On the 31st of August 2023, I made my Predictions for the upcoming 2023 NFL Season. As we know, the Super Bowl happened last Sunday (or Monday for me) so it’s time to react to my (said) Predictions. I will also bring up my Power Rankings as they hold some significance to my decisions.
AFC
AFC East
In my Power Rankings, I had the Buffalo Bills 2nd, the Miami Dolphins 7th, the New England Patriots 16th, and the New York Jets 5th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the New York Jets to win the AFC East with a 14-3 record. Unfortunately for them, an injury to Aaron Rodgers straight away ultimately ended their hopes of a strong season as they ended up finishing third with a record of 7-10. In second, I had the Buffalo Bills to finish with a 12-4-1 record. The Bills technically didn’t do as well as that as they finished with an 11-6 record, but they did win their Division. I then had the Miami Dolphins to finish third with a record of 10-6-1. This was close, but still wrong as The Dolphins actually finished second in the AFC East with an 11-6 record. And finally, I had the New England Patriots to finish bottom of the AFC East with a disappointing 4-13 record. I actually got this Prediction spot on so I’m pretty happy with this! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the New York Jets to take the Number 2 seed whilst I had the Buffalo Bills to take the 5th seed. Ultimately, The Jets didn’t make the Playoffs, The Bills took the Number 2 seed, and The Dolphins got in as the 6th Seed so this was pretty off!
AFC North
In my Power Rankings, I had the Cincinnati Bengals 6th, the Baltimore Ravens 8th, the Pittsburgh Steelers 19th, and the Cleveland Browns 11th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the Cincinnati Bengals to win the AFC North with a strong 13-3-1 record. This was not a good Prediction as The Bengals actually finished bottom of the AFC North with a 9-8 record! In second, I had the Baltimore Ravens to finish with a 12-4-1 record. The Ravens actually did slightly better than this, finishing top of their Division with a 13-4 record. I then had the Cleveland Browns to finish third, also with a record of 12-4-1. Weirdly, The Browns finished higher than this, but with a slightly worse record (11-6). And finally, I had the Pittsburgh Steelers to finish bottom of the AFC North with a 7-10 record. The Steelers did better than this, finishing third in the AFC North with a 10-7 record. In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Cincinnati Bengals to take the Number 3 seed, The Baltimore Ravens to take the Number 6 seed, and the Cleveland Browns to take the Number 7 seed. Ultimately, The Bengals didn’t make the Playoffs, The Ravens took the Number 1 seed, The Browns took the Number 5 seed, and The Steelers got in at Number 7. On a positive note, I did predict correctly that there would be three AFC North teams in the Playoffs!
AFC South
In my Power Rankings, I had the Jacksonville Jaguars 13th, the Tennessee Titans 21st, the Indianapolis Colts 32nd, and the Houston Texans 30th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the Jacksonville Jaguars to win the AFC South with an 11-5-1 record. This very much did not happen as The Jaguars actually finished second with a record of 9-8. In second, I had the Tennessee Titans to finish with a 6-11 record. Funnily enough, The Titans did finish with this record, but they actually finished bottom of their Division. I then had the Houston Texans to finish third with a record of just 3-14. This was a bad one as The Texans actually won the AFC South with a positive 10-7 record. And finally, I had the Indianapolis Colts to finish bottom of the AFC South with a 2-14-1 record! This also wasn’t a good Prediction as The Colts managed to finish third with a good 9-8 record. In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Jacksonville Jaguars to take the Number 4 seed. Ultimately, The Jags didn’t even make the Playoffs whilst The Texans were the ones who took the Number 4 seed. Once again, my Predicting skills aren’t the best!
AFC West
In my Power Rankings, I had the Kansas City Chiefs 4th, the Los Angeles Chargers 9th, the Las Vegas Raiders 20th, and the Denver Broncos 12th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC West with an incredibly strong 15-1-1 record. Whilst The Chiefs weren’t quite this good in the Regular Season (finishing 11-6), they did still win the AFC West so I got that part correct. In second, I had the Los Angeles Chargers with an 11-5-1 record. The Chargers did way worse than this as they finished bottom of their Division with a poor 5-12 record. I then had the Denver Broncos to finish third with a record of 10-7. I got Denver’s position right, but they actually only won 8 games (and lost 9). And finally, I had the Las Vegas Raiders to finish bottom of the AFC West with a 7-10 record. The Raiders actually did better than this as they finished second in the AFC West with a record of 8-9. In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to take the Number 1 seed. Ultimately, The Chiefs took the Number 3 seed. Still just the one fully correct Prediction!
NFC
NFC East
In my Power Rankings, I had the Philadelphia Eagles 1st, the Dallas Cowboys 3rd, the New York Giants 24th, and the Washington Commanders 21st. In terms of my Predictions, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFC East with a 14-3 record. The Eagles definitely didn’t do this well as they ultimately finished second in the NFC East with an 11-6 record. In second, I had the Dallas Cowboys to also finish with a 14-3 record. This was again wrong as The Cowboys actually won their Division with a slightly worse 12-5 record. I then had the Washington Commanders to finish third with a record of 4-13. I was close with this one as The Commanders did end up with a 4-13 record, but they actually finished bottom of their Division. And finally, I had the New York Giants to finish bottom of the NFC East with a 3-14 record. Whilst The Giants may have had a disappointing season, they still did better than this as they finished third with a record of 6-11. In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to take the Number 2 seed and the Dallas Cowboys to take the Number 5 seed. Ultimately, The Eagles took the Number 5 seed whilst The Cowboys got the Number 2 seed. Once again, another set of not great Predictions!
NFC North
In my Power Rankings, I had the Minnesota Vikings 18th, the Detroit Lions 14th, the Green Bay Packers 29th, and the Chicago Bears 26th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the Detroit Lions to win the NFC North with an 11-6 record. I was close with this one as The Lions did end up winning the NFC North, but with one more win! In second, I had the Minnesota Vikings to finish with an 8-9 record. I wasn’t too far off with this one, but I was still wrong as The Vikings finished third in their Division with a 7-10 record. I then had the Chicago Bears to finish third with a record of 4-13. This was wrong as The Bears actually won 7 games, but they managed to finish bottom of their Division. And finally, I had the Green Bay Packers to finish bottom of the NFC North with a poor 3-14 record. This was a pretty bad Prediction as The Packers actually finished second in the NFC North with a positive record of 9-8. In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Detroit Lions to take the Number 4 seed and the Minnesota Vikings to take the Number 7 seed. Ultimately, The Lions took the Number 3 seed, The Vikings didn’t make the Playoffs, and The Packers actually got in as the final seed in the NFC.
NFC South
In my Power Rankings, I had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27th, the Carolina Panthers 22nd, the New Orleans Saints 15th, and the Atlanta Falcons 25th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the New Orleans Saints to win the NFC South with a ridiculous 15-2 record. This was such a bad Prediction as The Saints ultimately finished second in the NFC South with a 9-8 record! In second, I had the Carolina Panthers to finish with a 6-10-1 record. This is another bad Prediction as The Panthers actually finished bottom of their Division with a woeful 2-15 record! I then had the Atlanta Falcons to finish third with a record of 6-11. The Falcons did finish third, but with one more win to their name so I was close with this one! And finally, I had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to finish bottom of the NFC South with a bizarre 3-12-2 record. The Bucs actually won the NFC South with a positive record of 9-8 so this is another bad one! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the New Orleans Saints to take the Number 1 seed. Ultimately, The Saints didn’t even make the Playoffs whilst The Buccaneers got in as the Number 4 seed. Clearly, I know nothing about the NFC South!
NFC West
In my Power Rankings, I had the San Francisco 49ers 10th, the Seattle Seahawks 17th, the Los Angeles Rams 31st, and the Arizona Cardinals 28th. In terms of my Predictions, I had the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC West with a really good 13-4 record. The 49ers did win the NFC West, but with a 12-5 record so I was just off! In second, I had the Seattle Seahawks to finish with a 9-8 record. The Seahawks did secure a 9-8 record, but they finished third in their Division so I was once again just off! I then had the Arizona Cardinals to finish third with a record of 3-14. This was again just off as The Cardinals finished bottom of their Division despite winning one more game. And finally, I had the Los Angeles Rams to finish bottom of the NFC West with a shocking 1-16 record! This might be my worst Prediction yet as The Rams actually finished second in the NFC West with a good record of 10-7. In terms of the Playoffs, I had the San Francisco 49ers to take the Number 3 seed and the Seattle Seahawks to take the Number 6 seed. Ultimately, The Niners took the Number 1 seed, The Seahawks didn’t make the Playoffs whilst The Rams got in as the Number 6 seed.
NFL Playoffs
Super Wild Card Weekend
In my first AFC Playoff matchup, I had the Buffalo Bills to win in Jacksonville. The Bills did win on this weekend in real life, but not against The Jaguars as The Jags weren’t even in it. I then had the Cincinnati Bengals to win at home against the Baltimore Ravens. Neither of these teams even played on this weekend so this was completely wrong! And finally, in the AFC, I had the New York Jets to beat the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium. Whilst The Jets definitely didn’t make the Playoffs, The Browns did lose on this weekend so that’s at least something.
In my first NFC Playoff matchup, I had the Dallas Cowboys to win in Detroit. Not only did this game not happen, but The Cowboys lost on Super Wild Card Weekend this year whilst The Lions won so this was completely wrong (again)! I then had the San Francisco 49ers to win at home against the Seattle Seahawks. Again, neither of these teams even competed on this weekend. And finally, in the NFC, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field. The Vikings didn’t even make the Playoffs whilst The Eagles lost in Tampa Bay, so this was another poor set of Predictions!
Divisional Round
In my first AFC Divisional Round matchup, I had the New York Jets to edge out the Cincinnati Bengals. My word! In my other AFC Divisional Round game, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead. Whilst I may have got the home team wrong, this game did happen in the Divisional Round in real life and The Chiefs did win so I’m pretty happy with this Prediction!
In my first NFC Divisional Round matchup, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship game. Obviously, this didn’t happen as The Eagles were already out whilst The 49ers won at home (against The Packers). In my other NFC Divisional Round game, I had the Dallas Cowboys to beat The Saints in New Orleans. What a shockingly bad Prediction this turned out to be!
Conference Championship
In the AFC Championship, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to host the New York Jets. We obviously already know that The Jets didn’t make it anywhere near this far, but I did at least predict The Chiefs to win so that is something.
In the NFC Championship, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to host Division Rivals Dallas. In the end, I had The Eagles to win this game, but it doesn’t matter too much as this Prediction was once again bad!
Super Bowl LVIII
Before the 2023 NFL Season started, I predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles would collide in a rematch from Super Bowl 57. We’re already off to a great start, but it’s going to get worse as I ultimately predicted The Eagles to win this game. So close, yet so far!
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