5 BOLD PREDICTIONS FOR THE 2022 NFL SEASON

BY ADAM GREENE

We’re a single slate of games into the season and while many in fandom and punditry will want to overreact over what we saw in Week 1., I prefer to get bold.

I don’t take the idea of a “bold prediction” lightly. There’s nothing “bold” about predicting the Detroit Lions will miss the playoffs. A “bold” prediction would be saying that very Lions team will not only make the playoffs, but go all the way to the Super Bowl. I’m not doing that.

But I am sticking my neck out to deliver my annual selections of unlikely and unexpected outcomes that I totally see coming.

5. THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS WILL WIN FEWER THAN SIX GAMES

A year after returning to the postseason, the Patriots are about to fall to Earth like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. It’s been so long since Bill Belichick has been forced to play two years in a row without Tom Brady, you can be forgiven for thinking last year would be a return to normalcy. Oh no. This year is what Belichick sans Brady regularly looks like.

In The Super Genius’ first foray into head coaching, he led the Cleveland Browns to exactly one winning season in five tries before getting fired after the 1995 campaign. His New England tenure started no better, with a 5-11 record with Drew Bledsoe as his starter in 2000. In 2001, the year they won their first Super Bowl, they opened the year 0-2 with Bledsoe at QB. Brady only took the reins when Bledsoe was injured in their Game 2 loss to the New York Jets.

Belichick has made the playoffs as a head coach exactly twice without Brady under center, in 1994 with the Browns and last year with the Patriots. That’s a stat that will not change in 2022.

The opening week 20-7 lackluster showing against the Miami Dolphins was no aberration. In fact, looking at the Pats schedule, I see three consecutive losses coming at the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and at the Green Bay Packers. The fact is, picking New England to go 5-12 might be a stretch, with a middling second-year quarterback, poor skill position players and some of the worst assistant coaches on both sides of the ball not only in the NFL, but perhaps in NFL history. Of course, two of them are Belichick’s kids, so there’s no fixing that.

4. MATT RHULE WILL BE THE FIRST HEAD COACH FIRED

With Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott potentially missing the first eight weeks of the season with an injured hand, a lot of the “first coach fired” talk will rightly be aimed at his head coach Mike McCarthy.

But Jerry Jones is notoriously slow at firing a head coach, much to his team’s detriment. Also, McCarthy does have the excuse of losing Prescott for half the season. He was a dead man walking the minute Sean Payton “retired” from the New Orleans Saints, but I do think McCarthy will make it to Week 18.

Matt Rhule? It wouldn’t shock me to see him in the bread line before this article is posted. Rhule went 5-11 his first year and when the league added a 17^th game in 2021, Rhule made sure to lose it, going 5-12. He’s started the 2022 campaign 0-1 with his personally selected quarterback, Baker Mayfield, losing his own revenge game.

The Panthers have one of the three worst rosters in the league. Not all of that’s on Rhule. He can, at least, share that blame with general manager Scott Fitterer.

Carolina plays at the New York Giants this coming Sunday and if they drop that game, and there’s no reason to believe for a second they won’t, the guillotine blade moves that much closer to Rhule’s neck.

3. TOM BRADY WILL RETIRE AT THE END OF THE SEASON

There’s plenty of rumors surrounding Tom Brady and his family off the field. His long absence from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in training camp was suspicious to say the least. The tabloids are blowing up with marriage turmoil and, while Brady looks like he can still play at his normal level after one game, he’s got a massive $375 million broadcast deal with Fox waiting on him.

I’ve stopped predicting the demise of Brady’s quarterbacking ability. But he’s done pretty much everything he could do in the league. More than any man ever has. It has to end sometime and this looks like the last ride to me.

2. COOPER KUPP WILL NOT LEAD THE NFL IN CATCHES OR RECEIVING YARDS

It wasn’t a shocker that the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Buffalo Bills on the NFL’s Thursday Night season opener. It’s how they lost that I don’t think anyone was prepared to see. What wasn’t lost was Cooper Kupp, who still managed to catch 13 passes for 128 yards and a score. His catches, after a game, lead the NFL. His yardage is good for fifth.

With such a strong start, you’d think that Kupp would once again have the inside track on leading the league in one of those categories, if not claim the triple crown again. Here’s why I don’t think he will.

The Rams offense was off. Allen Robinson was barely targeted and that will change. The presence of Odell Beckham Jr. at the game and in the pregame ceremonies all but guarantees his return to the team at some point. Plus, Van Jefferson, LA’s deep threat and No. 3 receiver, was out against the Bills. He should be back on the field soon.

Robinson, OBJ and a healthy Jefferson will steal Kupp’s catches and yards. He’ll still have an elite season and I think he’ll probably lead the receivers in TD catches again. I think that Justin Jefferson and Devante Adams will probably split the other two titles.

1. THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS

While all of NFL punditry might have been clutching their pearls and fanning themselves on their fainting couches after the 49ers lost 19-10 to the Chicago Bears Sunday, I was not surprised at all.

In fact, I called it. I felt that one in my soul, frankly, and it’s just the beginning of a rough season for the Niners.

Now, I didn’t think (in the preseason) that San Francisco would finish with a losing record, just that they wouldn’t make the playoffs. After Sunday, everything is on the table.

And, hey, they should stick with Lance. And I’m not just saying that because the Rams are my team. They drafted him to be the guy and you have to take the good with the bad early. He can only learn by playing.

But, as I said all offseason, the idea that he would take this team to the same place Jimmy Garoppolo did, a proven winner who played in two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl, in his first season with the keys, was simply ridiculous.

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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