Some things in life age like fine wine and others like a meme that seemed funny at the time but is horribly offensive in hindsight. Unfortunately for this author, the latter is the best metaphor to describe the NFL Super Bowl predictions that were published here a year ago. The official prediction was that the Seattle Seahawks would be taking on the Buffalo Bills in the big game, but that ended up not happening. In fact, between the Seahawks not even making the postseason and the Bills losing an overtime thriller to the Kansa City Chiefs., my predictions are pretty much dead-on arrival at this point.
The most embarrassing part of the predictions must be the fact that the Seattle Seahawks didn’t even manage a playoff run this year. That’s unbelievable with how much hype the Hawks had going for them in the preseason, and it was just assumed that they would ascend to the top. Instead, however, they went 7-10 and finished last in their division. To make things worse, Wilson missed several games with a finger injury when the team needed him. It was just all so unexpected when you consider how reliable the team usually was.
As for the Buffalo Bills, it was disappointing to see how their season came to an end after going 11-6 and knocking the Patriots in the first round of the playoffs. The fact that Bills Quarterback, Josh Allen, never got a chance to control his own destiny just leaves a bad taste in your mouth if you’re a sports fan. It was just a sad way to the end the season after everything this organization had accomplished. Bills fans deserved better.
With that being said, it seems, I was at least correct when it came to whether we would have a rematch of the Buccaneers versus the Chiefs. While the Chiefs did advance thanks to the Overtime victory, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a nail bitter to the Las Angeles Chargers, eliminating them from the playoffs. Then again, playoff rematches are so rare anyway that predicting that probably wasn’t the hardest thing in the world.
Another thing that turned out to be correct was the fact that Chiefs were destined to make the playoffs again and even make a run at the Super Bowl. Of course, that might not sound like much of a prediction either, but you have to remember how some had them pegged to fail after a losing streak. Mahones was also having some problems of his own, making things even murkier for the organization.
In the end, let’s take a second to look at the positives and note that the Cincinnati Bengals, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Los Angeles Chargers all managed to make it to their divisional championship games. That’s a bit of a change from last year and shows just how competitive this league is getting again. Here’s a prediction you can take to the bank though. No matter who plays in this year’s edition of the Super Bowl, it’s going to be a lot better than watching the Buccaneers versus the Chiefs for the second straight year. That alone is reason to watch!
