Today's NFL Comments: dumb predictions

It's hard for me to become fully aware that this is the beginning of the insanity that is the NFL season. Three things are throwing me off. First, this is also the first week of classes, so there are are things to concentrate on. Second, I don't have ESPN so I can't watch NFL previews all day long. And third, real games start Thursday but my beloved Vikes don't play until Monday night (when I teach a class, will get home in time to watch the second half, then will rewind the tape to watch what I missed in the first half). Usually, I'm so juiced up for Sunday I can't contain myself, Thursday is just an appetizer, and I spend Saturday night drunk to make Sunday come faster. But what now? All day Sunday I'll be enjoying the games profusely, of course, but I'll still be waiting for the Viking opener to really feel the season starting, and I'll miss that anyway. But the madness does begin this week whether my conscious mind is aware of it or not.

Anyway, today's comments:

RANDOM NFL PREDICTIONS THAT GO AGAINST CONSENSUS OPINION (DESPITE MY CLAIMS HERE)

The Chicago Bears will not make the playoffs.

9-7 will be enough for the Vikings to win the NFC North (though they Vikings will have 9 wins by week 10—they do have one bye week—so that shouldn’t be a problem).

Mark Brunell will suck, and Washington will be a disappointment this season until he gets benched.

IF Brett Favre finishes the season, he will break Dan Marino’s TD record, and he will break George Blanda’s INT record (he currently needs 24 TDs to tie Marino’s career mark of 420, and 22 INTs to tie Blanda’s career mark of 277).

The Philadelphia Eagles will win the NFC East.

Randy Moss will return to old form.

Tiki Barber and Larry Johnson will be fantasy disappointments.

I will suffer several mental breakdowns this season for not having ESPN or the NFL Network (it’s harder and harder to be a sports fan if you can’t afford a spendy TV package; then again, those of us who don’t have cable for financial reasons aren’t exactly the target audience of sports leagues who have the obvious goal of making money. But why did last night’s FSU-Miami game have to be on ESPN? I was planning on watching it. If I didn’t have a job that allowed me hours of internet access each day, I wouldn’t know what in the world was going on outside of the Vikings).

THINGS MOST COMMENTATORS ARE FORGETTING OR PRETENDING DON’T MATTER.

Daunte Culpepper threw 6 TDs and 12 INTs in the first 6 games of 2005.

Donovan McNabb is one of the top-5 QBs in the league, and he has shown the ability to elevate a team to playoff success without great talent around him on offense.

Brett Favre can catch Dan Marino’s TD record this season, which could have provided motivation for him to come back this season (the year before Marino broke Tarkenton’s records, it seemed that every story on the Dolphins focused on that; I’ve seen very few mentions of Favre’s approach of Marino’s record, for which I may need to do an extensive analysis in the coming months).

The losing team of the Super Bowl traditionally has unexpected struggles the next season (though who can pick against Seattle in the NFC West?)