Predictions, Predictions

by Tuesday Morning Tailback

Although I’ve not yet seen any this year, I have always enjoyed the commercials on NFL Network that flash back to August and show all these die hard fans that make these predictions on how good their particular team will fare in the upcoming season. They are usually hilarious and absurd, albeit fictitious and staged, which is a bit ironic considering there’s always enough actual footage of pundits and experts making equally absurd forecasts.

Coming into the 2010 season, you would have typically heard proclamations such as the following:

“The Cowboys could become the first team to play the Super Bowl on their home field”

“With Roethlisberger suspended for the first four games, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in serious trouble”

“There’s no serious competition for the AFC West, San Diego is just too talented”

“Now that Donovan McNabb has been traded to Washington, the Eagles are Kevin Kolb’s team now”

“This will be a rebuilding year for Bill Belichick and the Patriots”

“With the addition of T.O., the Benglas will be even better than they were last year when they swept the AFC North.”

“One thing we do know is Brett Favre and the Vikings will be there in the end, competing for the NFC crown”

Also, there was a near consensus that the San Francisco 49ers would rise to the top of the NFC West, that the Houston Texans would finally break through and become a playoff team and that the St. Louis Rams would be one of the worst teams this season.

On the flip side, no one predicted the vast improvement of the afore-mentioned Rams, nor the Raiders or Lions and, most dramatically, the Buccaneers, Chiefs, and Falcons. No one predicted the drastic fall of the Cardinals and Broncos (full disclosure – I DID predict Denver to come in last in their division, but that was mostly because I foresaw the rise of Oakland and Kansas City).

To be fair, kudos to the experts who all pretty much concluded that the Cleveland Browns would once again suck.

With the playoff teams all in place, here’s a prediction of my own of how it will turn out in the end –

“A very good team will make the Super Bowl and will be defeated by an even better team and five minutes after the trophy is lifted, the experts and pundits will recalibrate their narrative to tell us why they saw it coming all along”

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