Q's 2009 NFL Predictions

I do this every year with Jimmy B. We pick division winners, Wild Cards, put them in seeding order, and run playoffs with them until we each have a winner. Sadly, for our college years, our amazing biases always showed through, with me picking the Jaguars to win it all (even my bias couldn't pick the Niners to win it all) and him picking the Steelers to win it all. As we've grown older and more mature, we're still biased...but not as much. Besides, Jimmy B's pick of Pitt to repeat isn't really that far fetched.

Anyways, here are my predictions. Jimmy B, when you read this, feel free to post yours in the comments section. All others are welcome to as well. Then we'll check back at the end of the season to see how we did! (Note: we usually do pretty darned bad).

AFC:

South: Indianapolis (no-brainer)
North: Pittsburgh (less of a no-brainer, but still)
West: San Diego (no-brainer)
East: Miami (Everyone in this division could win it all, but I like Miami's versatility and defense)
Wild Card: Baltimore (I think their running game could dominate)
Wild Card: Houston (Just a hunch...)

NFC:

East: New York (in a squeeker over Philly)
South: Atlanta (I think they could be really really good this year)
North: Green Bay (Kinda under the radar in that division, but they're really solid)
West: San Francisco (Maybe a homer pick, but with Singletary and a weak division, its possible)
Wild Card: New Orleans (The South will be a tough division)
Wild Card: Chicago (Has the Defense to make it happen).

I listed the div winners and wild cards in predicted seeding orders. So here's how my playoffs would run:

Wild Card Round:

San Diego def. Houston
Miami def. Baltimore
Chicago def. Green Bay
San Francisco def. New Orleans

Divisional Round:

Indianapolis def. Miami
San Diego def. Pittsburgh (Its time for SD to live up to the hype)
New York def. Chicago
Atlanta def. San Francisco

Championship Round:

San Diego def. Indianapolis (They have Indy's number)
Atlanta def. New York

Super Bowl:

San Diego def. Atlanta (In a very intriguing match-up!)

So, yeah, I have the San Diego Chargers winning it all. I just think that, if they stay healthy (which was their big problem last season), they'll skate to the division title in a joke of a conference. The conference may help them get a bye, but even if it doesn't, they have a great mix of defense, passing, and running that will go over well in the playoffs. The only trip up could be Pittsburgh, who should be solid again. But I just went with my gut there.

In the NFC, I really think Matt Ryan is the real deal, Michael Turner is a beast, and the addition of Tony Gonzalez will make this offense amazing. Their defense is solid to good. And the NFC doesn't really have another team as balanced as this one.

As I said, I'm usually wrong. But, that's why they play the game!