Every NFL season is filled with shock and surprise all season long. One of the most fascinating trends to me, is the fact of how many new playoff teams pop up at the end of the season. We’re going to take a look at the top 4 teams that are going to make the playoffs this year that did not make the playoffs last year.
Cincinnati Bengals
-Last season’s record: 9-8
-Why they make the playoffs this year: Joe Burrow and his health. Burrow is a quarterback that can change a game, between his accuracy and his ability to make all the throws, he is a huge reason why this team’s success has been what it is. They finished the season with an over .500 record without Burrow, he’s definitely worth a couple more victories and a playoff slot, no question. When Joe starts, the team is a very serious problem to handle, bottom line.
New York Jets
-Last season’s record: 7-10
-Why they make the playoffs this year: they still should have a very good defensive unit that ranked 3rd in the NFL in yds allowed /game in 2023. And let’s also not forget the future Hall of Famer, Aaron Rodgers, stepping in to lead this team at QB, after last year’s surprisingly agonizing season. With Jermaine Johnson and Sauce Gardner on the defensive side of things, they can bring pressure and a toughness to any offense they face. This team only gave up 19 TD through the air and 16 pts or less 8 times – if they do that again, or close, with AR12 at the helm, they make the playoffs.
Chicago Bears
-Last season’s record: 7-10
-Why they make the playoffs this year: quite honestly there’s too much talent on this team right now to push them aside. The wide receiver corps on this team, at least on paper, appears to look like it could be lethal. With WRs Keenan Allen, 4x 1100+ yard WR, DJ Moore and 6-3 explosive rookie Rome Odunze, adding in super-hyped QB Caleb Williams, not to mention D’Andre Swift at RB, who knows what this offense can do? I definitely think they’re going to be better than last season.
Atlanta Falcons
-Last season’s record: 7-10
-Why they make the playoffs this year: they got themselves a quarterback now in Kirk Cousins. Many so-called fans of the game like to bang on Kirk, but there’s nobody who’s going to tell me that he’s not a huge upgrade from Ridder.
Are you kidding me?
Last year Desmond Ridder threw for only 2836 yds, 12 TDs and 12 ints on the season, Kirk is a career 4000 yd, 25+ TD passing and 67% completion passer /season, this is a monstrous upgrade to what they’ve had. Adding that to WR Drake London and TE Kyle Pitts, they’re probably winning the division. If Atlanta’s opponents scored 20+ pts they couldn’t win last year, going just 1-9, this year that changes.
These are the teams that are going to push their way into the playoffs this year. Who they’re going to knock out, is a whole nother topic of conversation.