2023 NFL Season Preview, Part II (NFC)

Last season, after a few years in the doldrums, the NFC East was back in a big way.  Three of the four teams made the playoffs, and the one that didn't, Washington, had a better record than the NFC South champion.  The three NFC East teams all won at least one playoff game and made up 75 percent of the Divisional round, too.  As a result, we're back to the old days where the NFC East is featured in primetime a lot!  Although, I do think the Giants and maybe even the Cowboys will come back to Earth a little bit, the Eagles aren't going anywhere.

Neither are the 49ers, who I will finally admit are very good.  They still need to figure out their quarterback situation, though.  Until that happens, I can't truly call them "elite."  So, it's looking like another NFC Championship Game loss could be in the cards for San Francisco.  Unless, of course, Brock Purdy can stabilize the position.

The Jets may be the NFL's "It" team coming into this season, but the NFC has an "It" team of its own.  The Detroit Lions.  Detroit was tremendous down the stretch last year and expectations for the Lions are high.  So high, in fact, that they were chosen as the Chiefs' opponent for the NFL Kickoff Game.  Like the Jets, I think talk of a division title for the Lions might be a little premature (although, in the NFC North, who knows?).  Can they make the playoffs, though?  Absolutely!

As for who else will make the playoffs, that's anyone's guess.  I've got Philadelphia, San Francisco and Dallas as "locks," but that's it.  You really could pull a name out of a hat in the South, and can the Seahawks and Giants have the same type of year as they did in 2022?  Ditto with the Vikings.  And, on the other side, the Rams and Packers.  Lots of questions that need to be answered surrounding a number of teams.

NFC East: Even though all four teams finished .500 or better last season, two stood out.  Philadelphia and Dallas.  The Eagles and Cowboys battled each other for the division title pretty much all year, with Philadelphia eventually coming out on top en route to an NFC championship and almost adding a second Lombardi Trophy.  The Eagles are just as good, if not better, this season, and I'm not sure the Cowboys are as good.  Thus, Philadelphia is my pick to win the division.

Then there's the Giants and Commanders.  Brian Daboll was the NFL Coach of the Year last season after leading that incredible Giants turnaround.  The challenge is doing again now that it won't be unexpected.  Washington, meanwhile, was in the headlines all summer for non-football reasons.  Dan Snyder finally got booted as owner and there was a push to change the team name back to "Redskins."  The Commanders' new owner has said he won't do that, though, and is probably happy that the focus can now shift to football.

NFC North: Minnesota won a lot of close games last year, which propelled the Vikings to a 13-4 record and a pretty easy division title.  I've seen very few, if any, predictions that they'll be able to do it a second year in a row and wondered "Why not?"  This is a down year in the division and they're still the best team in it.  Even without Adam Thielen, they've still got Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson.  I don't think Minnesota repeating as division champs is unreasonable at all.

Part of the reason for that is just look at the other three teams.  As I already said, I'm not totally buying the hype surrounding the Lions.  I think Detroit can and will get a wild card, but the Packers will likely struggle as they navigate the first year of their post-Aaron Rodgers existence.  This isn't like when Favre left.  They didn't have the ready-to-go replacement this time.  And do I really need to say anything about the Bears?  They had their random once-every-five-years playoff appearance in 2020, so we're still a couple years away from the next one.

NFC South: Now that Tom Brady is retired, the NFC South is completely up for grabs.  It was close last season, too.  In fact, it was a three-way tie for second at 7-10, only one game behind the division-winning Bucs.  And Tampa won the division at 8-9.  So, just one or two things going differently in one or two games could've changed the fortunes of all four teams.

One thing I do feel confident in saying is that Tampa Bay's reign atop the division will come to an end.  The Saints have Derek Carr now, and that could easily be enough to put them over the top.  And we'll see if Carolina's quarterback carousel has finally come to an end now that they have No. 1 pick Bryce Young under center.  For some reason, though, I like the Atlanta Falcons to come out of the South.  I'm not entirely sure why.  I just think Atlanta is the least-flawed of the four teams.  New Orleans will be right behind them.

NFC West: There are two NFC West teams where we pretty much know where they stand.  The 49ers have an elite defense and have been one of the better teams in the NFC for the last few years.  The Cardinals are on the complete other end of the spectrum.  Arizona isn't very good and is more likely to be in the conversation for the No. 1 (which they would likely trade since they won't take the USC quarterback when they already have so much invested in Kyler Murray).

I have no idea about either the Seahawks or Rams, though.  Nobody thought Seattle would be relevant last season.  Well, as it turns out, the Seahawks knew what they were doing by trading Russell Wilson.  Geno Smith turned into a Pro Bowler and led them to the playoffs.  Can they possibly repeat that?  Likewise, the Rams had quite the fall a year after winning the Super Bowl.  Granted, they went all-in to win at home, but I don't think even they expected it to be as swift and as bad as it was.  Can they rebound or was last year the start of a run of mediocrity?

Playoff Seeds: 1. 49ers (13-4), 2. Eagles (13-4), 3. Vikings (11-6), 4. Falcons (10-7), 5. Cowboys (12-5), 6. Seahawks (11-6), 7. Lions (10-7)
A repeat of last season's NFC Championship Game between the Eagles and 49ers could very well be in the offing.  Hopefully, in the rematch, the 49ers won't be left without a quarterback and the game is actually competitive.  Not only do I think it will, I think the 49ers will win it this time.  But wait, didn't I say at the beginning of the post that San Francisco can't be "elite" until the QB situation is settled?  Yes I did.  While I don't think it'll be completely settled, I think it'll be settled enough.

Super Bowl LVIII Pick: Kansas City over San Francisco
Can you believe it's been 20 years since we had a repeat Super Bowl champion?  Not since the Patriots in 2003 & 2004.  That was so long ago it was my senior year of college and first year of grad school!  Anyway, the last time Kansas City had a chance to repeat, they got their butts kicked by the Tampa Bay defense.  They won't be playing the home team in the Super Bowl this time, though, which I think will make a big difference.  The Chiefs end that drought and win their second straight Super Bowl.