In the dog days of summer, sports fans are clamoring for the first kickoffs of the upcoming football season and right now, talk and predictions of the upcoming season are dominating the tables of conversation.
Here are five bold predictions for the upcoming NFL season:

The Cincinnati Bengals dethrone Kansas City in AFC Championship
It’s no secret that Joe Burrow has put Cincinnati football on the map and is arguably one of the top three quarterbacks in the league.
The AFC is loaded with quarterback talent, stretching from Justin Hebert with the Chargers, to Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs and Josh Allen with the Bills.
Joe Burrow put together the statistical best season in college football history when he led LSU to the national championship with a perfect 15-0 season.
Since then, he’s done nothing but deliver top-tiered performances—and barring injury, nothing else should be expected from the former LSU gunslinger.
There’s nothing short of a logjam of top-end talent in the AFC.
On the heels of his first Super Bowl appearance in the 2021 season, Burrow and the Bengals locked up the No. 3 seed in the AFC.
Burrow entered the postseason on a tear and the Bengals took down Baltimore and Buffalo before running into the juggernaut Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes.
Against the generational talent like Mahomes, Burrow had to be perfect and he just wasn’t as the Chiefs took care of the Bengals in a 23-20 thriller.
Burrow threw for 270 yards, but managed just 26-of-41 attempts and had two interceptions against one touchdown.
While the Chiefs went on to win the Super Bowl, getting beat in the AFC Championship is plenty of a motivating factor for Burrow for the 2023 season.
The one thing Burrow now has is Super Bowl experience and a motivation to get back to the big game.
Still, even in a loaded AFC playoff picture that will include opponents like Mahomes, Allen, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa and Lamar Jackson, Burrow and the Bengals will have as good of a shot as any to not just make it back to the Super Bowl, but hoist the Lombardi Trophy next January.

Titans miss the playoffs
If one thing has become evident in the past three to four seasons, it’s the AFC is absolutely loaded with maybe the best crop of quarterback talent to ever play the game.
It really isn’t fair for playoff paths to run through Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert and Russell Wilson.
And if your team doesn’t have one of those gunslinging arms running your offense, the odds of a deep postseason run are definitely stacked against you.
Nobody is doubting the positive impact that Ryan Tannehill has had during his time in Nashville, but the Titans drafted a quarterback for the second-straight year for a reason.
Father time is unbeaten against every player to step on a NFL field and the Titans’ window for Super Bowl run is closing.
The Titans’ offense has run through Derrick Henry for seven years now and in his eighth year out of Alabama, questions about the Titans’ future with the best back in the league are starting to surface.
The 29-year old is entering a contract year and is entering the final year of a $50 million, four-year deal he signed in 2020.
There’s certainly enough talent on the Titans’ roster to make a run, but in an age where successful playoff quarterbacks are true gunslinging talents, the Titans sport a different brand of football with Tannehill and his game-managing style, rather than an air-it-out scheme.
With talents like Lawrence emerging in Jacksonville, who appears to be making a major step forward and the Colts drafting potential generational player Anthony Richardson and Houston drafting C.J. Stroud out of Ohio State, Tannehill is the oldest quarterback in the division and it’s not close.
With the game shifting towards a pass-heavy, high-scoring game, simply put, the Titans aren’t built like the teams who have found recent playoff success.
That’s not to say the stars won’t align, but the Titans do not have star names in the receiving corps.
Last season, Treylon Burks was drafted to be the heir apparent replacement to A.J. Brown; there’s certainly potential for the Titans to create a household name in receiver, but doing so will have to change the flow of work through Henry and because of that, the Titans won’t be able to keep pace with the AFC South’s young gun quarterbacks.

Joe Burrow wins MVP
As stated, the AFC is enjoying perhaps the best crop of quarterback talent in NFL history. Simply put, there’s no shortage of highlight reels each and every Sunday.
Someone who has been there, done that is Joe Burrow—except for winning a NFL MVP and Super Bowl.
In order for the Bengals to make the Super Bowl and win, it has to be a MVP caliber performance each week.
In-state rival Cleveland will certainly be an obstacle for the Bengals to make a deep run, especially if Deshaun Watson is able to build off a lackluster 2022 outing.
But Burrow has been as consistently good as anyone in the NFL and with plenty of motivation to make the Super Bowl, Burrow led the AFC with 68% of his passes being completed and 35 touchdowns against 12 interceptions—a ratio trailing only Mahomes in terms of passing touchdowns.
The past few seasons’ meetings between Kansas City, Cincinnati and Buffalo have been nothing short of spectacular and Burrow has emerged as arguably the best quarterback in the league, aside from perhaps Mahomes.
Aside from divisional meetings against Cleveland and Baltimore, the Bengals will be put to the test against non-divisional standouts like Seattle, San Francisco and Buffalo. With a Week 17 matchup against Kansas City, the winner could end up being the 2023 MVP winner, and with January’s playoff matchup falling Mahomes’ and the Chiefs’ way, there could be an absolute historic performance from Burrow on New Year’s Eve.

Bills miss the playoffs
Since his first season in the NFL in 2018, Josh Allen has been among the best in the NFL at quarterback.
He’s got a career 63% completion record and just last season, threw for over 4,200 yards and had 35 touchdowns, but had 14 interceptions.
After outlasting Miami in a wildcard thriller, the Bills laid an absolute dud in a rematch with Cincinnati, in which the Bengals won a 27-10 decision in the AFC divisional round of the playoffs.
Over the past five seasons, it’s been Kansas City that has stood in the way of a deep Bills’ playoff run.
Twice, Mahomes and the Chiefs have ended the BIlls’ postseason, including the best game in decades in 2021 in which the Chiefs won in overtime in a 42-36 win.
So what’s going to change for the Bills in 2023?
Bills fans, dubbed “Bills Mafia” have been delighted to some of the most exciting regular season play since Allen entered the league.
But since then, the Bills have essentially had their run through the AFC East in what’s been arguably the weakest division in the NFL since Tom Brady bolted New England for Tampa Bay.
However, the Bills are no longer the top-dog in the division.
Since being drafted in 2020, Tua Tagovailoa has steadily been on the rise in South Beach, despite battling concussion injury over the past few seasons, highlighted by a scary scene against Cincinnati in Week 3 in which resulted in him being carted off the field and treated at a hospital for several days.
Tua eventually returned to play and despite the injuries, flourished when healthy. He completed nearly 65% of his passes last season and had 25 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Throw in the fact when healthy, the Dolphins have two of the most dynamic receivers in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle—the Dolphins will be a contender as long as Tagovailoa stays healthy.
Since Tom Brady’s departure from New England, the Patriots have searched for their franchise quarterback and the jury remains out on Mac Jones.
Jones has thrown the ball well in two seasons with the Patriots, but has struggled turning the ball over.
In addition to the Dolphins, the biggest divisional obstacle for the Bills is now the New York Jets, who traded for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The arrival of Rodgers in New York immediately puts the Jets as a contender in the AFC East.
His experience alone will be an issue for the Bills’ defense, who has been susceptible at times over the past few seasons.
With a crowded AFC playoff picture, it won’t be a shock to see the Dolphins or Jets take the division and continue to deny the Bills’ postseason glory.

Seattle makes NFC Championship
Similarly to Aaron Rodgers’ tenure in Green Bay, Russell Wilson found a new home a season ago and was traded to the Denver Broncos, hoping to return the franchise to a legitimate postseason contender.
Instead, rumors or internal troubles surfaced and the Broncos struggled throughout the season.
With the departure of Wilson, longtime Seattle coach Pete Carroll turned to backup Geno Smith, who eventually was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Smith lit up scoreboards in college at West Virginia and became widely known for his big arm and ability to make big time plays.
However, that success never fully translated to the NFL and after a lackluster, 11-18 record as the Jets starter through his first two years, Smith bounced around to the Giants, Chargers and eventually backed Wilson up for four seasons.
When he was eventually named the starter prior to the 2022 season, Carrol knew the Seahawks offense would be in capable hands.
Smith dazzled throughout the regular season and completed a staggering 70% of his passes. He threw 30 touchdowns and had just 11 interceptions while leading Seattle to a playoff Wild Card playoff berth.
Smith pulled his weight in the wildcard round, but “Purdy Magic” was in full swing and the San Fransisco backup quarterback out-dueled smith to advance in the postseason.
Now a year later, Smith has one full season in Carrol’s system and should be more comfortable in Year 2, despite the NFC West being jam packed full of potential Super Bowl teams.
The Rams figure to bounce back in Year 3 with Matthew Stafford at the helm and the ‘49ers proved to be a worthy postseason contender as well, with a push to the NFC Championship.
Not to mention that Kyler Murray returns to Arizona after a season-ending knee injury last year.
Still, Smith and Carrol have plenty of experience between the two and if the 2022 Comeback Player of the Year is able to translate more individual success into team wins, the Seahawks should not just find themselves back in the playoffs, but perhaps poised to be in Super Bowl contention.