Football Season, Part 2

With all of their starters returning from their Super Bowl championship team last season, I've heard a lot of talk about whether the Bucs can go undefeated this season.  Which is ridiculous!  They're still in the same division as the Saints, who, even though they no longer have the retired Drew Brees, are still one of the best teams in all of football.

So, no, the Bucs won't go undefeated this season!  And it's not just the Saints who'll be in their way.  It's all of the usual suspects.  The Rams are looking to follow in Tampa Bay's footsteps and win a Super Bowl on their home field.  We'll see what type of an impact that Stafford-for-Goff QB swap has.  (Frankly, I think Goff is the better quarterback.)

Then there's the Packers.  All of that drama surrounding Aaron Rodgers in the offseason ended up being much ado about nothing, and he's back for what most agree is a final season in Green Bay.  Can he end it by finally winning another NFC Championship Game?  The fact that they keep losing the NFC Championship Game seems to overshadow the fact that they're always good enough to get there.

I didn't forget about the Seahawks, either.  Seattle's a very dangerous team.  Remember how well they started last season?  If they can keep everyone healthy and keep their momentum going all year, it won't just be the Kraken that has Seattle fans excited in December and January.

NFC East: That leaves us with the NFC East, which was very much the NFC Least in 2020.  Washington wasn't a good team, but got hot down the stretch, took advantage of a bad division, and made the playoffs at 7-9.  That record is obviously impossible to repeat, for a few reasons.  The main one being that they still aren't any good.  But in the NFC East, you don't need to be good.  You just need to be the least bad of the four.

Although, the least bad NFC East team is pretty clear.  That is, as long as they're healthy.  Which last year they weren't.  That team, of course, is the Dallas Cowboys.  A healthy Cowboys team is the clear division favorite, even if they're only a game or two over .500.  Should Dallas have to deal with injuries again, the Giants and Eagles will be right there to pick up the pieces.  I'm not sure about Jalen Hurts as an NFL starter, though.  I hope the Eagles know what they're doing.
Projected Standings: Cowboys 9-8, Giants 7-10, Eagles 6-11, Washington 4-13

NFC North: There's a reason why the Packers win the NFC North seemingly every year.  It's not just the fact that they're consistently good.  It's also the fact that they're clearly superior to the other three teams in the division.  The Bears somehow made the playoffs last season thanks to the extra wild card, but they're overrated.  The Vikings will beat some good teams and play competitive games, but ultimately finish out of the running.  And the Lions are a mess.

Can one of them theoretically keep the division title out of Green Bay?  Of course!  Does it seem likely?  No, it doesn't.  The Packers are just that much better than each of them.  Green Bay shouldn't have to worry about the division.  They'll be more concerned with playoff seeding.  (Although, as we saw last year, even playing the NFC Championship Game in Lambeau doesn't seem to make much of a difference.)
Projected Standings: Packers 13-4, Bears 8-9, Vikings 6-11, Lions 3-14

NFC South: Even without Drew Brees, the Saints are still one of the best teams in all of football.  And the NFC South should once again be a two-team race between them and the Bucs.  It would be easy to call Tampa Bay the division favorite, but I'm not discounting the Saints just yet.  Either way, it'll come down to only a game or two to determine which has a home playoff game and which visits the NFC East champion.

And, Atlanta and/or Carolina could have a lot to say about that.  I'm not saying I see the Falcons and Panthers as potential playoff teams.  I don't.  But I can see either or both of them knocking off one of those top two division rivals...and that could be the game that decides New Orleans and Tampa Bay's playoff positions.
Projected Standings: Saints 15-2, Buccaneers 14-3, Falcons 5-12, Panthers 4-13

NFC West: Last year, the NFC West almost had and probably should've had three playoff teams.  And that doesn't include a 49ers team that a lot of people really like.  I'm not one of them, but that's beside the point.  Because San Francisco will probably be the best last-place team in the NFL.  The other three teams, meanwhile, should all be playoff teams.  The only question will be the order.

In 2020, it was the Seahawks who got the home wild card game as division champs, which ultimately didn't matter since the Rams won that game anyway.  This year, I expect those positions to reverse.  I don't know.  It's just something about the fact that the Rams will finally get to play in front of fans at their new stadium.  I think that'll be the difference.  Arizona, meanwhile, I don't think falters down the stretch and costs themselves a playoff spot this time.  That actually might've been a good thing for the Cardinals, who added some guy named J.J. Watt to their defense.
Projected Standings: Rams 13-4, Seahawks 11-6, Cardinals 9-8, 49ers 7-10

That gives you NFC playoff seeds as: 1-New Orleans, 2-Rams, 3-Green Bay, 4-Dallas, 5-Tampa Bay, 6-Seattle, 7-Arizona.  And wild card matchups of: Arizona at Rams, Seattle at Green Bay, Tampa Bay at Dallas.  And, frankly, that's a pretty good playoff field!  The NFC is so top-heavy that the playoffs should be wide open.

Ultimately, I think it's gonna be the Packers that emerge from that crazy mix (although you could easily choose the NFC champion out of a hat).  They head to LA for a Super Bowl matchup with the Ravens and send Aaron Rodgers out on top.  He always plays better when he's pissed off for some reason, and I think after all of that offseason drama, his Packers career will end in the most storybook way possible.