With the arrival of cold weather and the holiday season, the long-awaited stretch of December football is upon us. In this month many of your favorite teams will be seeing if they have a shot at making it into the NFL playoffs or if they will need to reconstruct their teams for next season and another chance.
If you don’t really understand how things work, here’s a crash course: The NFL is made up of two conferences of 16 teams each (so that’s a total of 32). These conferences are the AFC (American Football Conference) and NFC (National Football Conference). Each conference is split into four divisions labeled with a compass direction: AFC North, AFC East, NFC South, NFC West, etc. Each division has four teams. The leaders of the four divisions will automatically enter the playoff bracket for their respective conferences (AFC or NFC) along with the three other teams that have the best records in their respective conferences. Finally, the number-one teams in both the AFC and NFC get a first-round bye, meaning they don’t have to start playing as early as other teams and can conserve their energy.
The Buffalo Bills (10-2) of the AFC East and the Kansas City
Chiefs (11-1) of the AFC West are the only teams so far to clinch a playoff spot; even if other teams in their divisions win out the rest of the season, they would not be able to surpass the records of the Bills or Chiefs.
But in the NFC, the conference is still open to many changes, as there are no solidified playoff teams. The teams with the best chances of appearing in the playoffs are the Detroit Lions (11-1), Minnesota Vikings (10-2), Green Bay Packers (9-3), and the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3), who all have a 99% chance of making the playoffs. Two teams that will need to take advantage of the little regular season football that is left are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (56% playoff chance) and the New Orleans Saints (52% playoff chance). These two teams will play against each other in the last week of the NFL season (which starts Christmas Day) in a high-stakes game that could very easily send one into the playoffs and the other into the off-season.
In my opinion, the two most competitive teams coming out of the AFC are the ones already guaranteed to play: the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, who have been on a seven-game-winning streak; it looks like they are playing the right football at the right time. Both of these teams have strong leaders at quarterback who have experience in playoff football, but when playing each other in previous playoff games, Mahomes and his Chiefs have won all three times they’ve met. If the two meet up again–and I’m confident the Chiefs might not be so successful.
In fact, the Bills might defeat the Chiefs and make it all the way to the Super Bowl. This is why: In the past, the Bills have had internal problems with their players not being able to get along with one another, which also affected their play on the field. Most recently, former Bills player and number-one receiver Stefon Diggs would openly express his disinterest in playing for the team even when they had success. This caused a natural separation in the relationship between him and his quarterback, Josh Allen, which affected both of them on the field. Diggs was traded over the offseason, though, so this year the Bills have cleaned house and started fresh with players who have only had a positive attitude. For example, rookie Wideout Keon Coleman has established a close relationship with Josh Allen, as they have been seen multiple times golfing and hanging out off the field. With this newfound bond, the Bills now have one of the strongest teams in both leagues, paving the way for a Super Bowl appearance.
In the NFC the two teams I believe will play for a shot at the Super Bowl are the Philadelphia Eagles and the Detroit Lions. This is because the Eagles are being led by MVP front-runner Saquon Barkley, who is on pace for a record-breaking season for the most rushing yards (Erik Dickerson had 2,105 yards in 1984). The Lions, after being one of the worst teams in football for decades due to poor coaching, shifted the narrative in only four years by making smart coaching hires, finding the right players, and drafting future superstars to make the team one of the best on both offense and defense. Between these two great teams, my money is on the Eagles. The Lions have been ravaged by injuries to many key players on offense and defense; they have the most players on the IR (Injured Reserve) list in either league: 18, compared to the average of seven or eight players other teams have on these lists. This injury problem is why I think the Eagles will be the other team in the Super Bowl, which is unfortunate because if both these teams were playing at their best and headed for an NFC championship game, then it could be the best game of the year.
So there you have it: Watch for the Bills and the Eagles to make it through the playoffs and earn the chance to play in Super Bowl LIX.
Let me know who you think will be in the Super Bowl .
