We're a month into the 2021 NFL season, which is traditionally a time when I predict the way the rest of the year is going to go. Normally I just do this for fun, but since I've been blogging more recently I thought I might as well throw my hot takes onto the Internet for the world to laugh at in four months' time. So, without further ado:
CLAYTON'S 2021 NFL QUARTER-SEASON PREDICTIONS
AFC Standings
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| Lamar Jackson and the Ravens are poised to finish with the AFC's best record in 2021 (Nic Antaya // Getty) |
East
Buffalo 11-6
New England 10-7
Miami 7-10
NY Jets 3-14
The Bills are clearly the class of this division. They'll make things interesting with losses to inferior teams outside the East, but will hold on in the end to nab the division's lone playoff spot in 2021. Look for the Patriots to find their groove soon, but a week 10 home loss to the Browns will ultimately sink their wild card chances.
West
Kansas City 13-4
Las Vegas 13-4
LA Chargers 12-5
Denver 8-9
By far the most exciting division in the conference, the West will come down to week 18. Currently in last place by a game, the Chiefs will recover and ultimately earn the tiebreaker with a season sweep over the Raiders. The wild card picture will be completely occupied by AFC West teams until a late-season Broncos slide.
North
Baltimore 14-3
Cleveland 10-7
Cincinnati 8-9
Pittsburgh 6-11
The Ravens may not be the best team in the AFC (they are still very good if not), but they will end up the conference's top seed in no small part thanks to AFC West in-fighting. The Browns and Bengals will both have realistic wild card aspirations, with the team on Lake Erie ultimately squeaking back into the postseason because of the aforementioned tiebreaker against New England.
South
Tennessee 8-9
Indianapolis 7-10
Houston 6-11
Jacksonville 2-15
Despite their best efforts that will see the third longest-active streak of NFL winning seasons come to an end, the Titans will still wind up winning the abysmal AFC South for the second season in a row. True to form, Tennessee will beat such juggernauts as the Bills and Chiefs, but will still somehow find a way to provide both of the Jaguars' only wins of the 2021 season.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Baltimore
Kansas City
Buffalo
Tennessee
WC- Las Vegas
WC - LA Chargers
WC - Cleveland
NFC Standings
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| Kyler Murray will win 2021 MVP as he leads the Cardinals to the NFC's top spot (Harry How // Getty) |
East
Dallas 11-6
Washington 7-10
Philadelphia 5-12
NY Giants 3-14
As long as they stay healthy, Dak, Zeke and the Boys should have no trouble winning this division. I'd keep my eye on Washington as a dark horse, but as of now they will start to slide right around midseason. The Eagles will have a long arduous road before their next win, a week 11 victory over New York, but look for them to improve enough in November and December that they're a trendy offseason pick heading into 2022.
West
Arizona 14-3
LA Rams 12-5
Seattle 11-6
San Francisco 8-9
The Cardinals are the class of the NFC, and possibly the strongest team of the 2021 season. With a dominating defense and the über-talented Kyler Murray directing their offense, there's no doubt in my mind Arizona will earn the top seed. The Rams and Seahawks will both earn postseason berths as well, while the Niners will remain on the outside looking in after a three-game losing streak starting later this month.
North
Green Bay 12-5
Chicago 6-11
Minnesota 5-12
Detroit 3-14
Green Bay will win the NFC's weakest division by week 14 as the Lions, Vikings, and Bears continue to struggle to find any sort of rhythm or identity. In Chicago, the quarterback controversy will rage eternally until eventually Stephen A. Smith will call on the ghost of Sid Luckman to come out of retirement to see if he can reverse the Bears' misfortunes.
South
Tampa Bay 13-4
Carolina 10-7
New Orleans 9-8
Atlanta 5-12
The reigning champs will stay atop their division, beating the eventual wild card team out of the NFC South twice in the last two weeks to retain their tri-cornered crown. The Panthers are a very good football team, however; their playoff spot will be clinched, like the rest of the NFC, with two weeks left to play in the season.
PLAYOFF STANDINGS
Arizona
Tampa Bay
Green Bay
Dallas
WC - LA Rams
WC - Seattle
WC - Carolina
Now, for the real fun: Who's gonna win?
Wild Card Round: Kansas City over Cleveland, Buffalo over LA Chargers, Las Vegas over Tennessee; Tampa Bay over Carolina, Green Bay over Seattle, Dallas over LA Rams
I'm going chalk in the Wild Card; the Titans will be sole home team to lose but they won't be favored by any stretch. Arrowhead will prove too much yet again for the Browns. Bills and Chargers will be a fascinating matchup, but the team with the more recent postseason advantage will advance out of it. On the NFC side, it'll be three losses in four weeks for the Panthers against Tommy Touchdown and his squad, including back-to-back losses at Raymond James. The rich recent history of Green Bay-Seattle will continue with a win for the Pack, and the Cowboys will eliminate the other NFC West wild card entrant.
Divisional Round: Baltimore over Las Vegas, Kansas City over Buffalo; Dallas over Arizona, Tampa Bay over Green Bay
The major upset of the divisional round will be Dallas taking down the MVP and best regular-season team of the year. On the other side of the NFC bracket, the Bucs will have an easy time over what is ultimately an outmatched Green Bay unit. The Ravens get revenge for their week one overtime loss to Vegas, and the Chiefs will win a tightly-contested game to return to their fourth straight conference championship.
AFC Championship: Kansas City over Baltimore
The two best teams in the AFC, featuring two of the past three NFL MVPs, will make for a primetime conference championship matchup. Similar to their week two primetime showdown, it'll come down to the wire. The Chiefs will come out of the hostile environment with a close win, likely acquired by a score with seconds remaining or in overtime.
NFC Championship: Dallas over Tampa Bay
The Cowboys' Cinderella story will continue in the Championship Sunday undercard. They'll upset the defending champs in thrilling fashion to avenge their season-opening loss. The win will give the Cowboys franchise their ninth NFC title, and their first since the 1995 season.
SUPER BOWL LVI
In 1960, Dallas-based oil heir Lamar Hunt founded a professional football team in his hometown. The team, known as the Texans, would begin its existence as a member of the fledgling American Football League. That same year, Dallas-based oil heir Clint Murchison Jr. began his own hometown football franchise. His Cowboys earned an invitation as an expansion franchise in the established National Football League.
In three seasons, Hunt's squad was among the best in its league, finishing the inaugural 1960 season with an 8-6 record and winning the championship in 1962. Meanwhile, among the more established teams of the NFL, Murchison's boys took six seasons to finish without a losing record; when they finally reached their first league championship in 1966 they ran into the brick wall that was the Vince Lombardi Packers. Nevertheless in the competition for pro football supremacy in the city of Dallas, the Cowboys eventually won out, and Hunt moved his team north to Kansas City after its '62 AFL championship.
By the mid '60s, it was clear that Americans really loved professional football, so Hunt and his friends in the AFL knew they were going to be around a while. This eventually led to a merger with the NFL and a combined championship game: the Super Bowl. Those Packers that beat Murchison's Cowboys in 1966 went on to beat Hunt's team, now called the Chiefs, in the first of those Super Bowl games. Green Bay went on to beat the Cowboys again in the infamous Ice Bowl en route to winning the second Super Bowl as well.
Then it was the AFL's turn. Joe Namath and the Jets famously upset the heavily favored Baltimore Colts to win Super Bowl III, but Hunt's Chiefs got the last laugh of the AFL era. They won the league championship in its final season before the merger was complete, and emerged victorious in Super Bowl IV. What followed for Kansas City after that was a 50-year-long dark age.
The very season after the Chiefs' first Super Bowl win, Dallas reached the Big Game for the first time. They lost to the Colts, but returned the very next season to belittle the Miami Dolphins. A mini-dynasty in the 70s and a mega-dynasty in the '90s later, the Cowboys still reign as one of the NFL's all-time elite franchises, even going so far as to claiming the title of "America's Team." By the time the Chiefs, now owned by Hunt's son Clark, made their next appearance in the championship game which Lamar himself named, the team that kicked their team out of their home city had five Big Game wins in eight appearances to Kansas City's one win in two Super Sundays over 50 years prior. The Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV in that 50th anniversary season, then lost in their fourth ever Super Bowl last season.
In 2022, the two franchises that once shared a city, started under incredibly similar circumstances, and followed vastly different trajectories will meet in the 56th rendition of the most recognizable single-day sporting event in the world. The modern-day Cowboys, stoked with history, are attempting a rebirth of their franchise after a generation of dormancy. The modern-day Chiefs, meanwhile, are in the process of building a dynasty of their own; if my prediction holds true, February 13 will be their third straight championship appearance.
The Prescott vs. Mahomes duel will certainly be an entertaining one under the Hollywood lights. Like most recent Super Bowls, the winner won't be clear until the very end of the game. However, I can tell you with zero confidence whatsoever four months and a week in advance who it will be. In the end, the initially much more successful team that got kicked out because it belonged to the "little brother" league will exact revenge almost 60 years in the making on the team that forced them out.
SUPER BOWL LVI CHAMPIONS: Kansas City
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| Coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs will win their second Super Bowl in three years. (Chris O'Meara // Associated Press) |
Hope you enjoyed this random little project. I know for a fact we're going to enjoy seeing how wrong I was in the months and years to come.
