{"id":22759,"date":"2022-06-07T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T04:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=22759"},"modified":"2022-06-07T00:15:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T04:15:01","slug":"5-teams-that-could-make-the-2022-nfl-playoffs-after-missing-last-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/5-teams-that-could-make-the-2022-nfl-playoffs-after-missing-last-season\/","title":{"rendered":"5 TEAMS THAT COULD MAKE THE 2022 NFL PLAYOFFS AFTER MISSING LAST SEASON"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned in my \u201c5 Teams that could miss the 2022 NFL playoffs\u201d article, we had seven new teams make the postseason a year ago. Do I think there could be that many in 2022-23? It\u2019s always possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Injuries to key starters could flip everything. As much as everyone is picking squads like the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to make it to Super Bowl LVII, none of those franchises are nearly as dangerous without their starting quarterbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From what I can see, that\u2019s our preordained Final Four right there. One or more key guys go down and it blows the league wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, I\u2019m not counting on that. What I am counting on is some regular NFL playoff turnover, somewhere in the 3-5 team range so here are my picks of the five teams most likely to work their way into the postseason after missing out a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. MINNESOTA VIKINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season:<\/strong> 8-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odd to win the NFC North: <\/strong>+240<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, with Mike Zimmer phoning in his seventh season as head coach, the Vikings were in the playoff hunt until deep into December when back-to-back losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers, games the Vikes should have lost, doomed them to watch the playoffs in their family rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While those losses might have officially cost Minnesota a playoff spot, they were pre-ordained from the distant past. Ancient cuneiform tablets were dug up in Syria that predicted those two losses back 2,500 years before the birth of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, it was a bad 29-27 loss to the Detroit Lions that ultimately knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs and sent Zimmer\u2019s head coaching career blissfully floating down the River Styx. Every other loss on their schedule was absolutely going to happen. It was the Zimmer and Kirk Cousins Vikes after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this year is different because it\u2019s the Kevin O\u2019Connell and Kirk Cousins Vikes. What does that mean? It means that the offense will probably be more productive and facing a lighter schedule than they played a year ago, they could possibly steal another game or two and land in the playoffs. The two most important playoff predictor games on their schedule, the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 2 and the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 30 are both in Minnesota. They\u2019ve also split with the Green Bay Packers over the last two seasons with Zimmer as the head coach. There\u2019s no reason to think they can\u2019t do it with O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season:<\/strong> 9-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds to win the AFC South:<\/strong> -110<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the oddsmakers are correct, then the Colts are claiming the AFC North and the automatic playoff bid that comes with it. The reason? Matt Ryan, the former NFL MVP and famous Super Bowl loser is now at quarterback. And, here\u2019s the thing. I agree wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, you have to look back at last season and see that Indianapolis was a victory away in Week 18 from making the playoffs and took a mighty crap upon their bed at the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was nothing new. The Jags have owned the Colts outside of Indianapolis for years. It\u2019s not going to get any easier this year with Doug Pederson as their head coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s the rest of the Colts\u2019 schedule that looks very cakewalk-ish. Indy has the sixth easiest schedule in the league with one of the NFL\u2019s best rosters. No team put more players in the Pro Bowl a season ago and it was a good thing they made the cut. Those players had nothing at all better to do in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year? I think they\u2019ll be playing for a while as the Colts are a team that could very well sneak in the aforementioned Final Four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season:<\/strong> 9-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds to win the NFC South:<\/strong> +375<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re probably noticing a trend here. Every team on this list, with possibly the exception of No. 2, nearly made their way into the dance a year ago. For the Saints, the problem was an early season-ending injury to starting quarterback Jameis Winston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of starting men that should be suiting up in the USFL at QB from Halloween on, New Orleans still managed to complete a sweep of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and finished 5-6 over their last 11 games while going 4-2 in the NFC South. Two bad losses against the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants kept them out of the postseason. If they\u2019d taken one of those, they would have coasted in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Sean Payton is gone, this remains a loaded roster that spent the offseason adding to it while fixing their salary cap issues. Where poorer teams (and I mean that in every sense of the word) would start cutting and trading away talent to manage their cap, New Orleans just worked the contract magic and will now take the field with a healthy Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, rookie Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara. All while boasting one of the best defenses in the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering they beat the Bucs with Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill, including a 9-0 shutout in Tampa, there\u2019s no reason to believe they can\u2019t do it with a healthy Winston and Thomas, a guy they haven\u2019t had on the field since his 2019 Offensive Player of the Year campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their schedules and rosters, the Dallas Cowboys or Philadelphia Eagles are claiming one of the three NFC Wild Card spots. I believe that the Saints, as of right now, have a stranglehold on another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. DENVER BRONCOS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season:<\/strong> 7-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds to win the AFC West:<\/strong> +260<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Broncos have been searching desperately for a quarterback since Peyton Manning hung up his spurs after the 2015 season. They have been wildly unsuccessful. That is, until now, when they traded away a boatload of draft picks to add Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks in an effort to finally get over that hump and make a return to the postseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think they do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago four of the 10 Denver losses were by a single score with Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback. While their schedule does them no favors, playing the in toughest division in football (the AFC West) while also facing off against each team in the former toughest division in football (the NFC West), their schedule outside of those 10 games is manageable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they can go 5-5 in those 10 games, which should be expected with Wilson on the grill, the rest of their schedule looks like this \u2014 the Houston Texans, New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers. That\u2019s nine wins right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add one more from the Colts, Tennessee Titans and the Baltimore Ravens and that\u2019s a 10-7 record and a Wild Card berth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season:<\/strong> 9-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odds to win AFC West:<\/strong> +240<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On paper, every team in the AFC West should make the playoffs when compared to the rest of the AFC. The problem? They don\u2019t just play the AFC. In fact, they all have to play each other twice as well as all four teams in the NFC West and, as I\u2019ve mentioned before in this article and others, that\u2019s going to matter at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the entire AFC is a gauntlet and all it could take to win a division is 10 games. A 10-7 record will almost certainly make the playoffs. The Chargers were a couple of knees away from doing just that a season ago before Brandon Staley\u2019s aggressiveness pissed off the Las Vegas Raiders and cost them a ticket to football prom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it shouldn\u2019t have come down to that. Like every AFC in 2021, Los Angeles had a very bad loss on their schedule. For the Chargers, it was a 41-29 beat down by the Texans, of all teams, the day after Christmas. Unforgiveable. That\u2019s the one that put them on the couch in late January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, like I said, we\u2019re looking for 10 wins here and, like the Broncos, if we\u2019re ending our AFC West and NFC West excursion 5-5, we just need five more victories on this schedule. Luckily for LA, they\u2019re looking at the same setup as Denver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their other seven games are the at Texans, at Cleveland Browns (in Week 5), at Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, Titans, at Colts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can safely say they should knock off the Texans, Titans and Falcons today. That\u2019s eight wins. That means they just need two more against the Browns (who probably won\u2019t have Deshaun Watson in Week 5), the Dolphins at home and the Colts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can see 10 wins there and, honestly, they should be able to defeat every NFC West team except the Rams, so they could come out of that schedule 6-4 before even hitting the other seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <\/em>@TheFirstMan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with us our socials on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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