NFL Division Predictions, Playoff Predictions and Super Bowl Winner!!

The 2010 NFL season is less than 24 hours away from the opening kickoff, when the Minnesota Vikings visit the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, in a rematch of last seasons NFC Championship game. Brett Favre will take the field for his 20th NFL season in an effort to repeat his performance from last season (4,202 yards, 33 TD’s and only 7 Int.’s).

Farve will begin the season without his favorite target from a year ago, in Sydney Rice. Rice led the team in catches (83), yards (1,302) and yds/rec (15.8). He was second to tight-end Visanthe Schiancoe (11) in touchdowns with eight.

The Vikings opponents, the New Orleans Saints will be starting the season with primarily the same lineup that brought them the teams first championship in franchise history. Drew Brees will have all of his targets from last season, to march up and down the field on opposing defenses.

In their last match up, the Vikings dominated the game in every major statistic, except for score, the Saints won 31-28 on a Garrett Hartley 40-yard field goal in overtime. The Saints went on to win the Super Bowl, over the Peyton Manning led Indianapolis Colts and the Minnesota Vikings went home.

The NFL Kickoff game debuted in 2002, between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants in New York. The following season, the game was played at FedEx Field in Washington, between the Redskins and the New York Jets.

2004 saw the initial kickoff game in which the defending Super Bowl champion hosted the game and since that time, the home team has gone a perfect 6-0. In 2004, the New England Patriots defeated the Colts and they went 2-0 after beating the Oakland Raiders to start the 2005 season,

The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the game in 2006 and beat the Miami Dolphins. In 2007, the Colts evened their NFL Kickoff record at 1-1, by beating the Saints. The Giants hosted Redskins to start the 2008 season and kept the winning streak alive and last season, the Steelers won their second kickoff game, defeating the Tennessee Titans.

Will the Saints continue the trend and be the seventh team to win the Super Bowl and the first game of the next year to start the season?

There have been many storylines to follow this very busy off-season and I plan to recap all of them more in depth when I have more time, but for now I would just like to get my predictions out there.

AFC East

New England Patriots        11-5
Miami Dolphins             9-7
New York Jets             9-7
Buffalo Bills            5-11

AFC North

Cincinnati Bengals        12-4
Baltimore Ravens            11-5
Pittsburgh Steelers        8-8
Cleveland Browns        8-8

AFC South

Indianapolis Colts        13-3
Houston Texans            9-7
Tennessee Titans            8-8
Jacksonville Jaguars        7-9

AFC West

San Diego Chargers        11-5
Oakland Raiders            8-8
Kansas City Chiefs        7-9
Denver Broncos            6-10


NFC East   

New York Giants            11-5
Philadelphia Eagles        9-7
Dallas Cowboys            9-7
Washington Redskins        8-8

NFC North

Green Bay Packers        13-3
Minnesota Vikings        9-7
Chicago Bears            8-8
Detroit Lions             6-10

NFC South

New Orleans Saints         14-2
Atlanta Falcons            10-6
Carolina Panthers            7-9
Tampa Bay Buccaneers        5-11

NFC West

San Francisco 49ers        10-6
Seattle Seahawks             7-9
Arizona Cardinals         6-10
St. Louis Rams            5-11

Playoffs

AFC Playoff Seeds

1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Cincinnati Bengals
3. New England Patriots
4. San Diego Chargers
5. Baltimore Ravens (Wildcard)
6. Miami Dolphins (Wildcard)

AFC Championship Game

Ravens defeat Bengals

NFC Playoff Seeds
1. New Orleans Saints
2. Green Bay Packers
3. New York Giants
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. Atlanta Falcons (Wildcard)
6. Philadelphia Eagles (Wildcard)

NFC Championship Game

Packers defeat Saints

Super Bowl

Packers defeat Ravens