NFL teams likely to improve in the new campaign

Chicago Bears finished the last season with 3 wins and 14 defeats. The NFL franchise from Chicago began the campaign 2-1 with victories against the 49ers and Texans, only to be defeated in 13 of their last 14 matches. The only triumph of the Bears during that period was vs. New England Patriots on MNF, when they recovered all 6 fumbles and forced 3 interceptions out of Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. Allowing veterans Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn to leave in free agency, the organization can be decided to tank in the past year. However, some might say this is false because of the following facts.

Chicago won only 1 match after September- but in most of the defeats, they had chances to win. Bears finished 1-6 in matches decided by 7 points or fewer, and most defeats were close.

Another reason Chicago will be better this season than the previous one is that they had the 5^th youngest team in the National Football League in the past campaign. With experience, the young core always plays better the next year. Also, the franchise had the most cape space of any organization. It acquired experienced players in attack (DJ Moore and Nate Davis) and defense (Tremaine Edmunds, Yannick Ngakoue, and DeMarcus Walker) that can contribute and help all the youngsters in Chicago.

Bears’ schedule this season will be easier than the previous one. They had the 6^th toughest opponents in the past campaign, while projections for the new season are that they are in the top 10 NFL teams with the easiest program.

Denver Broncos’ record in the past campaign was 5 victories and 12 defeats. Nuggets finished with a 7-10 record in 2021 but only won 5 games in the past campaign. All the fans saw what happened with Russell Wilson as everything bad that was projected to happen to him happened without a serious injury.

While the quarterback’s awful campaign might be the key to why Denver won only 5 matches, injuries of crucial players were also part of the problem. Tim Patrick tore his ACL in the preseason. At the end of the campaign, players like Quinn Bailey, Latavius Murray, Ja’Quan McMillian, and Essang Bassey were on the field, as they were not part of the plans to appear regularly. Still, the organization had no other choice than to play them.

By adjusted match defeats, Denver was the league’s most injured team in the past season, and the disappointing year can be explained in some way. We must add that the Broncos lost 3 games that went to OT and easily can be in the winning column with a little more luck.

If more players stay healthy, I expect a better record for Denver in the upcoming campaign.

Cleveland Browns won 7 games and lost 10 in the finished NFL season. Suppose you didn’t watch the organization a lot in the past campaign. In that case, it is all right as everyone knew that the campaign was lost after QB Deshaun Watson, who came to the franchise in a big exchange, was suspended by the league to not play in the opening 11 matches after his problems off the field with sexual misconduct. Without him, the Browns started 2-5, and it was clear that they would miss the playoffs. And even you can see empty seats at the stadium during the organization’s home matches.

Even after Watson returned, he played awfully and was ranked 29^th in QBR among QBs in the league. Only Baker Mayfield did worse than him, but he has to appear behind a 3^rd string offensive line.

As with Russell Wilson, the expectations for the new campaign is that we will watch better Deshaun Watson, which will significantly increase the chances of Cleveland making it to the postseason as this time, the quarterback will not sit at home playing free slots during the most time of the regular season but will be on the field from day one. 

Cleveland is the favorite to triumph in 12 matches over other organizations that missed the playoffs last year.