A good indicator of which team is going to win any given match up, other than who wins the battle in the trenches at the line of scrimmage, depends on the breakdown of the quarterback comparison, who has the better offense and defense, which team has the best head coach and skilled position players. These are the categories I will be ranking in this article. Let's see if the team with the highest rank on paper matches up with who we think will win the Super Bowl.
courtesy of CBS Sports
Let's get it started:
Quarterbacks
Packers
Chiefs
Bucs
Bills
Rams
Cowboys
Bengals
Cardinals
Titans
Steelers
Raiders
49ers
Eagles
Patriots
Total Offense
Chiefs
Bengals
Cowboys
Packers
Bucs
Bills
Titans
49ers
Rams
Cardinals
Eagles
Steelers
Raiders
Patriots
Total Defense
Bucs
Steelers
Patriots
49ers
Chiefs
Rams
Bills
Packers
Cowboys
Titans
Cardinals
Bengals
Raiders
Eagles
Head Coach
Patriots
Chiefs
Steelers
Bucs
Rams
Packers
Bills
49ers
Titans
Cardinals
Eagles
Bengals
Cowboys
Raiders
Based on these rankings a couple of things became clear. The Raiders, Eagles, Steelers and even the Patriots have next to no shot at reaching the Super Bowl let alone getting past wild card weekend. The teams that seem to have the best chance to go deep into the post season are the Chiefs and the Bucs who ironically faced off in last years Super Bowl. Probably not a coincidence. However, the Packers and Bills are also closer to the top in most categories. Funny that the Titans who are the number 1 ranked team in the AFC are stacked in the middle in basically every category. I suppose that shows they don't necessarily have a weakness but at the same time don't have the best personnel.
Guys, in the beginning of the season I picked the Packers and Titans to play in the Super Bowl this year and I'm sticking to it. The pick is looking nice right now as both teams have byes in their respective conferences as the #1 overall seeds. Interestingly enough though is that they don't top the charts much in this ranking breakdown.
I'd love to get your thoughts on the rankings and what order you may have them by each category. Have fun with it and let the debates begin!