It’s never too early for predictions, especially when it comes to the pre draft NFL. In the upcoming draft, each team will make selections to try and help their current rosters make a run at the Super Bowl. Although the rosters for the start of the season won’t be complete until much later in the year, it’s still fun to look at what each team has done up to this point and make predictions for what will happen. Here are my predictions for the upcoming NFL season, pre NFL draft:

Russell Wilson and the Seahawks will take the next step and beat out the NFC champion 49ers in 2013. By Larry Maurer, via Wikimedia Commons

NFC West:

1. Seattle Seahawks: If not for a collapse in the playoff game against the Falcons, they might have made an incredible run towards the Super Bowl last season and I expect the Seahawks to improve. With the additions of Percy Harvin and Cliff Avril, they are legitimate contenders. They basically stole the Vikings receiving duo in Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin and now look poised to be a force. It starts with a division title in 2013.
2. San Francisco 49ers: The defending NFC champions got even better on paper with the additions of Anquan Boldin and Nnamdi Asomugha. They will still be a dominant force because of their defense but I believe that teams will start to figure out Colin Kaepernick. He showed me a lot in the Super Bowl as a rookie and hopefully, for ‘Niner fans, that experience makes him better. For now, though, I’m picking the Seahawks as the best team in this division.
3. St. Louis Rams: The Rams are a good young team that is improving each year and 2013 won’t be any different. Except this year they won’t have Danny Amendola, who was a huge factor on offense for them but look for them to build upon a decent year and look to improve their players and gain more experience to try and get back to the playoffs in a year or two.
4. Arizona Cardinals: Arizona started 4-0 last season and look liked a legit sleeper team in the NFC but then dropped 11 of their next 12 games. They added Carson Palmer, who should help the offense some. But unless 2005 Carson Palmer arrives in Arizona, the Cardinals will be at the bottom of the standings again, which is sad for a franchise that made it to the Super Bowl just five years ago.

NFC South:

1. Atlanta Falcons: The dirty birds were the best team in the NFL last season and if not for a bad non holding call, would have probably made the Super Bowl. This year’s Falcons look to finally improve on a year where they actually won a playoff game. The additions of Stephen Jackson and Osi Umenyiora plus the return of Tony Gonzalez will help the Falcons be legitimate title contenders once again.
2. New Orleans Saints: After looking dead in the water early in the season, the Saints somehow went 7-9 and I believe if the season was longer would have snuck into the playoffs. Getting Sean Peyton back this year will greatly improve the team and I expect them to get back into the playoffs. Some people think that Peyton was the cause for the bizarre blackout in the Super Bowl so maybe he is out for revenge against the NFL and the best way to start that is by making the postseason.
3. Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton has gotten much scrutiny over his two years and I’m not quite sure why. He hasn’t had a good team around him in either year and still the Panthers have been 7-9 both seasons. Get some good players around him and good things will happen. I am a huge fan of Newton no matter what the newest college football scandal is. That being said, the Panthers are the third-best team in the South.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Doug Martin was a pleasant surprise for the Bucs last season but he can’t do everything on offense. The Buccaneers went 7-9 last year but I still think they are the worst team in this division, which is an understatement since this is such a good division in my opinion. Josh Freeman has potential but he needs to leave the Bucs in order for it to show, he isn’t the quarterback for this team and the sooner the front office realizes that the better for them.

NFC North:

1. Green Bay Packers: Even with the departures of Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, the Packers will still be a force in the NFC. After all, they have Aaron Rodgers, who is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. They had a disappointing end to their seasons the last two years and I believe they will be back to try and reclaim their dominance in the NFC.
2. Chicago Bears: How many teams fire their head coach after going 10-6? That’s exactly what the Bears did by firing Lovie Smith. The Bears aren’t a bad team and with Jay Cutler, Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall on offense, the Bears will still be a force. Unfortunately for ‘da Bears, they play in the NFC where there are too many good teams and the Bears just can’t keep up with the higher-powered offenses they’ll have to face. Still, this should be a good year for the loyal Chicago fans, at least in the regular season.
3. Detroit Lions: I am not quite sure what happened last year the Lions; I mean, they finally made the playoffs two years ago, then followed it up with a 4-12 record last season. It makes no sense. Then again it is the Lions. Matthew Stafford still has the best receiver in all of football in Calvin Johnson, who to this day is the only player that can claim to have broken the famous “Madden Curse”. The Lions will contend for a while, but won’t have enough to go back to the playoffs.
4. Minnesota Vikings: This might be the most surprising part of these predictions since the Vikings made the playoffs last year but I believe that the trade of Percy Harvin really hurt the Vikings. It takes away speed on offense and a return game. Adrian Peterson is an absolute monster on the field and he will keep the Vikings relevant next season but it won’t be enough to make an encore trip to the playoffs. They are the cellar dwellers in the NFC North.

NFC East:

1. New York Giants: I think last season was just a hardcore case of a Super Bowl hangover and the Giants will be back and ready next year. Eli Manning is a baller and will have this team ready to contend again. Fans of New York, don’t worry you won’t have to wait another year to see your team in the playoffs… unless you are Jet fans….
2. Philadelphia Eagles: A lot of people have been calling me crazy recently because I believe that the Eagles will actually improve a lot this season and be back near the top of the standings. Chip Kelly will make a big difference, especially on a team with so much talent as the Eagles. Injuries killed this team last year. At the beginning of the 2012 season, they looked poised to finally become the dominant team we have been expecting since Michael Vick joined the Eagles. Maybe they get close to that in 2013.
3. Washington Redskins: Congratulations to all the accomplishments of the Redskins last season but that’s last season. Robert Griffin III is one of my favorite players in the NFL, but his injury in the playoffs looked pretty bad. Like the 49ers’ Kaepernick, I think that teams will start to figure his game out. If RGIII can change his game up, it would not only confuse teams but also help prolong his career. I am going out on a limb here by saying the Redskins regress some and finish third in the division.
4. Dallas Cowboys: America’s Team? Not anymore. If anything, they have become a team that most people like to watch lose. Tony Romo got a huge contract after only winning one playoff game in his career, which had lots of football fans, including me, questioning this franchise. I don’t see the Cowboys ending the season at the bottom of the NFL standings, just at the bottom of this division’s standings.

Division Winners:

NFC West: Seattle Seahawks

NFC South: Atlanta Falcons

NFC North: Green Bay Packers

NFC East: New York Giants

Wild Card Teams: San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints (Notable other teams: Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions)

Playoff Bracket:

1. Atlanta Falcons (12-4)
2. Seattle Seahawks (11-5, own tiebreaker over San Francisco)
3. Green Bay Packers (10-6)
4. New York Giants (9-7)
5. San Francisco 49ers (11-5)
6. New Orleans Saints (9-7)

6 New Orleans Saints @ 3 Green Bay Packers: (Packers 34-31)

5 San Francisco 49ers @ 4 New York Giants: (49ers 27-14)

5 San Francisco 49ers @ 1 Atlanta Falcons: (Falcons 28-24)

3 Green Bay Packers @ 2 Seattle Seahawks: (Seahawks 35-28)

AFC Championship Game:

2 Seattle Seahawks @ 1 Atlanta Falcons: (Falcons 27-24)

AFC Champions: Atlanta Falcons

The most decorated quarterback in the game is still in the mix and hungry for another ring. Photo By Keith Allison (originally posted to Flickr as Tom Brady) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

In the NFC the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers will square-off in the deep South. In the AFC, we have a rematch from last season’s AFC championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots. Four teams, blood, sweat and tears all working for the same goal, to be crowned Super Bowl Champions.

Here is a breakdown of each game and my predictions for each game:

NFC: San Francisco 49ers (11-4-1) vs. Atlanta Falcons (13-3)

Based on the outcomes of last week’s divisional games, one would say that the 49ers would be the easy pick in this game, but I say otherwise. For some reason, even while the Falcons played the Seahawks last week, many people forgot that they won 13 games and earned their right as the top team in the NFC. They were sixth in passing yards and went 7-1 at the Georgia Dome. This week’s game is being played at said Georgia Dome, a place the Falcons have been almost unbeatable in recent years. The Falcons were one of the most dominant teams all season long and shouldn’t be overlooked.

That said, their opponent has been titled the favorite to win the NFC. Led by rookie quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers easily beat the Green Bay Packers (my preseason pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl). Kaepernick’s performance was outstanding, but I still don’t trust him. The Packers had an above average defense, but it was very susceptible to the run — a specialty of the 49ers.

This week, I expect Kaepernick to come back down from his huge performance against the Packers. The 49ers defense was ranked in the top five in the NFL so that could guide them in this game against a strong Falcon offense. But Matt Ryan got the monkey off his back by (barely) winning a playoff game over the Seahawks and I expect him to lead his team to the Super Bowl. Hopefully I am wrong about Kaepernick (I’m a west coast guy) but until the game is over and I see the 49ers have made the Super Bowl, I don’t believe in or trust the second-year quarterback from Nevada. Give credit to the Falcons where credit is due. My prediction for this game is 24-17, Falcons win.

AFC: Baltimore Ravens (10-6) vs. New England Patriots (12-4)

Many people have the Patriots coasting back into the Super Bowl after defeating the Houston Texans 41-28 last week. But the Ravens just beat the number-one seed Broncos and are riding an emotional roller coaster at the moment that will not be derailed. The original Raven, Ray Lewis, will retire at the end of the season, and you know he would love nothing more than to leave the game he loves on top. The game Sunday will be played in Foxborough, where the Patriots were 6-2 there during the season, while the Ravens were a mere 4-4 on the road.

The Patriots were ranked about sixth in total offense this year, while the Ravens were ranked 13^th in total offense. Just by statistics and the names of the teams alone, the sexy pick would be the Patriots to repeat as AFC champions. But, this is the unpredictable NFL and I believe that the Ravens will pull the upset over the Patriots just as they did a week earlier in the mile high city. Baltimore is riding a high at the moment that just can’t be measured and I’m sure Ray Lewis and the entire Raven team remembers last year’s AFC championship game where they were so close to reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since 2000 when they won it all. Don’t forget, the Ravens have already beaten the Patriots this season with a 31-30 week 3 win in Baltimore. My prediction for the game is 31-28 with the Ravens winning it and finally getting the winning field goal they deserve.

Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens (10-6) vs. Atlanta Falcons (13-3)

See you there.

Alex Smith did the right thing by telling doctors he was concussed, but it could cost him a lot of money in the offseason. By BrokenSphere (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Then Alex Smith got hit. In the head. Again.

He “turned himself in” to team doctors as the NFL has been encouraging its players to do. He hasn’t seen the field since.

Instead, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh turned to second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick has a rifle arm — noticeably better (on TV even) than 90 percent of NFL starting quarterbacks. He’s also really fast. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Harbaugh keeping Kaepernick in the lineup instead of bringing back Smith (once he was cleared) was easy to criticize. The list of quarterbacks who win or even get to the Super Bowl in their first season as a starter is really short. No matter what Harbaugh thought, I didn’t think San Francisco stood a chance with a second-year player and first-time starter. I thought Harbaugh’s lack of patience with Alex Smith was going to hurt the team’s chances and maybe help to even prematurely close their championship window. After amazing improvement at Stanford and now with the 49ers, I thought Harbaugh had finally made a decision that was going to blow up in his face. Benching a guy who was playing like Smith couldn’t have been the right move, could it?

On Saturday, Kaepernick diced-up the Packers like a slap-chop. Green Bay had no answer for the read option or Kaepernick’s ability to find open receivers down field and get the ball to their hands on a rope. When the second-year player from Nevada ran for his second touchdown that put the 49ers up 31-24 in the third quarter, a lead they would not relinquish, I though, “My God! He’s Michael Vick with a bigger body and more accurate throwing arm.”

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyj5cHIQA

I stand by my assessment, and I want to say I’m sorry. Apologies, Jim Harbaugh. Apparently you saw him in practice for a year and a half and knew what you were doing. I shouldn’t have second-guessed you. The 49ers’ offense looked as dynamic and exciting as any I’ve seen recently. If the NFC Championship game was at Candlestick, I’d predict your team as the clear-cut favorites. As it stands I’ll probably pick them to win the game on the road anyway — unless I think too hard about Ben Roethlisberger.

In Roethlisberger’s first year as a starter (2004), the Steelers went 13-0 under Big Ben in the regular season. Roethlisberger was a revelation. His team earned a first-round bye and won their divisional playoff game before losing the AFC Championship to New England, who won the Super Bowl that year. Kaepernick has done a Roethlisberger-like job so far — a performance good enough to win me over on his coach’s decision no matter what happens next week.

Kaepernick’s divisional win was definitely one for the record-books, putting him up alongside rookies like Roethlisberger. To win a conference championship game on the road after only 9 NFL starts, though, would be nothing short of legendary.

If one takes the time to read a little bit deeper, they will find a couple of classic match-ups that both the seasoned and greenhorn NFL fan can get excited about.

In recent years, the NFL has bragged about having the most competitive and encompassing parody in the circle of major professional sports leagues. While this parody is evident amongst the league’s elite, an even playing field amongst the entire league is severely lacking.

This lack of competitiveness as a whole and the evidence of parody only among the elite is the reason why these final conference clashes, that may look like mismatches on the cover, are so intriguing.

I am advising everyone to spit the seeds out when judging the quality of the teams remaining, due to a number of factors occurring over the course of the NFL season that all were both as much surreal as they were anticipated.

This playoff season saw a wildcard winner with a record of 12-4 and a division winner with a record of 7-9. Two of the other wild card teams had records of 11-5. The fourth and remaining wildcard team this playoff season finished with a record of 10-6. The New York Giants missed the playoffs with a 10-6 record, three games better than the NFC West division-winning Seattle Seahawks.

Four of the division winners had a 10-6 record, or worse. That’s half of the division winners having no better of an overall record than the wildcard team with the worst record. Wait a second. Read that again – not for a spelling or grammar check, but for a reality check. I’m half-expecting Moe or Curly to come club me over the head with a skillet as I sit here flapping my lips with my finger.

The winners of the the four divisions who featured only a division winner and no wildcard participant averaged a record of only 9.25 wins and 6.75 losses. The second-place finishers of those four shallow divisions averaged a record of only 8.5 wins and 7.5 losses, and finished a full two games out of a wildcard berth – collectively on average.

In other words, half the divisions are exceptional, those half that are exceptional are extremely top-heavy, and the other half of the divisions flat-out reek of inferiority, book-end to book-end.

However, I digress from this tirade of attacking the current structure and overall parody, or lack thereof. The fact that gets spit out of this unprecedented equation becomes: any team that received a wildcard berth this season definitely earned it, as they ended up with records that would win divisions in any other season. It seems evident that the number six seeds that are challenging the number two seeds this weekend might as well be number two seeds themselves, and therein lies the hidden allure.

* * * * * * *

The oldest and arguably most bitter rivalry in the NFL, which boasts a combined twenty-one NFL titles (including four super bowl titles) all-time between the two teams, reconvenes Sunday afternoon at the new Soldier Field in Chicago. Dating back to 1921, this bitter duel amazingly has only occurred in the playoffs one other time, a whole seventy years ago, in which the Bears defeated the Packers in 1941 on their way to the NFL title.

Their clash on Sunday will be by far, the most penultimate contest this storied rivalry has ever seen in the one hundred eighty-one times over the past ninety years it has been celebrated. The rarity and significance of this game is the equivalent of being able to see Halley’s Comet, only having to wait an extra fifteen years on top of the already anticipated seventy-five.

This upcoming chapter of course, will be the third between the Packers and Bears this season. The Bears prevailed in a late September Monday Night affair in Chicago, 20-17. The Packers eked out a 10-3 win in the last game of the regular season that was highlighted by less than perfect weather conditions, as well as the Bears supposedly not putting their best foot forward in order to preserve health, seeing as they had already clinched the two seed with no way to obtain the one seed or fall to the three.

On Sunday, the weather man calls for a game-time temperature of 15 degrees with a windchill of zero or slightly below. The wind factor is what will dictate the course of this game. When it’s calm, its bearable – but when it gets whipping off of Lake Michigan, Chicago in January might as well be the surface of Mars.

If it stays cold and calm, expect the Green Bay-weathered Aaron Rodgers to come out firing, as his arm will set up the running lanes later on in the game for rookie playoff standout James Starks. If this occurs, expect Mike Martz to counter with a desperate pass-first approach, throwing caution to a deliberate Matt Forte running attack and playing right into the favored Packers’ hands.

If the wind picks up significantly however, expect a closer, field position battle that is more conducive to the efficiency of and puts less pressure on ‘feast or famine’ Jay Cutler. This could shorten the game undoubtedly, favoring the Bears and their home crowd.

Don’t count out these two underrated defenses either. Brian Urlacher is as equally one of the league’s best leaders as Lance Briggs is a surprise play-maker. The Bears do have a few worries on the back-end however, and if Julius Peppers and company up front don’t get a consistent and discomforting pass-rush on Rodgers, you could see the Packers run up some substantial yardage through the air.

The Packers bring to the table a stout 3-4 scheme that has potential defensive player of the year, Clay Matthews III flying off the edge and tossing his body around with reckless abandonment. This front also features the hand-on-the-ground inside presence of Cullen Jenkins taking up two blockers, with A.J. Hawk lurking behind him stuffing the run. I would be remiss not to make note of “Mr. Do-everything” Charles Woodson, as you can bet he will come up with either a key interception, a key fumble forced or recovery, or a key sack.

If Green Bay can make ‘Jay-kyll and Hyde’ Cutler look away from his go-to red zone tool, tight end Greg Olson, and force him to have to earn his paycheck on 3rd and long, Chicago fans are in for a long, cold day of sitting on their hands.

All-NFL returner Devin Hester could make a significant impact, that is, if Green Bay decides to even kick to him. Kicking to Green Bay’s poor-man’s version of Hester, Tramon Williams, isn’t a good idea either. Expect both punters to have worked on their directional kicking extensively throughout this week of preparation. Punting with the accuracy of a marksman may prove vital in this game, taking into account both the danger of both punt returners and the danger of the swirling winds that may arise.

My pick: Packers 21, Bears 17.

On the other side of the bracket, the gum-flapping, ‘look at me’ Jets travel to Heinz Field on Sunday night to face the Pittsburgh Steelers and 65,000 terrible towels. While the Jets have earned back-to-back AFC Championship game appearances, I have a feeling they are going to get this far only to fall just short of the super bowl for the second year in a row.

Yes, they beat Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh less than a month ago, 22-17. Yes, they squeaked by the Colts in Indianapolis albeit on the heels of a botched time-out call by Jim Caldwell. And yes, they took it to the evil Belichick and Brady empire in Foxboro with brash bravado and confusing defensive scheme. However, I see three major differences between the two teams they beat to get here and the team they have standing between them and the Jerry Jones Bowl in Dallas.

One, the meeting on December 19th between the two included four flukes that all favored the Jets: an opening kickoff return for a touchdown by Brad Smith, a late safety by Jason Taylor, a turnover-fee game by Mark Sanchez; and most importantly, the best player on the field when he’s healthy, Troy Polamalu, sat the game out with a bum ankle. The game was also decided on a goal-to-go situation for the Steelers, who failed to produce a winning touchdown inside the ten yard line in the closing seconds. All of these key factors turned out right for the Jets and wrong for the Steelers, something considered extremely against the odds and that any logical investor should not bet on to happen the same way again.

Two, Big Ben is anything but an immobile, standing pop-up dummy the likes of Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. He is known league-wide as not only being able to avoid sacks by breaking head-on tackle attempts with his defensive lineman frame, but also being able to avoid them by getting outside the pocket with his surprising fleet of foot. These are two predominant dynamics that Manning or Brady could not even dream about doing.

You can guarantee the Jets will bring pressure and be in Ben’s face, due to the fact that the Steelers’ average running game featuring Rashard Mendenhall won’t be much of a deterrent – but you can also guarantee that Roethlisberger will be able to avoid at least some of the pressure with his mobility and toughness, creating more and different offensive opportunities the likes of what New York hasn’t had to contend with the past two weeks.

And most notably, three, Pittsburgh’s Defense makes the defenses of Indianapolis and New England look like rank amateurs. Versus the Jets the past two weeks, the Colts defense was undermanned due to injruy and the Patriot defense was young and inexperienced. The Steelers defense features the best and most experienced line-backing core in the league, lead by docket-fined and notorious head-hunter James Harrison, a factor that could turn the Jets bread and butter running game into toasted char.

The bottom line, if Ben Roethlisberger has time or can at least make a few plays with his feet, the Steeler offense will at the very least break even with the Jets defense. I see this push creating an actual advantage for Pittsburgh overall, as the weakest link in this game, the predictable and vanilla Jets offense, will be at a disadvantage and have trouble staying ‘on schedule’ in their down and distances versus the top-level Steeler defense.

My Pick: Steelers 17, Jets 13.

The battle of the Midwest and the battle of the East – when the dust settles, you end up, in my mind, with the Packers and Steelers meeting in Dallas. What a feature – the team of the 60’s versus the team of the 70’s, as well as both being super bowl champions again in the past fifteen years. Which one of these classic franchises will become their organization’s championship version, 3.0? Who could start this decade off with a Lombardi and lay the foundation for a dynasty of the teens?

However it plays out, make sure to spit out the bubble gum and strap on the leather come Sunday, because both of these epic collisions will exceed expectations.

-Andrew Stevens