The 2012 NFL season is finally upon us with Wednesday night’s Giants/Cowboys match-up to finally kick things off.
Since two NFC teams are going to start the season we'll start our Super Bowl odds feature with that conference beginning with the least likely team to win. Odds are the opinion of this writer of course, as are the predicted records.
Minnesota Vikings; 2-14 projected record, 175:1 Super Bowl odds—The Vikings fallen pretty quickly from the fun 12-4 team they were in 2009 with Brett Favre under center. Last year with rookie Christian Ponder at quarterback the team took another step back and went 0-4 down the stretch without the injured Adrian Peterson.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 4-12 projected record, 150:1 Super Bowl odds—Tampa Bay has a new coach in Greg Schiano, which is a good start towards contending, but it always takes time for coaches not named Harbaugh to turn things around. Quarterback Josh Freeman threw 22 picks last season and no receiver had 800 yards through the air.
Arizona Cardinals; 4-12 projected record, 135:1 Super Bowl odds—The Cardinals somehow won eight games last season despite the quarterback team of John Skelton and Kevin Kolb which combined for 22 interceptions vs. 20 touchdowns. They need an upgrade at the position before being taken seriously as a contender.
Seattle Seahawks; 5-11 projected record, 130:1 Super Bowl odds—The Seahawks are another team with a question mark at the quarterback position. Though they think they’ve found their quarterback of the future in Russell Wilson, success with a rookie under center in this league is very rare.
St. Louis Rams; 6-10 projected record, 100:1 Super Bowl odds—The Rams are one of the few bottom-feeding teams with a good quarterback—or so most pundits think. Sam Bradford regressed last year but he’s too good not to bounce back this season. Should they get a better defense and some more play-makers on offense this year, they could move on up this list.
Washington Redskins; 7-9 projected record, 90:1 Super Bowl odds—Mike Shanahan has proven that he can get a running game going with anyone at running back, but this year his schemes will be put to the test with his running back by committee of Evan Royster, Roy Helu, and Alfred Morris. Robert Griffin’s development will be key for them this season.
Carolina Panthers; 8-8 projected record, 50:1 Super Bowl odds—We’re not exactly with the Panthers’ players this year in predicting a Super Bowl, but they do have one of the most electric players in the game in second-year quarterback Cam Newton, which means anything can happen. The defense, which allowed 26.8 point per game (27th-worst) needs to improve before they move up.
New Orleans Saints; 8-8 projected record, 35:1 Super Bowl odds—This may be the most difficult team to predict, due to their head coaching situation. Though Sean Payton is technically still the head coach, having two assistants split time as interim head coach seems tricky. Will they change game plans mid-season? Had they not retained Drew Brees this would look much, much worse.
Chicago Bears; 9-7 projected record, 30:1 Super Bowl odds—A tough prediction for this Chicago team, whose questionable health will make or break their season. The Bears acquired Brandon Marshall to reunite him with Jay Cutler which should make for an improved passing game. A lot hinges on the health of Cutler, who missed six games last year as well as Matt Forte who missed four.
Dallas Cowboys; 9-7 projected record, 25:1 Super Bowl odds—Here’s another team, like Chicago, that could go either way. The Cowboys have DeMarco Murray at running back, who had a nice audition last season, but they are banged up at wide receiver and Romo’s favorite weapon, Jason Witten will start the season with already injured. Should rookie Morris Claiborne become a weapon at corner, Rob Ryan’s defense will get a lot tougher.
Atlanta Falcons; 10-6 projected record, 20:1 Super Bowl odds—The Falcons never seemed completely recovered last year from their season-ending 27-point home playoff loss the season before when they were 13-3. They have the league’s best receiver tandem in Julio Jones and Roddy White, though few on the roster have tasted postseason success of late.
Detroit Lions; 10-6 projected record, 18:1 Super Bowl odds—It’s still hard to see the once-laughable Lions as contenders but they have a number of good young players like Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Ndamukong Suh, and Brandon Pettigrew. This season’s fate for the Lions will largely depend on how good relatively-unproven fourth-year head coach Jim Schwartz actually is.
New York Giants; 10-6 projected record, 10:1 Super Bowl odds—It’s tough to say New York got better in an offseason that saw them lose Brandon Jacobs, Mario Manningham, and Jake Ballard but they still have a tremendous defensive line as well as Eli Manning’s clutch play. Though Ballard has proven to be difficult to replace, rookies Rueben Randle and David Wilson look talented enough fill the voids left by Manningham and Jacobs.
Philadelphia Eagles; 11-5 projected record, 5:1 Super Bowl odds—The speedy Eagles squad should bounce back from last year’s disappointing 8-8 record as they have too much talent not to. The only thing keeping them from going higher on this list is the health of Michael Vick who is usually good for about four missed games per season.
San Francisco 49ers; 12-4 projected record, 4:1 Super Bowl odds—One of the great coaching jobs was turned in last year by Jim Harbaugh with these Niners. The team certainly had accumulated plenty of talent on defense, but now that they’ve raided the Giants for Manningham and Jacobs is it enough to put them over the top? Let’s remember they still have Alex Smith at quarterback, who is not likely to repeat his league-best 1.1 percent interception-rate from last season.
Green Bay Packers; 13-3 projected record, 3:2 Super Bowl odds—For all intents and purposes, the Packers were the best team in football last year. They just screwed up the postseason by resting their starters in the final week of the season and completely throwing off their timing. Aaron Rodgers is still behind center though and the bad taste in their mouths from 2011 will be wiped out after they hoist the trophy this season.
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