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Over at NFL.com, they asked 28 of their analysts to weigh in on who will win each division and which teams will fill the two wild card spots for the 2020 NFL Playoffs.
Overall, it’s a relatively obvious exercise. We know who the favorites are. We know who some of the sleepers could be. And when you get to the wild card candidates, you’re talking about a big chunk of the conference. Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t have a couple more teams in the mix there given the various votes for the division champs. They had 12 teams in the AFC with votes to win their division but only eight teams with votes to be wild card seeds.
For the Los Angeles Rams, it was pretty overwhelming. Of the 28 analysts, 24 have us winning the NFC West for a third successive season. Of the four who didn’t, three had us as a wild card teams for the playoffs.
But one analyst, one courageous pundit had us missing out entirely.
James Jones, the former wideout of the Green Bay Packers, has the San Francisco 49ers winning the NFC West with the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears edging out the Rams for the wild card slots.
Grr.
Overall though, that’s a pretty resounding vote of confidence in the Rams given the playoff turnover every year. On average since 1991, the number of teams to make it to the playoffs a year after previously making it is 6.4. Last year, just four teams made it to the postseason after making it following the 2017 season.
Let’s take a look.
In the AFC, the division winners were the New England Patriots (AFC East), Baltimore Ravens (AFC North), Houston Texans (AFC South) and the Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West). The Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts filled in the wild card slots. No other teams in the conference had double digit wins.
In the NFC, we had our Rams winning the NFC West along with the Dallas Cowboys (NFC East), Chicago Bears (NFC North) and New Orleans Saints (NFC South). The Seattle Seahawks were a 10-win wild card while the Philadelphia Eagles made it in with just nine wins.
So we know we likely need to pick at least four of those teams not to make it this year.
Could the Rams really be one?