Rant Sports 2012 NFL Season Preview
This is a 2012 NFL season preview in one of the most wide open fields in league history:
NFC
North
Green Bay Packers 11-5
Detroit Lions 10-6
Chicago Bears 10-6
Minnesota Vikings 3-13
Green Bay will come back down to earth in 2012, due in large part to the rise of Detroit and Chicago. The latter was on its way to contending last year until Jay Cutler and Matt Forte both went down. Now add in Brandon Marshall and Michael Bush and the Bears will be salty. As for Minnesota, well…you know.
South
Atlanta Falcons 11-5
New Orleans Saints 10-6
Carolina Panthers 8-8
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-9
With the turmoil in New Orleans and a dynamite Atlanta offense, the Falcons are primed to overtake this division. Carolina is still at least a year away from contending in the NFC South, even though Cam Newton will continue to light up the fantasy boards. Tampa Bay would likely contend in a weaker division, but not this one in 2012.
East
New York Giants 10-6
Dallas Cowboys 9-7
Philadelphia Eagles 8-8
Washington Redskins 5-11
The defending champs lost way too many weapons this off-season to be considered a serious threat again and Philadelphia has no idea what it’s doing. Dallas won’t be much better it was in 2011; the Cowboys will still find ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory one every month. As for Washington, you can say you heard it here first: Robert Griffin III is not the answer to the Redskins’ problems.
West
San Francisco 49ers 12-4
Seattle Seahawks 7-9
Arizona Cardinals 5-11
St. Louis Rams 5-11
San Francisco will dominate this pathetic division once again, but Seattle might just surprise everyone and contend for a wildcard spot (that depends entirely on Matt Flynn’s performance as a starter). Arizona will realize Kevin Kolb isn’t a legit NFL quarterback in another lackluster season while St. Louis won’t improve much, but the Rams will show signs of life under new coach Jeff Fisher.
AFC
North
Baltimore Ravens 11-5
Pittsburgh Steelers 10-6
Cincinnati Bengals 10-6
Cleveland Browns 4-12
Cincinnati would be a 12-win team in almost any other division, but it will still contend for a wildcard spot with Pittsburgh and Baltimore. This is the year the Ravens beat the Steelers outright for the division title and in the playoffs if they meet again. Cleveland will make some noise in 2013, but not before then.
South
Houston Texans 11-5
Tennessee Titans 9-7
Indianapolis Colts 7-9
Jacksonville Jaguars 3-13
Tennessee will be tough on Houston, but the Texans will come away with the division title with Peyton Manning now in Denver. Indianapolis won’t be nearly as bad as most people expect, largely due to stellar play by Andrew Luck. Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s only good player is holding out, so don’t expect much there.
East
New England Patriots 12-4
Buffalo Bills 6-10
New York Jets 5-11
Miami Dolphins 3-13
New England will once again run away with this division. Buffalo will take a disappointing step backward instead of forward, so the Bills won’t be in the playoff mix. The Jets are like the Titanic – a sinking ship. As for Miami, rookie passer Ryan Tannehill is in for a rude welcome to the NFL.
West
Denver Broncos 10-6
San Diego Chargers 9-7
Oakland Raiders 8-8
Kansas City Chiefs 7-9
Manning makes Denver the best team in this division, although San Diego will challenge for the title. Oakland will miss Bush terribly when (not if) Darren McFadden gets hurt again and Kansas City will draft a quarterback in 2013 after realizing Matt Cassel just can’t do it.
Playoffs
Wildcard Round:
(6) Bengals over (3) Texans, (3) Falcons over (6) Bears, (5) Steelers over (4) Broncos, (5) Lions over (4) Giants
Divisional Round:
(2) Ravens over Steelers, (2) Packers over Falcons, (1) Patriots over Bengals, (1) 49ers over Lions
Conference Championship:
Ravens over Patriots, 49ers over Packers
Super Bowl XLVII:
49ers over Ravens
The head coaches of this year’s Super Bowl teams happen to be brothers as Jim and John Harbaugh square off in the ultimate sibling rivalry matchup. Of course you think your favorite team didn’t finish well enough in these rankings, so Rant your comments below on how you think the 2012 NFL season will end.
Jeric Griffin is the Director of Content for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jeric on Twitter @JericGriffin or ”Like” Jeric on Facebook
