With the 2022 NFL season just around the corner, those who cover the league are sharing their predictions for the upcoming season.
USA TODAY recently released a wave of predictions from their expert panel with forecasts on division winners, AFC and NFC champions, Super Bowl winners and a host of individual NFL awards. The panel of experts includes seven of their national NFL writers and reporters — Jarrett Bell, Nate Davis, Safid Deen, Tyler Dragon, Parker Gabriel, Mike Jones and Lorenzo Reyes.
The Chiefs actually did surprisingly well in this panel, showing that the national media actually seems pretty high on Kansas City despite their grueling schedule. Five of the seven panelists predicted that they’ll win the AFC West for the seventh consecutive season. Two panelists predicted that the Chargers will win the AFC west, but in those two cases Kansas City was still making the playoffs as either the first or second AFC Wild Card team.
Unfortunately, it seems the Chiefs’ favor stops there for this team. Tyler Dragon was the only reporter to select Kansas City as the AFC Champion, but they wouldn’t go on to defeat his NFC pick (Los Angeles Rams) in Super Bowl 57.
As for individual accolades and awards, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes earned two votes for MVP alongside Josh Allen (4 votes) and Justin Herbert (1 vote). Safid Deen voted for Chiefs rookie WR Skyy Moore to receive Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, but none of the first-round defenders selected by Kansas City were considered for Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
