Your 2025 NFL Division Winners (And Superbowl Champs)

 Today's the day! After months of waiting, the NFL season is finally upon us. Carrie Underwood can feed her family once more off her Waiting All Day for Sunday Night earnings, we can take in commercials on Red Zone now for the first time and Sundays can finally be filled with melting into the couch for 10 straight hours. I couldn't be more excited! It's time to make some bold, and not so bold predictions to kick off the season. I vow to come back to this post when the Superbowl ends to remark at how silly I was, but until then I'll believe I'm being super smart. Before I start, please remember that while I am pretty up to date on the Steelers, I am woefully uninformed on every other team in the league. This is pretty much my opinion on all these teams based on watching like 1 game of each of them last season and sleepily following NFL news on social media. It's a for fun exercise after all! Lets get into it: 

AFC East - Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets

This one is probably the most straight forward to predict barring a crazy development or major injury. I said yesterday that Josh Allen is the second best QB in the world and you could make the argument that he's the best. He lead the Bills to 13 wins last season to easily win the AFC East and this year his competition got worse. The Dolphins have had year after year with an injury to Tua Tagovailoa and now are entering the season with an absolute mess at cornerback on a defense that was already iffy. That doesn't even mention the fact that Tyreek Hill showed some signs of decline last year and is another year older. The Patriots are on an upswing and actually have a solid defense, though I don't see any reason to believe their offense will have any juice this season. I do think that they'll surprise some people and be close to .500 especially if second year QB Drake Maye takes another step. The Jets are the Jets. They're running out Justin Fields as their QB1 this year and as a Steelers fan who watched all of his starts last season I say: good luck. Fields can win games if he's insulated in a good system, but the Jets do not ever provide that and I see no reason to expect they will this year. That leaves us with the Bills, who are contenders every year Josh Allen is healthy and the clear choice to win the AFC East. 

AFC West - Kansas City Chiefs 

Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders

This one is  harder than it may look. If we went only off point differential last season the Chiefs would be third in this division behind the Broncos and Chargers. Wins and losses don't work like that though and I went over briefly yesterday how it makes sense that the Chiefs are so good in close games. That being said, I don't expect the division to come easily to them this year. The Chargers loaded up even more on offense adding Najee Harris and bringing back Keenan Allen to a team that already won 11 games last year. The Broncos got a really impressive rookie year from Bo Nix and have a lot to be excited about with his future. I saw a survey, I think by the Athletic, that showed Broncos fans are the most optimistic fans in the league this season, that has to mean something right? The Raiders are going to suck, as the Raiders typically do, but all 4 teams being good in a division is tough to achieve. I'm picking the Chiefs because I think they'll be motivated after that ugly Superbowl loss and I trust their defense to keep them in close games, which they almost always win because of Patrick Mahomes. I don't feel good about this pick though!

AFC North - Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns

Call me a homer I don't care! Logically I know the Ravens are a really good team with an awesome defense, the best running game in the league and a regular season wins machine in Lamar Jackson. If they win the division it wouldn't be a surprise to me or anyone in the NFL world, but I'm here to tell you the Steelers got this. The Steelers won 10 games with subpar QB play last year and are presumably upgrading on that with Aaron Rodgers. I think they have a less problematic receiver room and they improved on an already awesome defense. I don't think it's crazy to say that with these upgrades the Steelers can win 2 more games than they did last season. The Ravens won 12 games last year and Lamar Jackson historically struggles against Pittsburgh going just 3-5 in his career. I think the Steelers can win 12 and get the tiebreaker against Baltimore which will be the difference. As for the other teams, the Bengals should actually be decent and extremely fun to watch, but their defense is garbage and it'll take some Joe Burrow heroics to get to 11-12 wins, which still isn't impossible. The Browns are likely going to be one of the worst teams in the NFL next season, but they'll be more likeable without Deshawn Watson suiting up so that's something at least. Steelers got this one man.

AFC South - Houston Texans

Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans 

Who cares who wins this division honestly? Ok fine, I still like Houston and think that CJ Stroud is going to have a bounceback year after a disappointing rookie season. They don't have as many weapons on offense as they did last season, but adding a hopefully not washed Nick Chubb and bringing back Nico Collins is a good start. Their defense is just average but in this division, that's enough. The Colts are a mess, already giving up on young QB Anthony Richardson in favor of Daniel Jones, who we all know isn't the guy. The Jaguars are always decent on paper and Trevor Lawrence is supposed to be a generational talent but it's the Jaguars and they aren't ever good, I don't make the rules. The Titans won 3 games last year but are starting a rookie QB in Cam Ward. I have no idea what this guy is like and will have to find out this season, but picking a 3 win team to win a division because of a rookie QB is lunacy so they're automatically out. That leaves the Texans! I won't make the mistake again, I don't think any of these teams are winning the Superbowl, but someone has to make the playoffs out of these teams and in my opinion there's only 1 remotely close to that. 

NFC East - Washington Commanders 

Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants

Now I'm just being bold for bold's sake. I am just stupidly high on Jayden Daniels and I think he'll cement himself this year as the best QB in that division. They did lose Brian Robinson Jr to the 49ers this offseason, but they're really deep at RB so I think they can stomach that loss pretty well. I'm burying the lead though, the Eagles just won the Superbowl and are bringing pretty much everyone back. They are going to be the favorites again in the NFC and most people will have them winning their division as well. The Commanders though were only 2 games back from the Eagles last season and I don't think it's crazy to expect a bit of a Superbowl hangover + improvements from Jayden Daniels closes that gap this year. I'd still pick the Eagles in the playoffs, but I want the Commanders for the regular season. As for the other teams, the Cowboys lost Micah Parsons which is going to be massive on defense. People love to hate them though and I think they'll actually still be decent, around a .500 team. The Giants have a much improved QB room starting with Steelers legend Russell Wilson as well as rookie Jackson Dart. They probably won't be winning a ton next year but they won't be the worst team in football and Dart is the best name I've ever seen for a QB so they get bonus points for that. Still, I must carry on my Jayden Daniels love affair and pick them for the division. 

NFC West - Arizona Cardinals

Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals 

I'm getting wild with this one, but hear me out. The Rams have Matthew Stafford and a wide selection of weapons on offense. They won the division last year with 10 wins, but their defense isn't anything special and I expect them to be around 9-10 wins again this year because of it. The Seahawks are a completely different team after losing both Geno Smith and DK Metcalf. We'll see if Sam Darnold can recapture the magic he had early last season, he did fizzle a bit towards the end and doesn't have Justin Jefferson to rely on this year. The 49ers were a disaster with injuries last year, and should be better in that regard, but they might have a claim for worst receivers in the NFL with very little in the way of upside there for this season. That leaves the Cardinals! Kyler Murray very sneakily had a good season last year after being hit with the injury bug a couple years in a row. They are getting year 2 of promising receiver Marvin Harrison Jr, added Calais Campbell back to their defense. They also have one of the lightest schedules in the NFL based on last season's records. I think all of that should give the Cardinals 2 extra wins this year, and I don't see a team in this division that is likely to win more than 10 games. 

NFC North  - Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears

This one is such a tough call, you could talk me in to any of these teams winning the division, even the Bears. I just defaulted to the Lions who should bring back one of the NFL's best defenses along with a strong running game and maybe the second best receiver in the world in Amon-Ra St. Brown. The Vikings are rolling with JJ McCarthy at QB who was slated to start in his rookie season last year before tearing his ACL in training camp opening the door for Sam Darnold. Hard to pick a rookie before you see him, but they still have Jettas who instantly makes your QB above average and they have some of the best scheming on defense in the NFL. They will be good again this year I have no doubt. The Packers just added Micah Parsons, a 1 man wrecking crew on defense, to a team that already won 11 games last year. I've been doing this for everyone else so why not them, Parsons is probably good enough to add 2 wins to that total which is enough to compete for the division title for sure. The Bears don't get nice things at QB, they never do, but Caleb Williams is an absolute talent who has weapons on that offense to look to. They're also bringing back another formidable defense to a team that is much better than their 5 wins would suggest last season. This division will be a bloodbath, they all have something to look forward to and picking this accurately is impossible so we go with the Lions.

NFC South - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons

Similar to the AFC South, who cares. The Buccaneers are a pretty fun team, mostly because Baker Mayfield is such a likeable guy at QB. Mike Evans is getting up there, but he's been a reliable target his entire career and until I see that change I won't expect it. The Saints are starting a rookie QB in Spencer Rattler, I'll have to wait and see how that goes before I pass judgement. The Panthers are keeping the Bryce Young experiment going, which I don't have a ton of faith in it working out. The Falcons are rolling with Michael Penix Jr over Kirk Cousins which will be interesting for sure, but that's another team that doesn't excite me much. Honestly all these teams make me say meh, but the only one I can see winning 10 games barring surprise is the Buccaneers and so they default to winning this division. 

Bonus - Superbowl Champs: Pittsburgh Steelers

That's right! Aaron Rodgers meets his old team, the Packers, in the Superbowl playing with the team he beat 15 years ago in the big game. The Steelers defense locks down the juggernauts in the AFC one by one doing just enough to get the ball to Rodgers at the end of the game. Rodgers shows that it was the Jets all along that suck, he's not washed at all! 

In all seriousness, this is the take I need to have. If I'm right I look like a genius, if I'm wrong I just look like a homer. I'll take those odds! Go Steelers!