By Harry P McGill ยท July 6, 2026
Every summer, somebody starts handing out imaginary Lombardi Trophies.
It happens like clockwork. A team signs a free agent. Another drafts a flashy rookie. Somebody wins the press conference, and suddenly they're the hottest pick to represent the NFC in February.
I've been around football long enough to know the standings aren't determined by headlines. Every season there are a handful of teams that get more love than they deserve.
Here are my five.
If offseason championships counted, Dallas would have a trophy case bigger than the Smithsonian.
Every August we're told this is the roster that's finally different. The chemistry is better. The coaching is sharper. The locker room has turned the corner.
Then somebody loses a couple of games and suddenly everyone is looking for the emergency exit.
The Cowboys have talent. They always have talent.
What they haven't had is consistency when expectations reach their highest point.
Until that changes, I'm not buying what they're selling every July.
I admire what Detroit has built.
I also think people have forgotten how hard it is to stay near the top of the league.
When you're the hunter, life is easier. When everybody spends the offseason trying to figure out how to beat you, that's an entirely different challenge.
The Lions are a good football team.
I'm just not convinced they're the NFC's measuring stick quite yet.
Washington deserves credit for changing the direction of the franchise.
What it doesn't deserve is to be crowned before Labor Day.
The NFL has a funny way of humbling teams that believe one successful season guarantees another. Defensive coordinators spend months studying every tendency, every formation, and every weakness.
Now Washington has to prove it can handle being the team everyone is chasing.
That's easier said than done.
Every year there's one team that becomes the darling of preseason predictions.
This year it feels like Chicago.
I've heard people talk about the Bears as though they've already clinched a playoff spot. Last time I checked, potential doesn't count in the standings.
There's talent on that roster.
Now they have to prove they can turn talent into victories when the weather gets cold.
The 49ers have earned plenty of respect over the last several seasons.
Respect and blind faith aren't the same thing.
Every roster changes. Every championship window eventually starts to close. That's just life in the NFL.
Yet every preseason somebody automatically pencils San Francisco into another deep playoff run as if nothing around them has changed.
Maybe they'll prove everyone right.
I just think they're living off yesterday's reputation a little more than today's reality.
It reminds me of those old restaurants that had a line out the door because the food was incredible twenty years earlier. Folks kept showing up because of the memories, not because anyone had looked at the menu lately.
None of these clubs are bad.
That's what makes this conversation interesting.
They're all capable of winning double digit games.
They're also carrying expectations that leave almost no room for disappointment.
That's a dangerous place to be in the NFL.
Every season surprises us.
A team nobody saw coming rises to the top, while another spends the winter explaining why things didn't work out.
If history has taught me anything, it's that hype rarely wins football games.
Dallas has to prove it can handle the pressure. Detroit has to prove success wasn't just the beginning of a difficult balancing act. Washington has to show last season wasn't lightning in a bottle. Chicago has to turn promise into production. San Francisco has to convince everyone the championship window is still wide open.
Until then, forgive me if I don't join the annual parade.