The football season is almost here! I'll be posting my week one predictions before kickoff tomorrow, and then the games kick off, but first I'm going to start my preview of the past decade of football. Before all that I'll finish my preview of NFL divisions by wrapping up the NFC North.
Early Predictions:
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears
Minnesota Vikings
Detroit Lions
There may be undue hype surrounding the Packers this year, but they are definitely a good team. Don't lock them in too early, though, as they play some tough teams and could be upset if they're not careful. I think the Bears will be an improved team regardless of if they make the playoffs or not, and right now I think there's enough evidence to at least hold out hope. The secondary and line present problems and they probably won't go deep if they do make it, but they could be good enough to pull out enough wins within the division in addition to some teams they match up well against. Minnesota is in a position to fall off I believe. Their defense is good, but the teams they face will know how to exploit them, and given performances against the Bears and 49ers last season I believe they are vulnerable. Detroit will get better, but not by much. I expect about four wins from them this season.
On to my retrospective on the past decade of football. I devised a mathematical system to rank the teams based on number of League Championships, Conference Championships, Division Championships, and Wild Card appearances. Tiebreakers were determined by record, and an (x) next to the team name means they gained the higher spot through a tiebreaker. I'll start out with the worst four teams of the decade, where there should be no debate.
32. Detroit Lions
This one is a no-brainer, when you compile the worst single-season record in NFL history you're bound to claim this dubious honor. The Detroit Lions have been on a championship drought for a long time, but they were at least competitive at some points in the past. Since Barry Sanders left after the 1998 season the team has been on a downward slide, posting a league worst 42-118 record over that span of time. In addition to that they have not made a single playoff appearance since the 1999 season, which makes them unquestionably the worst NFL team of the past decade.
31. Houston Texans (x)
Houston gets handicapped a bit here by virtue of not playing the first two seasons of the decade, but they still have not made a single playoff appearance since their inception in 2002. Despite having a better winning percentage than the Browns, the Browns have actually had a playoff appearance this decade, and their regular season record is still not good enough to beat out the only other of the three teams to not make a playoff appearance in the new millennium, the Buffalo Bills.
30. Buffalo Bills (x)
The Bills, like the Lions, are also plagued by a playoff drought going back to 1999, in addition to a dearth of sub-par seasons. Unlike the Lions, they have never gone 0-16 and have kept their win totals to around 6 a season. That's not good enough to get them anywhere near the playoffs, but it is enough to keep this fifty year old team just ahead of an eight year old expansion team.
29. Cleveland Browns
Some might object to Cleveland being so high on this list, and indeed the Browns do have a worse record than the Bills over the same period, and a worse percentage than the Texans. Still, the Browns did snag a Wild Card in 2002. They lost in the first round and have never returned, but the worst team to make the playoffs during 2000-2010 is still better than the worst teams who haven't made the playoffs.
Tomorrow will be the week one preview, but I'll return to the look back at the 2000's of football as the season goes on.
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