My 2025 NFL Season Predictions
- Linus O'Howell
- Aug 31
- 16 min read
Ah, it’s that time of the year again! With Opening Week just a few days away, it’s the perfect time for me to release my Predictions for the 2025 NFL Season! As always with these, I will go through all 8 Divisions, giving my records for each team, before I then go through the Playoffs! There are definitely some interesting ones in here, I often surprise myself, but that’s the fun part! Right, let’s start in the AFC!
AFC:
AFC East
The AFC East contains the Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins, the New York Jets, and the New England Patriots! In my Power Rankings, I had The Bills 4th, The Dolphins 18th, The Jets 29th, and The Patriots 23rd! As you would expect based off those Rankings, I have the Buffalo Bills to walk the AFC East with a storming record of 16-1! The Bills have a difficult schedule in the sense that they play 11 games against teams with a positive record, but nearly all of those games take place at home! As a result, I have Buffalo to take the Number 1 overall seed (in the AFC)!
In second place, I have the Miami Dolphins to end up with a decent record of 9-7-1! The Dolphins are fortunate in that they play more games against teams with a negative record than a positive, but they do still have to face the likes of The Ravens, Chargers, and Bengals! Despite having a positive record, it’s not quite enough for Miami as I have them just missing out on a Playoff spot!
Next comes the New England Patriots, also with a 9-7-1 record! The Patriots are also fortunate in the sense that they play 9 games against teams with a negative record, but that sort of makes it very hard for them to win their other games, with trips to Tampa Bay and Baltimore! I’d say New England would be very happy to end with a positive record, but they still finish third due to them losing their head-to-head tiebreaker with Miami!
And finally, I have the New York Jets to finish bottom of the AFC East with a really poor 3-14 record! The Jets have to play 11 games against teams with a positive record (6 of those games are against Division Rivals) which isn’t a great start, and the only game on their entire schedule that they look favourites for would be at home to the Carolina Panthers (in Week 7)! It’s going to be yet another long year for that New York faithful!
Final Division Standings
1. Buffalo Bills: 16-1
8. Miami Dolphins: 9-7-1
9. New England Patriots: 9-7-1
15. New York Jets: 3-14
AFC North
The AFC North contains the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Cleveland Browns! In my Power Rankings, I had The Ravens 1st, The Steelers 13th, The Bengals 12th, and The Browns 25th! Ultimately, I expect the Baltimore Ravens to comfortably win the AFC North with a record of 15-2! The Ravens actually play 12 games against winning teams, which is a lot, and they have road trips to both Buffalo and Kansas City! Because of that, I think Baltimore will miss out on the Number 1 seed, taking home the third seed (instead)!
In second place, I have the Pittsburgh Steelers with a strong record of 11-6! The Steelers play 11 games against teams with a winning record this year, and that includes road trips to Los Angeles (to play The Chargers) and Detroit, whilst also facing Division Rivals Baltimore and Cincinnati! Despite all of that, I think Pittsburgh will be good enough to take the AFC’s final Playoff spot!
Next comes the Cincinnati Bengals with a 9-8 record! The Bengals have to play 10 games against teams with a winning record, but their schedule is harder in the sense that they have to play a lot of those games on the road (they also have to go to Minnesota)! Because of all of this, I think Cincinnati will once again miss the Playoffs this year!
And finally, I have the Cleveland Browns to finish bottom of the AFC North with a shambolic record of 1-16! I don’t think The Browns are the worst team heading into this season, not at all, but their fixture list is horrendous! They have to play 12 games against teams with a positive record, and then they play more games on the road against teams they could beat than they do at home! Because of this, I have Cleveland ending up as the worst team in the entire league this season, so let’s see how well this ages!
Final Division Standings
3. Baltimore Ravens: 15-2
7. Pittsburgh Steelers: 11-6
10. Cincinnati Bengals: 9-8
16. Cleveland Browns: 1-16
AFC South
The AFC South contains the Houston Texans, the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tennessee Titans! In my Power Rankings, I had The Texans 6th, The Colts 27th, The Jaguars 26th, and The Titans 30th! As you can clearly see, there is one standout team in this Division, and I fully expect the Houston Texans to run away with it, boasting a record of 14-3! The Texans have an easy division, I expect them to get 6 wins just from that, but they do still have to travel to Kansas City and Baltimore, whilst also facing The Chargers in LA (in Week 17)! Because of that, Houston will only manage to take the Number 4 seed, and that will probably disappoint them slightly!
In second place, I have the Indianapolis Colts to end up with a disappointing 4-13 record! The Colts’ situation at Quarterback is not great, and they’re not helped by the fact that they have to play 10 games against teams with a winning record! Despite that, Indianapolis do have some winnable home games on their schedule, so that’s why I’ve got them to finish second!
Next comes the Jacksonville Jaguars, also with a 4-13 record! The Jaguars have 9 games against teams with a winning record, and they too have a decent home schedule, with opponents such as The Panthers and Jets! Unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough for Jacksonville to survive without having a disappointing season, and they finish below The Colts due to a worse record against common opponents!
And finally, I have the Tennessee Titans to finish bottom of the AFC South with a poor record of 3-14! The Titans also play 9 games against teams with a winning record, but they play most of their “winnable” games on the road! Considering I have Tennessee as the third-worst team in the entire league, their actual record doesn’t show that!
Final Division Standings
4. Houston Texans: 14-3
12. Indianapolis Colts: 4-13
13. Jacksonville Jaguars: 4-13
14. Tennessee Titans: 3-14
AFC West
The AFC West contains the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Denver Broncos, and the Las Vegas Raiders! In my Power Rankings, I had The Chiefs 5th, The Chargers 8th, The Broncos 11th, and The Raiders 24th! As always, I expect the AFC West to be strong this year, but despite that, there’s still only going to be one winner as I have the Kansas City Chiefs to once again take the Division Title with a record of 15-2! The Chiefs play 10 games against teams with a winning record, but I would expect them to still win most of those games, besides when they go to Buffalo! Ultimately, Kansas City will take the Number 2 seed due to me having them to beat the Baltimore Ravens (in Week 4)!
In second place, I have the Los Angeles Chargers to end up with a strong 12-4-1 record! The Chargers play 9 games against teams with a winning record, but that includes The Eagles, Texans, and Steelers (as well as of course KC)! I think LA could be really good this year, and that’s why I have them taking the AFC’s Number 5 seed!
Next comes the Denver Broncos with a positive 11-6 record! The Broncos play 9 games against teams with a positive record, and they also have to go to Washington (in Week 13)! Despite that, I think Denver will be good enough to win most of their games, and they will take the Number 6 seed due to having a better Conference record than The Steelers!
And finally, I have the Las Vegas Raiders to finish bottom of the AFC West with a “not horrendous” record of 5-12! The Raiders are in a really difficult Division, and they also have to face some strong teams in the NFC East! However, Las Vegas do have a couple of nice home games against teams from the AFC South, so they’re at least able to get some wins back!
Final Division Standings
2. Kansas City Chiefs: 15-2
5. Los Angeles Chargers: 12-4-1
6. Denver Broncos: 11-6
11. Las Vegas Raiders: 5-12
NFC:
NFC East
The NFC East contains the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Commanders, the Dallas Cowboys, and the New York Giants! In my Power Rankings, I had The Eagles 3rd, The Commanders 14th, The Cowboys 9th, and The Giants 20th! Whilst the winner of this Division usually changes year by year, I actually expect the Philadelphia Eagles to retain their Title with a record of 14-2-1! The Eagles have a trickier schedule, playing 10 games against teams with a winning record, and that includes trips to Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Green Bay, and Buffalo! I still think Philly will be superior enough to win almost all of their games, but it won’t be enough for the Number 1 seed (they take the Number 2 seed)!
In second place, I have the Dallas Cowboys to finish with a strong 12-4-1 record! The Cowboys have a nice schedule; they only have to play 7 games against teams with a winning record, but despite that, I’m still not convinced that they’d be able to overcome the likes of Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Detroit! However, 12 wins is more than good enough for Dallas as I have them taking the NFC’s Number 5 seed!
Next comes the Washington Commanders with an even record of 8-8-1! The Commanders’ schedule is hard; they play just 6 games against teams with a losing record, and consistently tricky away trips is why they miss out on the Playoffs entirely! A disappointing one to take for Washington!
And finally, I have the New York Giants to finish bottom of the NFC East with an appalling record of 1-15-1! In their entire schedule, The Giants are only playing 4 games against teams I have to end up with a losing record, and that’s honestly why I’ve got them to do so terribly! The only game that I’d say New York are favourites for is against the New Orleans Saints, but even that game takes place on the road, hence why I have them to end up as the worst team in the entire NFC!
Final Division Standings
2. Philadelphia Eagles: 14-2-1
5. Dallas Cowboys: 12-4-1
9. Washington Commanders: 8-8-1
16. New York Giants: 1-15-1
NFC North
The NFC North contains the Detroit Lions, the Minnesota Vikings, the Green Bay Packers, and the Chicago Bears! In my Power Rankings, I had The Lions 2nd, The Vikings 15th, The Packers 10th, and The Bears 22nd! Because of this, I expect the Detroit Lions to comfortably win the NFC North, with a 14-3 record to boot! Whilst I expect The Lions to win most of their games, they do have a difficult schedule, playing 10 games against winning teams which includes road trips to Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Philadelphia! As a result, despite being the highest-ranked NFC team in my Power Rankings, Detroit will have to settle for the Number 3 seed!
In second place, I have the Green Bay Packers to scrape a 9-7-1 record! The Packers play 8 games against teams with both a positive and negative record, but that does include some difficult ties against both the AFC North and NFC East! Ultimately, though, Green Bay will do just enough to scrape through as the final entrant into the NFC Playoffs!
Next comes the Minnesota Vikings with a very disappointing 6-9-2 record! I expect The Vikings to start their season pretty well, but following their bye, they have to face The Eagles, Chargers, Lions, and Ravens all in a row! I’m also not convinced that Minnesota will win any of their last 4 games either, and that’s why I have them falling well short of expectations!
And finally, I have the Chicago Bears to finish bottom of the NFC North with a record of just 3-14! The Bears haven’t got the nicest schedule, playing just 6 games against teams with a positive record, but on the plus side, they do have home games against The Saints, Giants, and Browns! Also, there are still definitely teams worse than Chicago (in this Conference especially)!
Final Division Standings
3. Detroit Lions: 14-3
7. Green Bay Packers: 9-7-1
11. Minnesota Vikings: 6-9-2
12. Chicago Bears: 3-14
NFC South
The NFC South contains the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Atlanta Falcons, the Carolina Panthers, and the New Orleans Saints! In my Power Rankings, I had The Buccaneers 17th, The Falcons 28th, The Panthers 31st, and The Saints 32nd! As expected, I have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to comfortably win the NFC South, but only with a record of 9-8! The Buccaneers have to play 9 games against teams with a winning record, but that includes road trips to Houston, Detroit, Buffalo, and Seattle! As a result, Tampa Bay will make the Playoffs, but only as the Number 4 seed!
In second place, I have the New Orleans Saints to finish 3-14! Whilst The Saints might be the worst team in the league according to my Power Rankings, they have the pleasure of playing 2 home games against two fellow Divisional sides that aren’t very good, and they also welcome The Jets in Week 16! This is a prime example of why you don’t always end up where your ranking suggests!
Next comes the Carolina Panthers with a terrible 2-15 record! The Panthers have a lot of difficult matchups; they play 10 games against teams with a winning record, and they also play most of their winnable games on the road! I really didn’t expect much out of Carolina anyway, but at least they’re not last!
And finally, I have the Atlanta Falcons to finish bottom of the NFC South with an awful record of just 2-15! Not only are The Falcons not very good, but they’ve also got to play The Bills as well as the entire NFC West this year! I can’t see a world where Atlanta get many wins, but I’ll be honest and say I was surprised to see them end up last!
Final Division Standings
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 9-8
13. New Orleans Saints: 3-14
14. Carolina Panthers: 2-15
15. Atlanta Falcons: 2-15
NFC West
The NFC West contains the Los Angeles Rams, the Seattle Seahawks, the Arizona Cardinals, and the San Francisco 49ers! In my Power Rankings, I had The Rams 19th, The Seahawks 16th, The Cardinals 21st, and The 49ers 7th! As a result of that, I have the San Francisco 49ers to storm through the Regular Season as Division Champions, ending up with a remarkable record of 16-1! The 49ers have incredibly nice schedule (due to them being so poor last year), playing just 6 games against teams with a winning record, and by far their most challenging game sees them head to Houston to play The Texans (in Week 8)! I’m telling you, San Francisco have an unbelievable opportunity to win things this year, and that’s why I have them taking the NFC’s Number 1 seed!
In second place, I have the Seattle Seahawks to end up with a positive 10-6-1 record! The Seahawks only have to play 7 games against teams with a winning record, and one of those is at home to Tampa Bay! I think their scheduled, combined with their overall squad, will be enough for The Seahawks to return to the Playoffs as the Number 6 seed!
Next comes the Los Angeles Rams with a 9-8 record! The Rams are unfortunate in that they have to play The Texans, Eagles, Ravens, and Lions this year, as well as their two games against The 49ers! Because of this, I have LA to miss out on the Playoffs entirely, but the craziest part is I’m only expecting them to lose 1 more game than they did last season!
And finally, I have the Arizona Cardinals to finish bottom of the NFC West with a surprising record of 7-9-1! The Cardinals have a much harder schedule than the rest of their Division Rivals; playing 11 games against teams with a winning record, but despite that, they do have the luxury of playing three terrible teams from both the AFC and NFC South! Because of this, Arizona are going to end up with a somewhat respectable record, at least in the sense that they’ve finished bottom!
Final Division Standings
1. San Francisco 49ers: 16-1
6. Seattle Seahawks: 10-6-1
8. Los Angeles Rams: 9-8
10. Arizona Cardinals
2026 NFL Playoffs:
Wild Card Weekend
In the first of three AFC matchups on Super Wild Card Weekend, the 12-4-1 Los Angeles Chargers travel to Houston to take on the 14-3 Texans! I rate both teams a lot, they have strong Quarterbacks, and Houston’s defense is particularly strong! Because of that, I will back The Texans to edge through over The Chargers, but it’ll be close!
The next matchup sees the 11-6 Denver Broncos take on the 15-2 Baltimore Ravens in Maryland! This is arguably a battle between the best defense versus the best offense, and whilst The Broncos are a good team, I’d be stunned if The Ravens didn’t advance any further!
The final AFC matchup of Super Wild Card Weekend sees the 15-2 Kansas City Chiefs host the 11-6 Pittsburgh Steelers! Kansas City have a much better record against fellow Playoff teams than Pittsburgh, but The Steelers are good on defense! However, The Chiefs are too good to slip up here1
My first NFC matchup on Super Wild Card Weekend sees the 12-4-1 Dallas Cowboys travel to Florida to take on the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers! Both teams’ offense is better than their defense, and having home-field advantage is always quite important to me when making Predictions! However, The Bucs aren’t good enough in my opinion, and that’s why I’m backing The Cowboys to advance!
The next game takes place in Detroit as the 14-3 Lions play host to the 10-6-1 Seattle Seahawks! Detroit have a much harder schedule than Seattle, making the odds of them winning here even higher! Whilst The Seahawks did well to make the Playoffs, I can’t see them progressing any further!
And the final matchup on Super Wild Card Weekend sees the 14-2-1 Philadelphia Eagles host the 9-7-1 Green Bay Packers! Philadelphia are the reigning Super Bowl Champions, Green Bay have struggled against big teams recently, and that’s why I’m very comfortable with putting The Eagles through to the Divisional Round!
Divisional Round
Two titans collide in the opening match in the Divisional Round as the 15-2 Baltimore Ravens head to Kansas City to play the 15-2! Both of these teams are super strong; Baltimore look elite whilst Kansas City can always get a result with Patrick Mahomes at Quarterback! The Ravens are also Number 1 in my Power Rankings whilst The Chiefs have this insane run of always making the AFC Championship game with Mahomes (7-straight years now)! Ultimately, I’m going to say that KC edge this game, but only because I have them winning this game back in Week 4!
The other AFC Divisional Round matchup sees the 16-1 Buffalo Bills host the 14-3 Houston Texans! Whilst Buffalo may have played more games in the Regular Season against teams with a winning record, Houston played more games against teams that actually made the Playoffs, so they’re both used to playing in big games! The biggest story with this game is The Bills’ 1 and only defeat this season came against The Texans in Houston (in Week 12), so they could be slightly vulnerable here! It’s also worth mentioning that Houston are also the only team I have beating The 49ers, so they’re damn good at taking down bigger opponents! However, on this stage, at Orchard Park, I think it might be one step too far for C. J. Stroud and co, with Josh Allen doing enough to get The Bills back to the AFC Championship game!
The first matchup in the NFC Divisional Round is a big one in Philly as the 14-3 Detroit Lions take on the 14-2-1 Eagles! Both teams have similar difficult schedules during the Regular Season, and these are two teams that could easily make the Super Bowl this year! Both teams appeared in the Top 3 of my Power Rankings; The Lions have a Top 3 offense whilst The Eagles have a Top 3 defense! These two teams also met in Week 11, with Philadelphia winning at home, and I’m going to say that that will happen again; I just can’t see Philly losing at home, however great Detroit are (which they definitely are)!
The final matchup of the Divisional Round sees two huge names collide as the 16-1 San Francisco 49ers host the 12-4-1 Dallas Cowboys! Whilst San Francisco have a much stronger record than Dallas, with it being the Number 1 seed versus the Number 5 seed, The Cowboys are more prepared to face top teams; they play double the amount of games against Playoff teams than The 49ers! In fact, Dallas are also coming off the back of being the only team to win on the road in the Wild Card Round, so they’re feeling pretty good about themselves! These two teams were also incredibly close when it came to my Power Rankings (with just 2 points/places between them), but in the end, I’m going to say that San Fran will win at home based on the fact that they tend to follow up poor seasons with a trip to the NFC Championship game!
Conference Championship
For a record-breaking 4th time, the AFC Championship game comes down to the Buffalo Bills taking on the Kansas City Chiefs! These two teams took the Number 1 and Number 2 seeds in the AFC, respectively, and they both appeared in the Top 5 of my Power Rankings! Both teams have stronger offenses than defenses, meaning this game would probably be pretty high scoring! One of Kansas City’s two losses this season did happen to come in Buffalo (in Week 9), but they do have the experience of getting over the line in these type of games, something The Bills have really struggled with in recent times! However, in my opinion, The Bills’ offense is better than The Chiefs’, Buffalo’s defense is better than Kansas City’s, and whilst Mahomes magic is always a possibility, I’m confident enough in saying that the Buffalo Bills will finally make it back to the Super Bowl!
For the 5th-straight year, at least one of these teams have featured in the NFC Championship game, and this year, it just so happens to be both! The San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles famously faced off back in the 2023 NFC Championship game, a game that The Eagles coasted after The 49ers saw all 4 of their Quarterbacks on the sideline injured! Now, once again, San Francisco had a much easier schedule than Philadelphia, that helped a lot, and I could see The Eagles ripping through The Niners’ defense! However, I do want to point out the fact that the last time someone won back-to-back NFC Championships was the Seattle Seahawks (over 10 years ago), and The 49ers are 2-0 at Levi Stadium in NFC Championship Games! Whilst I think the Philadelphia Eagles are the better team, sometimes the best teams don’t win, and I think this could be a redemption story for Brock Purdy!
Super Bowl LX
Live in San Francisco, The 49ers return home to face the AFC Champions, the Buffalo Bills, in the biggest sporting game in the world, Super Bowl 60! Based on my Power Rankings list, neither of these teams were exactly favourites to make this season’s Super Bowl, especially The 49ers, but that’s the joys of having an easier schedule! A big talking point in this game is the fact that neither team has been particularly good in the Super Bowl (recently), with San Francisco losing their last 3 appearances whilst Buffalo are 0-4 on the biggest stage! Whilst this game is taking place in San Francisco, the perfect home for The 49ers to become Super Bowl Champions once again, I actually think the Buffalo Bills will win, I think they’re the better team, and I think Josh Allen will finally lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy!
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