NFL 2023: Which Team Goes Worst to First? Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets Analysis

"Unlocking NFL 2023's Most Dramatic Turnaround Scenarios: Worst to First Predictions! 🏈🔮 Get ready to dive into the thrilling realm of gridiron speculation as we analyze the potential for an awe-inspiring transformation in the upcoming 2023 NFL season! 🌟 In this video, we take an in-depth look at three standout teams poised for a remarkable worst-to-first journey. First up, we delve into the Chicago Bears' narrative, with a laser focus on the electrifying development of Justin Fields. Witness the evolution of this young quarterback and explore how his growth could potentially elevate the Bears to a stunning resurgence. Next, we shift our spotlight to the Atlanta Falcons, fresh from drafting the dynamic Bijan Robinson. With the NFC South presenting unique opportunities, we dissect how the Falcons' strategic moves could position them for an impressive climb up the ranks. And then there's the New York Jets, who've sent shockwaves through the league by trading for none other than the legendary Aaron Rodgers. Join us as we unravel the potential impact of this monumental acquisition on the Jets' quest for a spectacular turnaround. In this video, we combine expert insights, data-driven analysis, and a dash of football magic to craft our predictions for these teams' journeys from worst to first. Whether you're a die-hard football fanatic, a fantasy league guru, or simply intrigued by the art of comeback stories, this video has you covered. Don't miss out on this riveting discussion that uncovers the underdog potential of these NFL squads. Like, subscribe, and join the conversation as we embark on a thrilling ride through the scenarios that could reshape the NFL landscape in 2023! 🎥🏆"

Julian Martinez: [00:00:05] Every year in the NFL, there's a team that goes worst, the first. Obviously, the only eight options that we can possibly have. Last year's worst place teams. We have the Jets who finished seven and ten. Big year for them with Aaron Rodgers in tow. The Broncos five and 12 last year. Then you had the Browns seven and ten. You had the Texans three and 13, obviously picking at the top of the draft last year. The commanders, eight, eight and one in a wild NFC East, the Cardinals four and 13, the Bears three and 14 and the Falcons rounding things out at seven and ten. When I say those eight teams out loud. Who's the standout for you? [00:00:45][40.7]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:00:46] I can think of five teams that have no chance. So that leaves three options left for me of the group. And of those three teams that I have in my head, I kind of want to say the Chicago Bears. I know that's kind of crazy, but I kind of want to say the Chicago Bears have a chance to go worst to first this season. I know that they've added a bunch of talent and I don't know how that'll change. They obviously draft an offensive lineman they traded for D.J. Moore, signed a couple of players on offense and defense that are lesser impact pieces, but they let David Montgomery go. But I've seen Justin Fields play such incredible football those last couple seasons. And look, if it weren't for them losing a bunch of Crazy one score games because they were really unlucky and one score games, that's usually how a team ends up getting the number one pick in the draft. When we didn't think of the Bears being the worst team in the NFL last year. They're really unlucky and one score games. Justin Fields got hurt at the end of the season and they were trotting out Nathan Peterman for the end of the season. I will not forget that Nathan Peterman played for the Chicago Bears to end the season. But if you're looking for a team that could make a jump from a three win team, that probably should have been like a five or six win team on paper last year, making the jump to nine or ten wins to win a crappy division. I think it could be the Chicago Bears. [00:02:00][74.4]
Julian Martinez: [00:02:01] Okay, well, let's work back to the Bears. Well, let's work back to the top. Let's work from the bottom. Let's talk about those five teams that you said had no chance. If I had to guess as far as which team would be the lowest. Arizona. [00:02:13][12.2]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:14] Arizona's in that group of five. I don't know if there's one that I think because it's been. [00:02:18][3.4]
Julian Martinez: [00:02:18] Between Arizona and the Texans, I imagine for you. [00:02:21][2.6]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:21] Know so the teams that I would say have basically no chance of turning it around are Washington. Arizona. Denver, Like, those are the three that I feel pretty certain aren't going to get it. And the reason I say they aren't going to get it is none of those teams that made significant improvements. Arizona, you could argue, has gone backwards in terms of the talent because they want to potentially tank for a top draft pick or rebuild or whatever they want to classify it. [00:02:48][26.6]
Julian Martinez: [00:02:48] Well, I guess what actually got to think about also the question to worst to first, we also have to think about who else is in that division. Right. Okay. So in that division for the Texans, they would have to leapfrog the Titans and the Jaguars. The Colts kind of maybe a little bit of gray area this season. They could probably leapfrog them. But are they better or can I potentially see them being better than the Jacksonville Jaguars if Trevor Lawrence gets hurt? But other than that, I have a hard time seeing it. Okay. Well, the Cardinals. Right. The Cardinals would have to leapfrog Seattle, San Francisco and Sean Mcvay is back there in Los Angeles. So that one even might be a dogfight as well. As far as like, can they even get to third place in that division? Right. Okay. So, yeah, no chance at all right for those teams to make that happen. The commanders. So they would have to leapfrog Dallas a playoff giants from a year ago and the Eagles, could they be third place in that division could have a wild year happen and then be two? Probably not with Sam Howell at quarterback, but where things have happened before in the NFL. But yeah, I don't see them being first place in that vision. So words the first in that concept instantly negated the Broncos. They would have to leapfrog the Chargers in Kansas City to make that happen. [00:04:05][76.8]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:04:06] Yes and that's not going to happen. My thinking on those three teams specifically are I feel more confident than anything else that Kansas City's winning the AFC West. The Eagles are winning the NFC East and San Francisco or Seattle are winning the NFC West. Now I'm just putting Seattle in. There's a caveat like it's a possibility Seattle could win the division, but San Francisco is the most talented roster top to bottom, I would argue, in the NFL. And then the other two teams I had, that group are the Texans and the Browns, which are the divisions within striking distance. But I don't think those teams are necessarily going to be able to leapfrog everyone in that division. So the three that I had a possibility on were the Falcons, the Bears and the Jets. And of those three, I like the Bears. [00:04:52][46.5]
Julian Martinez: [00:04:53] Yeah. And you know, also to round out the group talking about Cleveland a little bit. Okay so let's say Deshaun comes back and is actually Deshaun from a few years ago okay that's one thing for them but they don't have to. The same talent that they had initially when they made that trade for Deshaun to upgrade their quarterback position. Like I think their defense, obviously, we know how good Myles Garrett is, but don't think that defense was quite what it was whenever they won that playoff game a couple of years ago, had Baker Mayfield and thought were an ascending team within the conference, there might be okay, they might be a playoff team, but do I think that they'll be better than Baltimore or Cincinnati? They'll be in that. I think they'll be in that group, but it's going to be hard for me to see them jumping over Cincinnati. So I agree with you on that one as well, talking about the others. All right. So we have the Jets, Chicago and the Falcons. The Falcons are unique because they have the benefit of a bad division that they can exploit and take advantage of to jump to the top of their standings. So in another video, we talked about Baker Mayfield and what's going on in Tampa. We think that they might be on the downslide and might potentially be a top five drafting team this year. All right. While also kind of expanding on that one, Carolina, they have a rookie quarterback. We know there's going to be a learning curve. They have talent, but it's going to be a challenge for them to be able to really compete for a playoff spot within that first year. The Saints, their mid their defensive players they just resigned Cam Jordan on an extension their secondary we know that that's a strength of the team with Lattimore back there but he was injured and banged up last year and Derek Carr his first year outside of Las Vegas Oakland. We have to see what Derek Carr will really be. But Dennis Allen as a head coach is also a liability. Arthur Smith I respect him as a head coach. They just drafted Bijan. We know that. Kyle Pitts Their wide receiver position leaves a lot to be desired. Desmond Ridder certainly at quarterback, but if they live off the back of a running game and a decent defense, not a great defense, not a good defense, not a bad defense and a horrible defense, but an average defense with a solid running game, they could probably ride that to at least being the winner of that division. And then you mentioned the bears. Okay. So the bears looking around them, the Lions are the preseason darlings by many people had their first sell out at Ford field in the history of Ford field or will season ticket owners I should say the Vikings 13 and 411 and no and one score games a year ago. We know how that those teams tend to regress and then Jordan Love is the Packers starter this year first year starting for Jordan love I agree with you I think the Bears probably provide the biggest X factor to jump to the top and jump to the top and actually being good. So both the NFC South and the NFC North, because of those divisions being more in flux, provide both the Falcons and bears respectively the best odds that jump to the very top of their standings. [00:07:51][177.7]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:52] I feel more confident about any prediction this season. The team and the prediction I feel most confident about is the Packers are going to go seven and ten. I feel so confident that the Packers are going to be a seven and ten football team this year, and then that leaves Minnesota, Detroit and Chicago is the remaining teams. Maybe Detroit grabs a hold of that division. Minnesota, I think, is still should be the favorites, like they still deserve to be the favorites because even though that defense isn't very good and even though Byron Murphy's going to try and be the patch that they put to try and fix it, like I still think Minnesota deserves to be favorites. And I. [00:08:30][37.8]
Julian Martinez: [00:08:30] I think that Minnesota, they regressed to being a wildcard team at worst this year. I think their offense is still going to provide them more than enough punch. They still have tons of playmakers on that offense, but that defense, they have to turn around everything on their to be good. They were Swiss cheese last year and you go back and watch. I just finished quarterback. You go back and watch that game against the Giants. They're just getting carved apart. It's embarrassing. So if they still have that embarrassing defense and they lose a couple more of those one score games, yeah, they're going to be probably closer to a wildcard team than they will be winning Division 13 and four. [00:09:05][34.4]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:09:05] So here's where the Bears kind of sneak in the backdoor because again, are the odds on these teams great? I don't think so. Maybe you think the Jets are going to be this 13 and three juggernaut this season? I personally don't see it, but here's where it works in favor of the Bears potentially making that leap. All the NFC North teams have to play every team in the AFC West, which is potentially some losses on the schedule for those teams. And everyone has to play the NFC South this year. So all those teams in the NFC South, in the NFC North are going to start beating each other up because we just went through all the teams that if I told you that the Buccaneers, Panthers, Falcons, Saints, Vikings, Lions, Packers or Bears were to go eight and eight this season, you would believe me. Like there's a scenario where all of those teams could finish eight, nine or eight, nine or nine and eight or whatever. With the 17 game schedule, like, all those teams have the potential to be perfectly average. And so that leaves a lot. A room for chaos that's within that division, because 25% of each of those teams schedules are going to be playing each other. So the NFC South, the Falcons play the Bears. The Bears play the Saints, the Saints play the Vikings. All those teams are going to start beating each other up. And that creates potential for one of those teams to maybe win a division at ten and seven. Maybe it's the Falcons, maybe it's the Bears, maybe it's one of the non last place teams, but there's some potential for chaos. [00:10:27][81.9]
Julian Martinez: [00:10:28] We haven't talked about the Jets enough here, so let's talk about the Jets in their possibly jumping worse the first so we know the big storyline for them is Aaron Rodgers getting added to this one they have talent at the wide receiver position their defense is a strength of this team. You compare that to the bills who the bills have a little bit of drama in their locker room. We know that there was some offseason headlines between Stefon Diggs and Josh Allen. It's getting tougher to manage the cap. We saw that this team got beat up in the playoff game last year against Cincinnati, so the Bills could be a team on the decline potentially. A Josh Allen is still going to be good enough to keep that team afloat more often than not. But even Josh Allen, you know, he falls victim to the turnovers and that could be a potential thing that could cost the bills to lose a few more games this year. The Dolphins now the Dolphins are a lot of people's picks. The hell even be a surprise Darkhorse Super Bowl contender but that's going to ride on Tua's health, which we know is a consistent story for them. Their defense wasn't great last year. Their running game was a big drawback on the team. Last year. They're going to beat you with their wide receiving talent. They're one of the fastest teams in the league. Let's face it, they have Tyreek, they have Jaylen Waddle, the Patriots Steady Eddie. They could be the second best team in this division. They can surprise people and be the first. I don't know what Belichick they're you're always going to be no they're going to be good but the Jets in terms of pure talent on the roster should be better than the Patriots. I don't think that that's really deniable in terms of talent on the roster. The Jets should be better than the Patriots. So when I compare them to the teams in their division, the Jets from seven and ten, they were seven and ten with the bad play of Zach Wilson and everyone else that they had a throw at quarterback last year. Yeah. Could they win this division and be like a 12 and five team? That's something I could see happening. Could the bills regress and be more like 11 win team next year as opposed to a 13 win team in next year the Dolphins more in that ten win territory or as you joke around with the nine and eight or eight and nine record. Yeah those are all things I could see happen, right? So that's like the Jets opportunity, but it's a little bit more of a tough road. So again, going back to the rankings question of it, they are the third because they don't have the benefit of a bad division like the Falcons do, like the Bears do. [00:12:46][138.6]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:12:47] I might go as far to say the Jets are two and the Falcons are three. And the reason I say that is just I don't see the vision with the Falcons like Bijan Robinson is going to improve their offense. They want to run the football. I joke last year Arthur Smith, after Marcus Mariota threw a pick, ran the ball on 17 consecutive plays in a game last year. Arthur Smith's wet dream is to recreate the 2019 Tennessee Titans in Atlanta, just the most boring seven and ten football you can imagine. [00:13:13][26.0]
Julian Martinez: [00:13:13] But you get I'm betting more against that their division than I'm betting on them. [00:13:16][3.1]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:13:17] Yeah, No, you're absolutely right. Anyone can win that division. But I think I think Carolina has a better chance of winning that division than Atlanta, because I just I don't see division with that lane. I understand drafting Bjarne, he was that talent. We talked about it around the draft. But if the whole point was to draft a star running back and never invest in the quarterback position, why did you draft two receivers with top ten picks the previous two seasons? Why did you pick Kyle Pitts? Why did you pick Drake London? If the entire game plan was just, we're going to run the ball with Bijan Robinson. [00:13:48][31.3]
Julian Martinez: [00:13:49] Maybe I should say, with Atlanta. So we mentioned Desmond Ridder, but I'm forgetting they did sign Taylor Heinicke this year and they were Heinicke has come in and he's shown the ability to be a gamer. At least he's a NFL quarterback, which I don't know if Desmond Ridder is an NFL quarterback. Right. So I could see potentially if Taylor Heinicke comes in, wins the starting job, takes over, could he be good enough to engineer this Falcons offense to again, like nine and eight good enough to win the NFC South? Yeah I can see that with Taylor Heinicke. Yeah I can. In fact I'll go I'll stretch this I can see that if they start they start Taylor Heinicke more than I can. If they go into this year with Desmond Ridder, I would say honestly, if I'm the Falcons, yeah, Taylor Heinicke is my guy. [00:14:35][46.3]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:14:36] Just because Desmond Ridder's the unknown, right? We don't know what he is. [00:14:39][2.8]
Julian Martinez: [00:14:39] He's the unknown. But he didn't even. Well, he's kind of known because I did see the games he starred in last year, and I left very underwhelmed, in fact, too. And maybe this is unfair to him in certain respects, but seeing him in the game against Alabama a couple of years ago, that really scared me for what even going into the draft of what Desmond Ridder could be like going against the first elite defense that he really faced in college football. All that year with a bunch of guys who obviously ended up going to the NFL, and he looked as inept as he did. And then he comes into the pros and kind of looks about the same as he did in that college football playoff game. So I would say I've seen Taylor Heinicke, how I've seen Taylor Heinicke do it in a playoff game, actually. So against a team that went on to win the Super Bowl that year. So I can only say that I think that I, I feel very confident that from what I've seen on the NFL field, Taylor Heinicke, he's a better quarterback than Desmond Ridder. [00:15:33][54.3]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:15:34] I think that's why I put him third because I still I still think the Jets have a pretty good chance. And look Buffalo was this juggernaut last season. I think Buffalo's going to be that this year in the regular season. But I do acknowledge that the Jets have talent. Like I don't want to say oh that it's not all buffalo. Like the reason that the Jets won't win the AFC East is not all buffalo. Like the Jets do have a talented team there. I just I think if you stack them up against Kansas City or Cincinnati or a Baltimore or even a Buffalo, I don't know how how the Jets are going to match up in terms of regular season. Now one game sample size, it's football, random shit happens all the time. But over the course of a regular season, I don't know how the Jets are going to stack up in that respect. [00:16:15][41.4]
Julian Martinez: [00:16:16] Here's another thing to mention with the Jets. I know that their start to their schedule is not very favorable. I want to say a top five toughest schedule in the league to start the year. So if they start off on a poor note, then that opens up the possibility that they're out of it before we even get to Thanksgiving. [00:16:32][16.5]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:16:33] Oh, yeah, it's rough. I just saw it for the first time. It's home against Buffalo at the Dallas Cowboys, home against New England, home against Kansas City at Denver. A little bit better. But then again, we did a video on the Broncos and I said it's a little more favorable. The Broncos get to play at home against the Jets. Yeah. And then they play home. You give them goals. [00:16:54][20.7]
Julian Martinez: [00:16:54] You give them Denver at home. That's that's not good. [00:16:56][2.2]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:16:58] There's no and then they're then they're home against the Eagles neutral game against the Giants because again it's Jets Giants they play at the same stadium and then they play Chargers. So yeah, the first half of the season is rough for the Jets. [00:17:11][12.9]
Julian Martinez: [00:17:12] Yeah. And we know that sometimes like a poor start to the season could back break a lot of teams before we even get to the point where we're talking about playoffs. [00:17:20][8.2]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:17:21] But if they beat Buffalo at home, week one could be the turning point to galvanize the season. It makes them believe in the abilities of Aaron Rodgers, believe in themselves and believe in Robert Saleh. If they could just beat the bills at home week one. [00:17:33][11.9]
Julian Martinez: [00:17:33] Now, I would say in doing this exercise here, though, I have discovered that there's not as many worse to first teams I really believe in as there have been in previous years. Like, you know, there's been years like I remember when the Niners made their Super Bowl run a couple of years ago where a lot of teams were like, okay, I could see this team. They had a rough year, but they're going to be bouncing back next year. We're looking at these teams here and there's not really that team that we think can Yeah, there's teams we think could win their division, but there's not a team. We think they can go from being at the top of the draft to suddenly being a Super Bowl contender. So I do think that that's what makes this year a little bit different. [00:18:09][35.9]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:18:10] The exercise that I think is interesting about this is like so from like 2000 to 2018 or something like that, I want to say 16 out of 18 years, there was a worst of first team in the NFL. And then the last four years I think there's only been two. And last year was the Jaguars, which, you know, came down to the last game of the season to get the. [00:18:30][20.5]
Julian Martinez: [00:18:30] Bengals to a couple of years ago as well. [00:18:32][1.7]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:18:32] Yeah so I think I think we went two years without a worst of first team. Maybe Washington counted as a worst to first during the pandemic season. But the point being like you don't see it as often. And my theory for the reason that's the case is the top end talent in the NFL has never been as sturdy as it was in past years. Like you used to be able to always say, well, you know, the Patriots are going to be good and, you know, the Peyton Manning is going to be good. And other than that, we'll see what happens below that. Now you can say we know Kansas City's always going to be good. We know Buffalo's always going to be good. Before Buffalo, it was the Patriots. We always knew the Patriots were going to be good. Now we feel confident saying we know that the Bengals are always going to be good. The 49ers are always going to be good. I personally would say that the Eagles are going to be really, really good this next year. [00:19:20][47.5]
Julian Martinez: [00:19:20] Like now, I. [00:19:21][0.6]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:19:21] Think they get top end talent. [00:19:22][0.8]
Julian Martinez: [00:19:22] Now we're saying this too, and part of what makes a lot of worse the first seasons is injury and we can't predict injury. We're not in the future talent business in that respect. But if you told me, like we go into this year and God forbid something happens to like Mahomes or Trevor Lawrence or a lot of those Top End quarterback talents, then throw everything out the window and that completely changes a division. And suddenly you say, like Houston Texans, bare with me. But the Houston Texans winning that division suddenly becomes likely because the talent around them in the division just instantly is not that good. [00:19:57][34.7]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:19:57] I mean, we were talking about that with Jared Goff earlier. Jared Goff goes down for the Lions and we take them out. I mean, it means. Ten wins could win the NFC North. If you told me the Bears got ten wins, it wouldn't be the most shocking thing in the world. I mean, it would mean Justin Fields is taking the next step to like MVP frontrunner and like has made this Josh Allen. I mean, not Josh Allen type league. Justin Fields finished 10th in the MVP last year, but he's made an extra step. [00:20:19][22.0]
Julian Martinez: [00:20:20] And you mentioned it earlier to the improvements and the talent around Justin Fields on the offense. This year is going to be something that if the Bears do make that leap and hey, kudos to you Bears fans, if this is like a turnaround season for you because I know that you've struggled to find talent at the quarterback position for ever. This is why I do think that we're of like mind here. We look at the division, we look at ascending players around the league and the Bears just make the most sense as far as like this worse, the first team. [00:20:51][31.2]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:20:51] You and I saw the highlights last year, we both believe like Justin Fields is incredible and I know I'm less of the winds are not a quarterback stat person than you are, but you and I both see it like Justin Fields. The record of the Bears was not indicative of the play of Justin Fields. Justin Fields was amazing. [00:21:08][16.3]
Julian Martinez: [00:21:09] Now just I will cut you off just a little bit just to say that. Yes, I do see the highlights. I do think the talent is there, but I'm not as fervent of a Justin Fields believer entirely like he. I still need to see it like reflect in the win loss record. But I do think that it is there. Like I'm not going to deny it, is there. There is something like, can he have a Cam Newton style development? Yes, I do think that that is a possibility for Justin Fields. What about you ranked these teams in the comments section. How do you think that this things shake out? Is there like any exception to what we said here? Like, do you believe that there's a team that we're kind of sleeping on by to your thoughts in the comments section We like in the video, subscribe to the channel, follow us on all our social media from juju and Kyle. Stay safe, happy and healthy. We will see you next time. [00:21:09][0.0]
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