The NFL Playoffs have arrived and like every other year, plenty of teams that weren’t expected to make the playoffs, have crashed the party. The Ravens and 49ers are certainly the favorites but I think most of the 14 teams have a legitimate shot of making a deep run.
Let’s take a look back at our 10 BOLD preseason predictions and see how we did:
1. The Detroit Lions will win a playoff game – certainly still possible
2. The Buffalo Bills will miss the playoffs – we looked like a genius on this one, until Buffalo won five straight to end the season
3. Aaron Rodgers throws for 50+ TDs – only missed this by 50 TDs
4. Jordan Love receives an MVP vote – still within the realm of possibility
5. Trevor Lawrence wins MVP – not going to happen
6. Bijon Robinson leads the NFL in rushing – perhaps Artie Smith would still have a job if he had used Bijon appropriately
7. The Vikings finish last in the NFC North – they finished tied for last – so I’m counting this as a win.
8. The 49ers finish with as many wins as the rest of the division combined – the Rams ruined this one
9. Baker Mayfield finishes as a Top 10 QB – he was tracking to this for a good portion of the season but missed out slightly on being top 10 overall
10. The Steelers win the AFC North – if not for home losses to the Pats and Cardinals, they would have been damn close to a division title.
Well, we didn’t do great, but they are called BOLD predictions for a reason.
In the Prime Time Pick’em this week, we finished the season strong going 4-0 which moved the overall season record to a very respectable 42-26.
Here are the rankings as we head to Week 18. This week, instead of showing what the teams were ranked last week, we will display in ( ) what each teams’ ranking was in the preseason rankings. The Rams and Texans finished 22 spots higher than their preseason ranking, while the Chargers finished 21 spots below their original ranking. 13 teams finished within four spots of their original ranking.
1. Baltimore Ravens (13): It’s time for Lamar Jackson from the regular seasons to show up in the postseason.
2. San Francisco 49ers (2): Easily the scariest team in football as we head to the playoffs, in my opinion.
3. Buffalo Bills (5): Winners of five straight, the Bills are the hottest team entering the playoffs and somehow managed to secure the #2 seed, after it looked like they would miss the playoffs altogether just over a month ago.
4. Cleveland Browns (17): Regardless of how the season finishes for Cleveland, what Kevin Stefanski has done with all the injuries and QB changes, is absolutely remarkable.
5. Dallas Cowboys (6): This feels like the best team Dallas has had in a long time; will this finally be the year they win it all? If they don’t, is Mike McCarthy gone?
6. Detroit Lions (10): I’m not a Lions fan but if I was, I have to think that facing Matt Stafford in my first home playoff game in decades is about the last person I’d want to face.
7. Los Angeles Rams (29): We had no love for this team in the preseason and here they are with one of the best offenses in football.
8. Miami Dolphins (7): As strange as it sounds to say a team would want to face the Chiefs, that’s exactly how I feel about Miami. They’re banged up on both sides of the ball but this feels like a great matchup for them.
9. Houston Texans (31): Based on the history of Ohio State quarterbacks in the NFL, we weren’t sure whether or not CJ Stroud would be the guy – but needless to say he looks like he is one of the brightest young players we’ve seen in quite some time. I said it early in the season – he is going to lead this team to a Super Bowl win in his first five years.
10. Green Bay Packers (12): Few teams fluctuated up and down the rankings as much as this team did this year. Regardless of how they fare in the postseason, it’s clear they’ve found their quarterback of the future.
11. Philadelphia Eagles (2): I’m not sure anyone knows what has happened to this team over the last six weeks.
12. Kansas City Chiefs (1): This is more-or-less the same team that won it all last year, so along with Philly, consider me very confused about how this team performed this season.
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (24): Baker Mayfield replaced Tom Brady and did what he needed to do to get this team to the playoffs. Considering what he’s been through the past few years, it’s hard not to be happy for Baker.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers (14): In my preseason article, I said I really liked this team (or maybe just really liked Mike Tomlin) and that I expected them to compete for a playoff spot in a loaded AFC. And compete they did – clinching a spot in the final weekend of the season.
15. Jacksonville Jaguars (9): The Jags completely melted down over the final six weeks. Not something you expect with a quarterback like Trevor Lawrence and coach like Doug Pederson.
16. Indianapolis Colts (30): This was a team I was incredibly high on the past few years. Then this year I finally gave up on them, and they were in the playoffs damn near every week, except when it mattered, Week 18.
17. New Orleans Saints (20): You can look at a lot of reasons this team ultimately missed the playoffs, but look no further than their Week 3 game against the Packers in which they led 17-0 at halftime, and lost 18-7. Hold on to that lead, and this team is in the playoffs and a division champ.
18. Seattle Seahawks (22): For the second year in a row, the Seahawks played better than I anticipated, but this year it wasn’t quite enough to make the postseason.
19. Cincinnati Bengals (4): This team really struggled out of the gate, and then lost Joe Burrow for the season. For them to finish 9-8 and as the first team out of the playoffs is quite an accomplishment.
20. Chicago Bears (28): The Bears are in quite a conundrum. Justin Fields (and the team as a whole) played much better down the stretch and they have the #1 overall pick. Will they keep Fields and draft him a weapon? Or do they trade Fields for additional draft capital, and draft Caleb Williams?
21. Las Vegas Raiders (25): The Raiders played hard for interim coach Antonio Pierce and seem to want him as the permanent coach. We will see whether or not Mark Davis wants to go that direction.
22. Denver Broncos (18): Denver started the season miserably, then got hot with five straight wins, then started to struggle and benched their star quarterback. It seems like a foregone conclusion that Russell Wilson will have a new team next year – the question is, what will Denver do at quarterback?
23. Minnesota Vikings (16): Here’s what I said in the preseason edition of these rankings as it relates to the Vikings: The Vikings defied all odds last year by winning nearly every game by one possession. The term “regression to the mean” exists for a reason and Minnesota is a prime candidate to do just that this season. Guess you could say we nailed that one (they went 6-8 this year in one score games).
24. Tennessee Titans (23): Despite the Titans finishing the season almost exactly where they started, it feels like their season was worse. Tennessee is yet another team with question marks at quarterback as we head to 2024.
25. Arizona Cardinals (32): The Cardinals were our worst team in the preseason rankings and spent multiple weeks there. In fact, had they held Kyler Murray out all season, they probably finish there. As it is, Kyler played pretty well and seems to have given this team some hope heading into the offseason.
26. New York Jets (11): I think we all agree that with their defense, as well as Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson, that this team could be a legitimate Super Bowl contender with a healthy Aaron Rodgers next year.
27. New York Giants (15): The Giants were certainly one of the most disappointing teams of the season. After winning a playoff game last year, they went just 6-11 this season and have to wonder if giving Daniel Jones all that money was the right decision.
28. Atlanta Falcons (26): I said all year I didn’t think the Falcons were a good football team, and even though they had plenty of chances to win their division, ultimately they went 7-10 and fired their coach.
29. Los Angeles Chargers (8): Year after year this team is thought to be a legitimate contender, and yet they underachieve time and time again. Surely Jim Harbaugh or Bill Belichick will be the next head coach, right?
30. New England Patriots (19): The Patriots hit rock bottom this year for the first time in over two decades. Every other fan base couldn’t be happier.
31. Washington Commanders (21): Hard to believe this team was 2-0. They lost eight straight to end the season and are also in search of a new coach.
32. Carolina Panthers (27): We expected the Panthers to be bad, but not this bad. It’s hard to get shutout in the NFL and they got shutout in two straight games to end the season.
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