USA Today has published a composite of all 2006 NFL predictions from all the various season preview issues, such as Street & Smith and Athlon. Which is to say I just saved fifty bucks I would've blown at the Fremont Newsstand.
All five publishers pick the Carolina Panthers to make the Super Bowl, but disagree on their AFC counterparts:
Lindy's: Carolina defeats Denver
ProFootball Weekly: Carolina defeats Indianapolis
Sporting News: Pittsburgh defeats Carolina
Street & Smith's: Carolina defeats Denver
Plus... well, let's just take a look at those publications' 2005 predictions, shall we?
Lindy's: New England defeats Atlanta
ProFootball Weekly: Philadelphia defeats Indianapolis
Sporting News: Philadelphia defeats Indianapolis
Street & Smith's: Philadelphia defeats Indianapolis
Lindy's: Kansas City defeats St. Louis
ProFootball Weekly: Indianapolis defeats Philadelphia
Sporting News: Denver defeats Seattle
Street & Smith's: New England defeats Philadelphia
You can't take predictions seriously, of course; I don't think anybody who writes them expects you to. Pre-season predictions made in May aren't much good for anything except false hope or self-persecution. In that respect they're like religious tracts, except thicker.
I still love those preview issues, though. They're fairly useful for rosters, state-of-the-league analyses, and fantasy stuff. And big pictures for when I don't want to read anything. But, like someone commented on this board a couple days ago, despite these fine publications' predictions, we'll still have to play the games this season.