Reacting to My 2025 NFL Season Predictions

At the end of August last year, I uploaded an article going over My 2025 NFL Season Predictions! Now, with Super Bowl 60 over and out, it’s time to reflect on these predictions to see just how badly I did! Like always, I don’t remember what I said (minus the Super Bowl), so this should be fun for all of this!

Credit: CBS Sports

AFC:

AFC East

In my Power Rankings, I had the Buffalo Bills 4th, the Miami Dolphins 18th, the New York Jets 29th, and the New England Patriots 23rd! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Buffalo Bills to win the AFC East with a smashing 16-1 record, and this very much didn’t happen, with The Bills finishing in second with a record of 12-5! In second place, I had the Miami Dolphins to end up with a decent record of 9-7-1, and this very much didn’t happen as Miami only managed to go 7-10 (finishing third as a result)! I then had the New England Patriots to finish third, also with a 9-7-1 record, and this aged absolutely terribly as The Patriots won the division with a massive 14-3 record! And finally, I had the New York Jets to finish bottom of the AFC East with a poor 3-14 record, and amazingly, this is exactly what happened! Let’s go! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Buffalo Bills as the Number 1 seed, but what actually happened is The Bills could only take the Number 6 seed whilst The Patriots took the Number 2 seed!

AFC North

In my Power Rankings, I had the Baltimore Ravens 1st, the Pittsburgh Steelers 13th, the Cincinnati Bengals 12th, and the Cleveland Browns 25th! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Baltimore Ravens to win the AFC North with a dominant 15-2 record! This is not a good prediction, as The Ravens crumbled to just an 8-9 record! In second place, I had the Pittsburgh Steelers to end up with a good record of 11-6, and they weirdly did both better and worse than this! What I mean by that is The Steelers ended up winning one less game, but that was enough for them to win the AFC North! I then had the Cincinnati Bengals to finish third with a 9-8 record, and whilst they did end up finishing third, The Bengals could only achieve 6 wins! And finally, I had the Cleveland Browns to finish bottom of the AFC North with a shambolic 1-16 record, and even though they did finish last, The Browns weren’t that bad (as they finished 5-12)! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Baltimore Ravens as the Number 3 seed and the Pittsburgh Steelers as the Number 7 seed! What actually happened was The Ravens didn’t even make the Playoffs (what a disaster), whilst The Steelers took the AFC’s Number 4 seed!

AFC South

In my Power Rankings, I had the Houston Texans 6th, the Indianapolis Colts 27th, the Jacksonville Jaguars 26th, and the Tennessee Titans 30th! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Houston Texans to walk the AFC South with a 14-3 record! That didn’t happen, with a 12-5 record not being enough for The Texans to take the crown! In second place, I had the Indianapolis Colts to end up with a record of just 4-13, and oh my goodness me, this is bad! For those who don’t know, The Colts finished third in this division with an 8-9 record, but that’s only because they lost all of their last 7 games! I then had the Jacksonville Jaguars to finish third, also with a 4-13 record, and this is honestly quite hilarious as The Jaguars’ record was flipped (as in 13-4)! And finally, I had the Tennessee Titans to finish bottom of the AFC South with a poor 3-14 record, and this is my one saving grace as I was indeed correct! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Houston Texans to as the AFC’s Number 4 seed, and what actually happened was The Jags earned the Number 3 seed, whilst The Texans had to settle for the Number 5 seed! Gosh, this division really was a horror show (minus Tennessee)!

AFC West

In my Power Rankings, I had the Kansas City Chiefs 5th, the Los Angeles Chargers 8th, the Denver Broncos 11th, and the Las Vegas Raiders 24th! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to once again win the AFC West, this time with a mega 15-2 record! Yep, I don’t think anyone saw this coming, with The Chiefs winning just 6 games all season (to end up third in this division)! In second place, I had the Los Angeles Chargers to end up with a good record of 12-4-1, something The Chargers weren’t quite able to replicate (finishing 11-6), although they did still end up second! I then had the Denver Broncos to finish third with an 11-6 record, and to my surprise, The Broncos did far greater than this, winning the AFC West with a really good 14-3 record! And finally, I had the Las Vegas Raiders to finish bottom of the AFC West with a “not as torrid as I expected” record of 5-12, but I was clearly too generous as The Raiders only achieved 3 wins all season! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Kansas City Chiefs as the Number 2 seed, the Los Angeles Chargers as the Number 5 seed, and the Denver Broncos as the Number 6 seed! What actually happened was The Chiefs missed the Playoffs entirely, The Chargers had to settle for the AFC’s final seed, whilst The Broncos were the Number 1 team in the AFC (crazy)!

NFC:

NFC East

In my Power Rankings, I had the Philadelphia Eagles 3rd, the Washington Commanders 14th, the Dallas Cowboys 9th, and the New York Giants 20th! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFC East with a dominant 14-2-1 record! In fairness to me, The Eagles did win the NFC East, but they “only” ended up 11-6! In second place, I had the Dallas Cowboys to end up with a record of 12-4-1, and the irony about this is I was correct to predict them to tie a game! However, The Cowboys only managed to win 7 games all season (even though they did still finish second)! I then had the Washington Commanders to finish third with an 8-8-1 record, and the fascinating part of this is I’m not sure many people would’ve predicted The Commanders to drop off in 2025, although a 5-12 record would show that they actually did even worse than I anticipated! And finally, I had the New York Giants to finish bottom of the NFC East with a miserable 1-15-1 record, and whilst The Giants did finish bottom of this division, they were at least able to achieve 4 wins! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Philadelphia Eagles as the Number 2 seed and the Dallas Cowboys as the Number 5 seed! What actually happened was The Eagles took the NFC’s Number 3 seed, whilst The Cowboys missed the Playoffs entirely!

NFC North

In my Power Rankings, I had the Detroit Lions 2nd, the Minnesota Vikings 15th, the Green Bay Packers 10th, and the Chicago Bears 22nd! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Detroit Lions to win the NFC North with a pretty strong 14-3 record! Unfortunately for me, this prediction aged terribly, with a 9-8 record seeing The Lions finish bottom of their division! Wowzers! In second place, I had the Green Bay Packers to end up with a record of 9-7-1, and oh my goodness me, I absolutely cooked here! Somehow, The Packers did finish second with a 9-7-1 record, and this has to go down as one of my greatest-ever predictions! Anyway, I then had the Minnesota Vikings to finish third with a 6-9-2 record, and whilst I was correct with The Vikings’ position, they actually managed to go 9-8! And finally, I had the Chicago Bears to finish bottom of the NFC North with a bad 3-14 record, and if Green Bay was one of my best predictions, this is a contender for one of my worst as The Bears ended up winning the NFC North with a really good record of 12-5! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Detroit Lions as the Number 3 seed and the Green Bay Packers as the Number 7 seed! What actually happened was The Lions failed to make the Playoffs, The Bears took the Number 2 seed, but I was at least spot on with The Packers (let’s go)!

NFC South

In my Power Rankings, I had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17th, the Atlanta Falcons 28th, the Carolina Panthers 31st, and the New Orleans Saints 32nd (yikes)! When it comes to my predictions, I had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to comfortably win the NFC South with a 9-8 record! Funnily enough, one less win for The Buccaneers was enough for them to miss out on the Division Title entirely! In second place, I had the New Orleans Saints to end up with a gobsmacking record of 3-14, and it’s funny to think that whilst The Saints won 3 games more than I expected them to, they actually finished last in this division! I then had the Carolina Panthers to finish third with a 2-15 record, and this aged well, with an 8-9 record enough for The Panthers to somehow win the NFC South! And finally, I had the Atlanta Falcons to finish bottom of the NFC South with a weak 2-15 record, and I was definitely too extreme with this division as The Falcons also ended up 8-9! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the Number 4 seed, but what actually happened is The Panthers were the ones who took the NFC’s Number 4 seed, not The Bucs!

NFC West

In my Power Rankings, I had the Los Angeles Rams 19th, the Seattle Seahawks 16th, the Arizona Cardinals 21st, and the San Francisco 49ers 7th (this is already a good start)! When it comes to my predictions, I had the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC West with an insane 16-1 record! Who knows, without injuries, this might have happened, but instead, The 49ers had to settle for third place with a record of 12-5! In second place, I had the Seattle Seahawks to end up with a solid record of 10-6-1, and we all know that this was wrong, with The Seahawks going 14-3 to lift the NFC West Title! I then had the Los Angeles Rams to finish third with a 9-8 record, and this definitely didn’t happen as The Rams ultimately went 12-5! And finally, I had the Arizona Cardinals to finish bottom of the NFC West with a 7-9-1 record, and whilst they did finish bottom, The Cardinals did a lot worse than I expected, winning just 3 games in all of 2025! In terms of the Playoffs, I had the San Francisco 49ers as the Number 1 seed and the Seattle Seahawks as the Number 6 seed! What actually happened was The Niners had to settle for the Number 6 seed, The Seahawks were the ones who took the NFC’s Number 1 seed, and the LA Rams got in as the Number 5 seed!

2026 NFL Playoffs:

Wild Card Weekend

In my first AFC Playoff matchup, I had the Houston Texans to beat the Los Angeles Chargers! Whilst this game didn’t happen, I was correct in the sense that Houston would advance further, whilst the LA Chargers would get eliminated at this stage! I then had the Baltimore Ravens to defeat the Denver Broncos, and that prediction aged terribly as neither of these teams even played on Wild Card Weekend this year! And finally, in the AFC, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to knock off the Pittsburgh Steelers, and whilst Pittsburgh did go 0-1 in the Playoffs (yet again), it wasn’t against The Chiefs as KC didn’t even make it to the Playoffs!

In my first NFC Playoff matchup, I had the Dallas Cowboys to win on the road in Tampa Bay, and this is a bad prediction as neither The Cowboys nor The Buccaneers even made the Playoffs! I then had the Detroit Lions to defeat the Seattle Seahawks, and this is a pretty hilarious prediction as we all know what Seattle went on to achieve (whilst Detroit didn’t even make the Playoffs)! Anyway, my final NFC Wild Card Weekend prediction was that the Philadelphia Eagles would advance at the expense of the Green Bay Packers, and whilst The Packers did lose this game, Philly also lost (against The 49ers)!

Divisional Round

In my first AFC Divisional Round matchup, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to just about edge out the Baltimore Ravens, and the fact that neither of these teams made the Playoffs is simply all you need to know! In my other AFC Divisional Round game, I had the Houston Texans to lose to the Buffalo Bills, and I wasn’t a million miles off here in the sense that The Texans did lose to an AFC East team at this stage of the Playoffs! However, The Bills also lost in this year’s Divisional Round!

In my first NFC Divisional Round matchup, I had the Philadelphia Eagles to get over the line against the Detroit Lions, and guess what, neither of these teams played on this weekend in real life! In my other NFC Divisional Round game, I had the San Francisco 49ers to beat the Dallas Cowboys, and all I can say to this is at least The Niners made it to this stage of the season (even if they ended up getting absolutely decimated)!

Conference Championship

In the AFC Championship, I had the Kansas City Chiefs to head to Orchard Park to take on the Buffalo Bills! Unfortunately for me, I was wrong either way as neither team made it this far (with me eventually backing The Bills)!

In the NFC Championship, I had the San Francisco 49ers to host the Philadelphia Eagles, and like we’ve already established, neither of these teams made it this far, either! However, the one positive that I can take from this is I was correct in saying San Fran would beat Philly at some point during the 2026 Playoffs!

Super Bowl LX

Credit: NFL

Yes, I really did predict that Super Bowl 60 would be contested between the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers! It’s funny to look back at the fact that I had both of these teams to take their respective conferences’ Number 1 seeds, and instead, they both lost in the Divisional Round having won on the road a week prior! It’s also funny to think that this year’s Super Bowl did take place between an AFC East and an NFC West side, but I just happened to pick the wrong ones! In terms of my winner here, I went with Buffalo, so given that Seattle won the big game, I was wrong again!

Note: A big thank you to anyone who’s read and/or supported my coverage of the 2025 NFL Season, and a massive congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks on becoming Super Bowl Champions (for a second time)!

Credit: BBC