewer than that would be to predict QB play at a worse level than during the 2006 season: I just can't see that happening.

So yeah, I penciled them in at 11 wins, but 9 or 10 is essentially saying the same thing: They'll be better than last year, and not quite as good as in 2006.

It's more of an effect of "how bad can one predict the offense to play".

Sure, the team doesn't seem to be interested in finding a competent QB, but all Grossman has to do is have a career year, and that offense is in the top 20.

Plus, there are only a few certainties in the league, and one of those certainties is that teams will struggle to move the ball against Chicago's perennially dominant Defense and Special Teams.

So I could see the Bears winning anywhere between 9 and 12 games. They won 7 last year, so to expect them to win fewer than that would be to predict QB play at a worse level than during the 2006 season: I just can't see that happening.

So yeah, I penciled them in at 11 wins, but 9 or 10 is essentially saying the same thing: They'll be better than last year, and not quite as good as in 2006.

The Bears D fell off dramatically last year, not just statistically but also in terms of their whole personna. They lost their swagger & intimidation. Having T. Harris healthy will of course make a huge difference, but he's had his problems staying healthy for a whole year. I think they're still a good unit, but I don't know if they're good enough to make up for a weak O that lost its top receivers & has a few qb's that are all equally avg. - poor.

Their top wr might be B Loyd for god's sake!

I used the same format GT did, total wins aren't precise across the board.

Cowboys (12) Still the best team,maybe in the nfc, they could be dominant
Eagles (11)
Redskins (8) Too many questions at this point
Giants (7) I expected this last year. They will play well at some point but will have some problems they can't recover from; injuries, shockey, Plaxico & Eli will all have tough years.

Saints (11) - if the secondary improves this team could go far
Bucs (10)
Panthers (7)
Falcons (3)

Packers (12) - favre or not, they will be tough. I like Rodgers.
Vikings (10) - qb & wr keep them from more, though they got berrian.
Lions (7)
Bears (6)

Cardinals (9) - parity is forming in this division
Seahawks (9)
Rams (8)
49ers (5)

Patriots (12)
Bills (8)
Jets (7)
Dolphins (4)

Jaguars (12) - potential super bwl team
Texans (10) - they start to build a winner
Titans (9)
Colts (7) - Manning may not be healthy at the outset & they're due for a bad season in a tough division.

Browns (9)
Steelers (8)
Ravens (8)
Bengals (6)

Chargers (13) - could be their year
Broncos (9)
Raiders (7)
Chiefs (6)

Here's mine:
NFC playoff teams:
Dal, NYG, Min, TB, Sea, StL

AFC playoff teams:
NE, Pgh, SD, Indy, Jax, Cinn

Super Bowl: NE over Dal