Predict the Playoff Teams for 2026

[Vanimal46]

And feel free to post any other hot takes to look back on later this season...

NFC:

West: LA Rams 
North: Detroit Lions
East: Dallas Cowboys
South: New Orleans Saints
WC: Seattle Seahawks
WC: Philadelphia Eagles
WC: Minnesota Vikings

AFC:

West: Denver Broncos
North: Baltimore Ravens
East: Buffalo Bills
South: Jacksonville Jaguars
WC: LA Chargers
WC: Kansas City Chiefs
WC: Cincinnati Bengals

My hottest take is New England missing the playoffs, even though they've made a ton of upgrades on offense. I also think the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers will be major disappointments this year. 

[Mike Sixel]

Well, I have a bet with my brother in law about the bears..... And I agree. 

I think the Vikings win 11 games. 

I honestly have paid the least amount of attention to the NFL as I ever have, so not sure how to predict anything. 

[Musk21]

NFC:

West: LA Rams 
North: Detroit Lions
East: Philadelphia Eagles
South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WC: Seattle Seahawks
WC: San Francisco 49ers
WC: Minnesota Vikings

AFC:

West: Kansas City Chiefs
North: Baltimore Ravens
East: Buffalo Bills
South: Jacksonville Jaguars
WC: LA Chargers
WC: Denver Broncos
WC: New England Patriots

Rams vs Bills in Super Bowl

Bills win their 1st Super Bowl

[The Great Hambino]

NFC:

1. Rams

2. Cowboys (totally not a jinx)

3. Bears

4. Buccaneers

5. Lions

6. Seahawks

7. Eagles (I'd like to believe this can be the Vikings, but cynicism/realism wins out)

Rams over Lions in NFCCG (Eagles beat the Cowboys in WC round to trigger re-seeding)

AFC:

1. Bills

2. Chiefs

3. Texans

4. Bengals

5. Jaguars

6. Chargers

7. Ravens

Texans over Bills in AFCCG (CJ Stroud to play the role of Jimmy G, Josh Allen continues to play the role of Dan Marino)

Josh Allen MVP

Ja'Marr Chase OPOY

Myles Garrett DPOY

DeMeco Ryans COY

Jadarian Price OROY

Caleb Banks DROY (loljk, it will be Rueben Bain Jr)

Rams over Texans in LXI

[TheLeviathan]

NFC:

West: Rams

East: Cowboys

North: Lions

South: Saints

WC Vikings

WC Seahawks

WC Bears

 

AFC:

East: Bills

West: Broncos

South: Texans

North: Bengals

WC: Chargers

WC: Ravens

WC Chiefs

Bills over Rams in the Super Bowl

[Vanimal46]

2 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

NFC:

1. Rams

2. Cowboys (totally not a jinx)

3. Bears

4. Buccaneers

5. Lions

6. Seahawks

7. Eagles (I'd like to believe this can be the Vikings, but cynicism/realism wins out)

Rams over Lions in NFCCG (Eagles beat the Cowboys in WC round to trigger re-seeding)

AFC:

1. Bills

2. Chiefs

3. Texans

4. Bengals

5. Jaguars

6. Chargers

7. Ravens

Texans over Bills in AFCCG (CJ Stroud to play the role of Jimmy G, Josh Allen continues to play the role of Dan Marino)

Josh Allen MVP

Ja'Marr Chase OPOY

Myles Garrett DPOY

DeMeco Ryans COY

Jadarian Price OROY

Caleb Banks DROY (loljk, it will be Rueben Bain Jr)

Rams over Texans in LXI

Bears back to back NFC North titles eh? If that’s the case then Caleb Williams became the real deal. I think they’ve skirted by all offseason without any fraud discussions taking place. Even though they won 7 games trailing at the 2 minute warning in the 4th quarter. 

[Vanimal46]

19 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

NFC:

West: Rams

East: Cowboys

North: Lions

South: Saints

WC Vikings

WC Seahawks

WC Bears

 

AFC:

East: Bills

West: Broncos

South: Texans

North: Bengals

WC: Chargers

WC: Ravens

WC Chiefs

Bills over Rams in the Super Bowl

A fellow Saints believer! They’ve had a sneaky good offseason and I think Shough is good enough to compete for that crap division. Plus consistency in their coaching staff. 

[TheLeviathan]

Just now, Vanimal46 said:

A fellow Saints believer! They’ve had a sneaky good offseason and I think Shough is good enough to compete for that crap division. 

Both the NFC and AFC South are embarrassments to football.  So yeah...I think the Saints get out-sucked by their division mates.

[Vanimal46]

1 minute ago, TheLeviathan said:

Both the NFC and AFC South are embarrassments to football.  So yeah...I think the Saints get out-sucked by their division mates.

I like the Jaguars out of every team in those divisions. NFC South has Todd Bowles on the hot seat in TB, Falcons are a sneaky top 5 draft pick team, and Panthers similar to last year 8-9. 

Texans I know will have a legit defense but their OL looks catastrophic for their offense. Colts are one of the teams that exist in the NFL, and the Tennessee Titans are so forgetful I legitimately took a minute to think of the last team in this division. 

[The Great Hambino]

50 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Bears back to back NFC North titles eh? If that’s the case then Caleb Williams became the real deal. I think they’ve skirted by all offseason without any fraud discussions taking place. Even though they won 7 games trailing at the 2 minute warning in the 4th quarter. 

I think their signs of regression will be balanced out by making strides in Year 2 of Ben Johnson's system (getting two consecutive years in the same offensive system is a rare treat for them), Caleb indeed being the real deal, and the defense not being as bad as it looks on paper because how could it be?

I also think the margins in the division are going to be razor thin, hence the Lions beating them in the divisional round even though the Bears take the division.  I was very close to sliding the Vikes into the 7th seed but I tend to err on the side of futility with them.  I think the Packers bring up the rear

[The Great Hambino]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

A fellow Saints believer! They’ve had a sneaky good offseason and I think Shough is good enough to compete for that crap division. Plus consistency in their coaching staff. 

I pretty strongly considered going with the Saints over the Bucs but defaulted to best QB

But those teams are all pretty even.  I think the only shocking result would be the division champ not being the 4 seed

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

I think the Packers bring up the rear

Agreed, I think GB finishes 4th in the North and they fire MLF. Jordan Love will be the next QB on a big contract exposed as nothing more than average like Tua and Kyler. 

[TheLeviathan]

12 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

I think their signs of regression will be balanced out by making strides in Year 2 of Ben Johnson's system (getting two consecutive years in the same offensive system is a rare treat for them), Caleb indeed being the real deal, and the defense not being as bad as it looks on paper because how could it be?

I also think the margins in the division are going to be razor thin, hence the Lions beating them in the divisional round even though the Bears take the division.  I was very close to sliding the Vikes into the 7th seed but I tend to err on the side of futility with them.  I think the Packers bring up the rear

I think the Bears defense is every bit as bad as their offense is good.  They have no pass rush and a garbage secondary.

I'll be wagering on a lot of overs this year for that team.  They'll have that same bounce-back luck on turnovers we had a handful of years ago.  You just can't bank on that kind of good fortune to make up for a lack of talent.

[nicksaviking]

NFC:

West: LA Rams 
North: Detroit Lions
East: New York Giants
South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WC: Minnesota Vikings
WC: Dallas Cowboys
WC: Seattle Seahawks

AFC:

West: LA Chargers
North: Cincinnati Bengals
East: Buffalo Bills
South: Jacksonville Jaguars
WC: Houston Texans
WC: Kansas City Chiefs
WC: Denver Broncos

[nicksaviking]

17 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

A fellow Saints believer! They’ve had a sneaky good offseason and I think Shough is good enough to compete for that crap division. Plus consistency in their coaching staff. 

I think the Saints offense is finally headed in the right direction and I had them winning the NFC South until last week. But now I keep reading about offensive line rankings and everyone is saying the Buccaneers have one of, if not the best line, so I'm going back to them.

[TheLeviathan]

22 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

NFC:

West: LA Rams 
North: Detroit Lions
East: New York Giants
South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WC: Minnesota Vikings
WC: Dallas Cowboys
WC: Seattle Seahawks

AFC:

West: LA Chargers
North: Cincinnati Bengals
East: Buffalo Bills
South: Jacksonville Jaguars
WC: Houston Texans
WC: Kansas City Chiefs
WC: Denver Broncos

I nearly picked the Chargers to win the west.  Giants love is a bold take!

[nicksaviking]

5 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I nearly picked the Chargers to win the west.  Giants love is a bold take!

I pretty much despise every team in that division actually!

But the Giants seem to have so much talent on defense and my guess is that Harbaugh is going to know how to use it way better than Dabol did.

And fingers crossed this is the year the Eagles fall off the cliff. I think bringing in Sean Mannion to do Green Bay's offense is a bad fit for Jalen Hurts. Seems Jordan Love ran a game-manager offense spreading the ball around per the play-callers wishes, with a different top target every week to keep the opponents guessing. Hurts improvises with his feet, has barely taken snaps under center, and likes to focus on one target. And he's not very accurate. I'm hopeful Hurts isn't able to make the required throws, never gets comfortable under center, then starts to disregard play calls and drama erupts that the Eagles can't recover from.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

I think the Saints offense is finally headed in the right direction and I had them winning the NFC South until last week. But now I keep reading about offensive line rankings and everyone is saying the Buccaneers have one of, if not the best line, so I'm going back to them.

The OL rankings is why I think the Bengals are going to sneak into the playoffs over the Texans. Love Houston's defense, but their OL looks catastrophically bad. 

[nicksaviking]

1 minute ago, Vanimal46 said:

The OL rankings is why I think the Bengals are going to sneak into the playoffs over the Texans. Love Houston's defense, but their OL looks catastrophically bad. 

Yeah, they look like they give absolutely zero care about the offense anymore. Which is surprising after that first season with Ryans as head coach. Stroud took a step back and they immediately fired the hot-shot OC Bobby Slowik. But most QBs that have a big rookie season, DO take a step back year two. It's like they just said, screw it, just focus on the defense.

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

I pretty much despise every team in that division actually!

But the Giants seem to have so much talent on defense and my guess is that Harbaugh is going to know how to use it way better than Dabol did.

And fingers crossed this is the year the Eagles fall off the cliff. I think bringing in Sean Mannion to do Green Bay's offense is a bad fit for Jalen Hurts. Seems Jordan Love ran a game-manager offense spreading the ball around per the play-callers wishes, with a different top target every week to keep the opponents guessing. Hurts improvises with his feet, has barely taken snaps under center, and likes to focus on one target. And he's not very accurate. I'm hopeful Hurts isn't able to make the required throws, never gets comfortable under center, then starts to disregard play calls and drama erupts that the Eagles can't recover from.

I actually have a couple wagers on the Eagles collapsing this year, so I'm with you there.

I just think Dallas fills that void.  Giants future looks bright though if they can stay healthy.

[nicksaviking]

3 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I actually have a couple wagers on the Eagles collapsing this year, so I'm with you there.

I just think Dallas fills that void.  Giants future looks bright though if they can stay healthy.

Dallas should fill the void, but because they always disappoint (lol) is a why I'm going with the Giants.