Friday 13 July 2018

2018 NFL Division Winner Prediction - NFC Edition

Hello again and welcome back to part 2 of this article. Today I’m going to be predicting the division
winners for all of the divisions in the NFC conference of the NFL.

Starting off with the NFC East, which is going to be the tightest division in the entire NFL, I got
the Cowboys winning it. The Eagles look good coming off a Super Bowl 52 win against the Patriots,
and they still look like a force to be reckoned with. It doesn’t even matter that Wentz might not even
start the 2018 season, as Foles looks elite on the Eagles, it’s just the fact that Wentz has to wear a
knee brace on his knee for the rest of his career. That will limit his mobility in the pocket and will put
him at risk of early retirement if his knee is injured again. Plus they traded receiver Torrey Smith to
the Panthers, and released tight ends Tre Burton and Brent Celek. Despite this though, the Eagles
are still a powerhouse but won’t win the division by 1 game. The Redskins have a great QB in Alex
Smith and an alright defence led particularly by CB Josh Norman and an alright offence which
includes tight end Jordan Reed and RB Chris Thompson who was riddled with injury in 2017, but
trading safety Su’a Cravens, a big part of their defense to Denver, for picks, doesn’t help. And who
knows if Smith will have another good year like in 2017. Finally, the Giants will have all their stars
like Odell Beckham Jr, Sterling Shepard, Janoris Jenkins, Brandon Marshall and others back from
injury and they have hired a new head coach, in Pat Shurmur, to replace an incompetent Ben
Mcadoo, to say the least but after an abysmal 2017 season going 3-13, the Giants shouldn’t expect
to win the division. That leaves the Cowboys. With a young, flourishing offence, particularly QB
Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott, who will be back from suspension and WR Cole Beasley,
Terrance Williams, Ryan Switzer Adam Hurns and an extraordinary defence led by DE Demarcus
Lawrence and safety Xavier Woods will lead the Cowboys to a 12-4 season.

Moving on to the NFC West, this is a simple one right. Well, it’s both simple and not simple. For
one, the Seahawks have no chance to win the division. The “legion of boom” has been dissipated
with CB Richard Sherman leaving to the 49ers, a division rival of the Seahawks of all teams, safety
Kam Chancellor and defensive end Cliff Avril have career-threatening injuries and safety Earl
Thomas all but begged the Dallas Cowboys to come after him, which simply means the Seahawks
have no defence. Not to mention their offence has fallen to shreds with TE Jimmy Graham being
traded to the Green Bay Packers. However, they still have QB Russell Wilson and WR Paul
Richardson and Doug Baldwin but how much can you do with only 3 guys. Also, the Cardinals won’t
win even with the addition of QB Sam Bradford, the best they do is 9-7 after their 8-8 record in 2017.
The 49ers will carry over their success from the end of the 2017 season when their new QB Jimmy
Garoppolo went 5-0 with the team into 2018 and as a result of Jimmy Garoppolo, their offence,
especially WR Marquise Goodwin will thrive and their defence will be causing turnovers like no
tomorrow, especially with the new addition of CB Richard Sherman from Seattle and they, will go
12-4. And the Rams, who have one of the most potent offences with QB Jared Goff, RB Todd Gurley,
WR Sammy Watkins, Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks via a trade with the Patriots
and one of the best defences in the NFL especially with the addition of CB Aqib Talib and Marcus
Peters from Denver and Kansas respectively will easily go 13-3 or higher.

Moving on to the NFC North, I say the Minnesota Vikings will win the division. The Chicago Bears with a mediocre QB in Mitchell Trubisky and only a mediocre offence and defence at best, according to their 5-11 2017 record, in 2018 the Bears will go 6-10 or 7-9 at best in my opinion. Moving on to the Packers, they should have a better record than their 7-9 record in 2017 Considering Aaron Rodgers will be back from injury But was Wide Receiver Jordy Nelson being traded to the Raiders the Packers would have been in the deficit if it wasn't for tight end Jimmy Graham from the Seahawks who was being traded to Green Bay for draft picks. The Packers will have a better season than they did last year however they will not have enough power and players to win the division but a playoff spot is more than likely for the Packers. The Lions face the same dilemma they have a good team and a good core and at the helm of that is quarterback Matt Stafford and a playoff possibility is quite likely but not guaranteed for the Lions, it will be unlikely for them to win the division. I believe the Minnesota Vikings will win the NFC North in 2018 not only because they came off one of their best seasons in a long while finishing 13-3 but also by making it all the way to the NFC Championship Game before being routed 38-7 by the Philadelphia Eagles. But it is just the team the Vikings have. Despite the fact Case Keenum is gone, the Vikings now have quarterback Kirk Cousins who despite being on a mediocre team in the Redskins for all his career he is a skilled quarterback and with the targets around him in Minnesota can do a lot to make the Vikings thrive on offense  which can be supported by the outstanding defense in Minnesota especially their secondary in which cornerback Xavier Rhodes plays a huge part of. After this is all said and done I predict the Vikings will either go 11-5 or 12-4 this season and maybe this time they won’t explode in the NFC finals.

Finally, moving on to the NFC South. In 2017 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a promising season ahead of them but with injuries and underperformance by many members of the Bucs, especially by quarterback to Jameis Winston the Bucs had a subpar season and missed the playoffs finishing last in their division at 5-11. Unless the Buccaneers make massive changes during the off-season avoid injuries and ensure high-level performances all season long which is all very hard to do combined, thus Buccaneers fans can expect another under .500 season. So the Bucs won't win the division. However, with the other three teams the Saints the Falcons and the Panthers it will honestly be a horse race until week 17.  I predict the winner of this division will be confirmed only on week 17 and not earlier like some other divisions in the NFL. It will be a three-way tie until the end. Each of the three teams: the Falcons, Panthers and Saints possess a different set of skills that will win them football games ie the Falcons offence, the Panthers offence and defence and the Saints defence in particular, but also a good offence run by 39-year-old Drew Brees, the Saints’ QB. However, at the end of the day, I say the Saints will win the division what's a 12-4 record but lose in the divisional round playoffs to the 11-5 Panthers who came second in the division.


Do you guys agree or disagree with these predictions? Who do you think will win each division in the NFC in 2018? Let me know in the comments below. And please, just a little disclaimer, this list is strictly my opinion. So if your favourite team doesn’t win their division in my list, please don’t be offended. Cheers and have an amazing day!


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