NFL Season forecast

Here is how I see the season unfolding in the standings:

NFC

NFC North

Minnesota 12-4/ Lex Luger
Green Bay 8-8/ Arn Anderson
Detroit 8-8 / The Blue Blazer
Chicago 5-11 / The Repo Man

NFC East

Philadelphia 14-2/Ric Flair
Dallas 8-8/The Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich
NY Giants 5-11/ The Brooklyn Brawler
Washington 5-11 /Doink The Clown

NFC South

Carolina 9-7 / Chris Jericho
Atlanta 8-8 / The One Man Gang
Tampa Bay 8-8 / Harley Race
New Orleans 7-9 / Jake "The Snake" Roberts

NFC West

Seattle 9-7 / The Honky Tonk Man
St. Louis 9-7 / Sycho Sid
Arizona 5-11 / Duane Gil
San Francicso 2-14 / Jim Powers

AFC

AFC North

Pittsburgh 13-3 / Andre "The Giant"
Baltimore 10-6 / Chris Benoit
Cincinnati 8-8 / Rick "The Model" Martel
Cleveland 1-15 / Duke "The Dumpster" Droese

AFC East

New England 11-5 / Hulk Hogan
NY Jets 8-8 / Mick Foley
Buffalo 6-10 / The Warlord
Miami 3-13 / Bob Backlund

AFC South

Indianapolis 14-2 / The Ultimate Warrior
Jacksonville 8-8 / The Barbarian
Tennessee 6-10 / Paul Roma
Houston 6-10 / 1-2-3 Kid

AFC West

Kansas City 11-5 / Shawn Michaels
San Diego 9-7 / Mr. Perfect
Denver 8-8 / DDP
Oakland 7-9 / The Oddities

* If you add up all of my predicted records, I come up five wins short of a .500 record. So, you can spread these wins out in whatever way you choose. My initial thought is that San Francisco and Cleveland may each win one more game than I gave them credit for. That would leave three wins. I also think that some of the 8-8 teams in the NFC will likely be better. I would probably say Carolina could finish 10-6 and Atlanta and Dallas could finish 9-7. That's how I'd dispurse the five wins. I also think that Oakland could do better than 7-9 but that would mean that some other team in the AFC West would do worse.

NFL Rankings:

* This is how I see the NFL teams from best to worst regardless of schedule strength and playoff predictions.

1). New England
2). Philadelphia
3). Indianapolis
4). Baltimore
5). Pittsburgh
6). Minnesota
7). Kansas City
8). San Diego
9). Carolina
10). NY Jets
11). Seattle
12). Denver
13). Atlanta
14). Dallas
15). St. Louis
16). Oakland
17). Green Bay
18). Tampa Bay
19). Detroit
20). Jacksonville
21). Buffalo
22). New Orleans
23). Cincinnati
24). Tennessee
25). Miami
26). Chicago
27). NY Giants
28). Houston
29). Arizona
30). Washington
31). Cleveland
32). San Francisco


Playoff teams:



NFC

Division winners:

Philadelphia
Minnesota
Carolina
Seattle

Wild Card:

St. Louis * I don't have much respect for St. Louis as you can see by my NFL rankings but I do respect getting to play Arizona and San Francisco two games a piece.

Dallas * I'm not a huge Dallas believer but there are two very big things going for them 1). Bill Parcells + Good running game has historically equaled Super Bowl contender. 2). NY Giants and Washington each appear twice on the schedule.

NFC Title game:

Philadelphia over Carolina or Ric Flair over Chris Jericho


AFC

Division winners:

New England
Indianapolis
Pittsburgh
Kansas City

Wild Card:

Baltimore
San Diego

AFC Title game:

Indianapolis over New England or The Ultimate Warrior over Hulk Hogan a la Wrestlemania VI. * This prediction is reliant on Indianapolis having home-field advantage. I think Indianapolis has a much easier regular season schedule than New England thus I think they'll have home-field advantage. For what it's worth, I do believe that New England is the better team.

* If I only used the wrestler identities to pick my playoff teams, I would end up with the same teams. The only possible exception would be Kerry Von Erich over Arn Anderson but remember, I'm using "old man" Arn Anderson to compare to the Packers so Kerry Von Erich wins out. You could also make a case for Mick Foley over Mr. Perfect but Mr. Perfect in 1991 was better than Mick Foley in his prime. So I think this worked out pretty good.


Super Bowl:

Philadelphia over Indianapolis or Ric Flair over The Ultimate Warrior