Battle Red Blog
Only one NFL team leaves February as champions. Coming into the season, some teams possess more realistic expectations and face greater pressure to win it all than others. Thus, these rankings offer a subjective measure to determine which teams enter the season under the most pressure to win it all.
Of note, sometimes the pressure on teams to win does not exactly correlate to where they might be on season-starting power rankings or betting odds to win it all. A number of factors could drive a team facing more pressure to win vs. expectations.
With that, on to the rankings:
LOL
The Deshaun Watson trade/contract will haunt the franchise for years to come. 5 quarterbacks on the roster and no idea who will start. Myles Garrett made serious bank, but at the cost of never seeing a championship. However, they don’t need to win a title, ‘cause they got to add a bunch of them, with the NFL counting their AAFL titles from the late-1940s.
No Super Bowl pressure, just don’t suck (No particular order)
These teams are in various states of rebuild/retooling. The Titans just picked up their latest QB savior candidate, while Carolina is hoping that the Bryce Young of the second half of last season is the one that starts this season. The Saints are trying to figure out what they are doing, but they aren’t the Browns (and they are in the NFC South vs. AFC North). The Bears and Patriots made significant moves to upgrade, but it remains to be seen if those moves are good enough to even face playoff pressure.
New York/New Jersey pressures:
No one, not even the most die-hard fans of the teams, expects either the Giants or Jets to be in the championship mix. The Jets faced championship pressure last season, but that went nowhere. The Giants are under pressure to see if their recent moves will be enough to save the jobs of the head coach and GM. Sucking, while a constant presence for both New York teams based out of New Jersey, is typically not accepted here…at least happily. Being in the top media market brings special pressures to bear and they don’t get to hide.
No championship pressure, but major playoff pressure (No particular order):
For the teams in this tier, this is not really pressure to win the Super Bowl so much as there is to make sure you get into the playoffs. The Falcons blew playoff berths the past two seasons in the final weeks, and given their recent moves, they best be in the playoffs in 2025-26. The Cardinals blew a great opportunity last season and must make good this time. Seattle...
