My sure-fire prediction misses:
AFC Divisional Winners
- East - New England
- North - Pittsburgh
- South - Indianapolis (If Peyton can play 12 games.)
- West - San Diego
Wild cards: New York Jets, Houston.
First round playoff byes: San Diego, Pittsburgh.
San Diego posts the best record in the AFC.
Cleveland goes 6-10.
NFC Divisional Winners
- East - Dallas
- North - Green Bay
- South - New Orleans
- West - Arizona
Wild cards: Philadelphia, Atlanta.
First round playoff byes: Green Bay, Dallas.
Green Bay posts the best record in the NFC.
Detroit goes 8-8.
Super Bowl: Dallas beats San Diego.
My predictions for the Detroit Lions:
| Sun 9/11 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Tampa Bay | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
| Sun 9/18 | Kansas City Chiefs | 1:00 pm | WIN |
| Sun 9/25 | Minnesota Vikings at Minnesota | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
| Sun 10/2 | Dallas Cowboys at Dallas | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
| Mon 10/10 | Chicago Bears | 8:30 pm | WIN |
| Sun 10/16 | San Francisco 49ers | 1:00 pm | WIN |
| Sun 10/23 | Atlanta Falcons | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
| Sun 10/30 | Denver Broncos at Denver | 4:05 pm | WIN |
| Bye |
| Sun 11/13 | Chicago Bears at Chicago | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
| Sun 11/20 | Carolina Panthers | 1:00 pm | WIN |
| Thu 11/24 | Green Bay Packers | 12:30 pm | WIN |
| Sun 12/4 | New Orleans Saints at New Orleans | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
| Sun 12/11 | Minnesota Vikings | 1:00 pm | WIN |
| Sun 12/18 | Oakland Raiders at Oakland | 4:05 pm | WIN |
| Sat 12/24 | San Diego Chargers | 4:05 pm | LOSS |
| Sun 1/1 | Green Bay Packers at Green Bay | 1:00 pm | LOSS |
Pretty solid throughout. There are only a few I would've changed and I can honestly say Week 1 performance really didn't play much of a factor.
AFC
East - New England
North - Pittsburgh
South - Houston
West - San Diego
Wild Cards - Baltimore, New York Jets
Playoff Byes - New England (Best Record/#1 seed), Pittsburgh
AFC Champion - New England
NFC
East - Philadelphia
North - Green Bay
South - New Orleans
West - Whoever finishes the season at .500, probably St. Louis
Wild Cards - Atlanta, Dallas (I really wanted to put Detroit here, but I'm still tempering expectations)
Playoff Byes - Green Bay (Best Record/#1 seed), New Orleans
NFC Champion - Green Bay
Super Bowl - Green Bay over New England
Yeah, it's not looking good for the Colts with Peyton possibly being out all season. I think the Colts can be 7-9 without Manning. If Peyton does play a few games, that might give the Colts a couple more wins. A 9-7 record may win the AFC South. But Houston will probably win that division now. Which means the AFC North will have two playoff teams: Pittsburgh and Baltimore. So I think your predictions are better.
If the Colts are wise, especially after handing out that contract, they sit him for the season if he can't play in at least half of the games. I think we have a good chance of seeing at least two or three 9-7/8-8 teams win their divisions; AFC South, AFC West and NFC West.