All preseason predictions are, to a greater or lesser degree, bullshit. The beauty of this game is its unpredictability. Anyone who tells you they KNOW who will make the playoffs, who will win the Super Bowl, etc, is trying to sell you something. Folks with deeper, more detailed knowledge of the game might be able to give you slightly more accurate predictions, but at the end of the day it's still at best educated guessing.
I've always had particularly deep contempt for implausible preseason predictions. I don't mean things like "the Rams will make the playoffs," either. I'm talking about when some lazy sportswriter predicts the records for all 32 teams and comes up with an impossible aggregate record, or predicts playoff matchups without working through tiebreakers, etc. That's why every year I go through the ENTIRE regular season (using a grid like this) and predict the winner of EVERY game, so all the pieces fit together. After the jump, my own particular flavor of bullshit, which you can dissect in the comments at your leisure. (and don't be shy about moseying over to my home blog, Dave Krieg's Strike Beard)
NFC West
- Seattle (9-7) #4
- San Fransisco (9-7)
- Arizona (6-10)
- St. Louis (4-12)
- Green Bay (12-4) #1
- Minnesota (11-5) #5
- Chicago (7-9)
- Detroit (4-12)
- Atlanta (12-4) #2
- New Orleans (10-6) #6
- Tampa Bay (5-11)
- Carolina (4-12)
- New York (9-7) #3
- Dallas (8-8)
- Philadelphia (7-9)
- DC (6-10)
- San Diego (12-4) #1
- Oakland (7-9)
- Kansas City (7-9)
- Denver (4-12)
- Baltimore (10-6) #4
- Cincinnati (8-8)
- Pittsburgh (8-8)
- Cleveland (7-9)
- Indianapolis (11-5) #3
- Houston (10-6) #5
- Tennessee (9-7)
- Jacksonville (5-11)
- New England (11-5) #2
- Miami (9-7) #6
- New York (9-7)
- Buffalo (3-13)