A buddy of mine said it best: for football fanatics like me, today is like Christmas Eve!  Like presents scattered beneath the Christmas tree, so the NFL season awaits for each game to be “un-wrapped,” one-by-one–with many surprises, and of course some “clunkers.”

Should I go out on a ledge and make some predictions?  Why not!  Everyone else does!

Broncos will go 8-8 and just miss the playoffs, Jay Cutler will have a great year but I have a feeling that losing Jason Elam will cost a couple of games.  A missed field goal here and there, that’s the difference between 8-8 and 10-6.  Still, I think everyone will feel pretty good about the team’s direction overall.

Surprise team of the year: Houston Texans, 10-6 and a wild card berth.  Matt Schaub pushed by Sage Rosenfeld, plays above his head, DE Mario Williams plays at Hall-Of-Fame level.

Disappointing team of the year: New York Giants, 6-10 and last place.  Chalk it up to the typical Big Blue Post Super Bowl Funk, historically demonstrated.  After each of the Giants Super Bowl appearances, they’ve had a losing season the next year.

NFC Division Champions: Cowboys, Packers, Panthers, Seahawks.

NFC Wild Cards: Saints, Eagles.

AFC Division Champs: Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Chargers.

AFC Wild Cards: Texans, Bills. [Gulp!  The BILLS? Going with my gut here…]

Super Bowl: Mmmmm…how about Cowboys-Chargers?

Other Predictions: Brett Favre will retire again, and admit that he should have never agreed to play for the Jets.  Possible that he could retire before the season ends.  Scott Linehan becomes the first coach fired, before the season’s over he’ll get replaced by Jim Haslett.

Check back in January, see how close [wrong?] I was!