32 Teams That Can Win The Super Bowl
Institutionalized parity makes predicting any long-term NFL outcome impossible.
By design, the NFL redistributes wealth and talent in order to maximize the number of competitive games and ensure that as many teams as possible have a legitimate chance at making the playoffs.
In the last five years, the teams picked 1st in ESPN's preseason power rankings have made the playoffs less often than the teams picked last.
According to Pundit Tracker, 92% of NFL experts predicted the wrong Super Bowl champion in the preseason last year, 88% predicted the wrong NFC champion, and 76% predicted the wrong AFC champion.
Even Nate Silver wrongly predicted a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl before last year's playoffs, and wrongly predicted that the 49ers would beat the Ravens in the week before the game.
At this time 12 months ago, we didn't know who Russell Wilson or Colin Kaepernick were and everyone thought Joe Flacco was a stiff.
There are rational reasons to think the Seahawks or Broncos or 49ers will be good this year, but the margin between those "contenders" and everyone else is small enough to be completely erased by an untimely injury, the emergence of an unforeseen star or a gust of wind blowing a field goal off course.
Instead of an NBA-style hierarchy, teams in the NFL are arranged on a long, flat plain. There are no clear Goliaths and no clear Davids.
Right now, there are 32 teams that can win the Super Bowl.
Here they are:
- Arizona Cardinals
- Atlanta Falcons
- Baltimore Ravens
- Buffalo Bills
- Carolina Panthers
- Chicago Bears
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Cleveland Browns
- Dallas Cowboys
- Denver Broncos
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Miami Dolphins
- Minnesota Vikings
- New England Patriots
- New Orleans Saints
- New York Giants
- New York Jets
- Oakland Raiders
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- St. Louis Rams
- San Diego Chargers
- San Francisco 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Tennessee Titans
- Washington Redskins