Who is Going to be Crowned the Next Champion of the NFL?

Tom Brady winning a record seventh Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers seems like it just happened yesterday. But we’re a few months down the line now and the new season is fast approaching. The NFL Draft has been and gone, and teams have recruited a bunch of new players, not to forget players transferring between teams too. So the question now beckons, who is going to go all the way this year?

Well there are a few ways you could work that out. You could ask the fans, but many will be biased towards their own teams. You can ask the pundits, but they sometimes can be similar to the fans. Or you can be prepared for the NFL odds to come out and go off them, as often these are calculated on statistics and probability rather than made with decisions of the heart.

Although odds don’t always paint an accurate picture either, as the saying goes, every underdog has their day. Just because statistically a team SHOULD perform better than others, doesn’t mean they will. Take a look at Leicester City in the English Premier League for example, they won their league title at odds of 5000/1. No one gave them a chance but they still came out on top.

But we’ll give it a shot making our own predictions, and then maybe revisit them at the end of the campaign to see how we did. So let’s get to it.

The favorites to make the Super Bowl

Having won the Super Bowl last year, thanks to the help of NFL living legend Tom Brady, we’d be silly to rule the Tampa Bay Buccaneers out of the running here. He completely changed the ethos at the franchise when he came in. And this year, the young defensive line they had has a year’s extra experience behind them, plus the confidence that comes from winning a Super Bowl.

Therefore, the Buccaneers should be a much better team this year. But Brady is getting on, and whilst he can still make insane passes with his vision for the game, it’s a case of how long he can keep it up for.

If the Buccaneers don’t do it, it’ll be because of their main rivals this season, the Kansas City Chiefs. They’ve made back-to-back Super Bowls these last two years, winning one, and losing the other last year. And that disappointment will have put a fire in the player’s bellies to get revenge for missing out on lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy.

It could be likely we’ll see these two teams facing off again, however, the Buccaneers have a much easier route to the final with the Chiefs having to face off against the likes of an improved Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens. Both are tricky games to come up against. Still, as mentioned, they have made it all the way for two years on the trot now, and it’s not uncommon to see a team make three on the bounce, with the New England Patriots managing it not too long ago.

An outside chance?

As we stated above though, favorites don’t always win. Everyone starts with an even slate on the opening day, and so it could be anyone’s season. But which underdog has the best outside chance after the favorites?

Well, the best defense is a strong offense. And if you don’t have that, then you need an incredibly good defense to stop people scoring against you. Of all the teams that are least favorite to go all the way, we’d probably say the Washington Football Team (still working on that name) has the best chance.

Whilst they don’t have the greatest offense, they are incredibly solid at the back. And last season they did much better than many of the other bottom teams just by shutting the opposition out. If they can add some touchdowns to that strong defense this year forcing turnovers and getting interceptions, they could be in with an outside chance of at least making the play-offs.

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.