Super Bowl 57 may be over but it’s never too early to look ahead. Here are the Top 10 favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 58.
The 2022 NFL season is over and the Chiefs/Eagles have claimed their place in history as Super Bowl champs. There is a long winter ahead without football but it is never too early to look ahead and try to predict who the top contenders for Super Bowl 58 will be.
A lot will change between now and the kickoff of the 2023 season, but these 10 teams are the most likely to be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Las Vegas next February. Let’s start our list with two teams who missed the playoffs in 2022.
10. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – New York Jets
The Jets accelerated their rebuild rather quickly and held a playoff position as late as mid-December before six straight losses crushed their hopes of snapping the league’s longest playoff drought. It was clear that New York’s subpar quarterback play held back a team ready to win, and owner Woody Johnson has vowed to do whatever it takes to get that elite passer necessary to open a championship window for the Jets.
Sportsbooks have quietly moved the Jets into their top 10 Super Bowl futures bets for 2023, which makes sense since the team has been linked to Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo and any other talented quarterback on the market. Getting merely competent quarterback play would put the Jets in play to win their division and elite play would put them right in the mix for the franchise’s first Super Bowl title in 55 years.
9. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Detroit Lions
There weren’t many teams people feared more down the stretch than the Lions, who rallied from a 1-6 start to go 8-2 down the stretch and miss the playoffs on a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Seattle Seahawks. Dan Campbell’s team is loaded with talent on both sides of the football, with plenty of weapons on offense (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift among others) and an ascending young defense.
The NFC North is also in flux as Minnesota was exposed in the playoffs as a fraudulent team, Green Bay may be moving onto a new era without Rodgers and the Bears are in the midst of a full-on rebuild. Detroit should be favored to win their division and if their young core keeps ascending they can make history by winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history.
8. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Baltimore Ravens
It feels like a broken record to state that if the Ravens have better injury luck they can be a Super Bowl contender. Injuries again torpedoed the Ravens down the stretch in 2022 as Lamar Jackson missed the final six games of the year with a knee issue, including Baltimore’s Wild Card loss to Cincinnati, and several other key contributors were banged up as well.
The long-term status of Jackson, who will be the subject of trade rumors, is key to maintaining Baltimore’s place on this list. The franchise has been adamant that Jackson will be on the team in 2023 so if we take them at their word there’s no reason this team can’t be in the Super Bowl mix if Jackson can stay on the field.
7. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Los Angeles Chargers
Ascending star Justin Herbert got his first taste of playoff action and it was a bitter one as the Chargers suffered one of the worst collapses in NFL history to lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars at the gun. The end result was a new offensive coordinator as Kellen Moore comes over from the Cowboys to hopefully add some more innovation to the Los Angeles offense.
The AFC West should be a bit more manageable with Denver and Las Vegas taking a step back but third-year head coach Brandon Staley is arguably in a position where the Chargers need to make a significant playoff run to keep his job. The talent has never been in question in Los Angeles as this team has the ability to win a Super Bowl if everything goes according to plan.
6. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys’ Super Bowl drought reached 28 years as Dallas suffered another disappointing playoff exit in the Divisional Round against the San Francisco 49ers. Dan Quinn’s defense is among the NFL’s elite, which will help Dallas’ Super Bowl odds in 2023, but the offense was severely limited in terms of playmaking ability.
Brian Schottenheimer is taking over as the offensive coordinator and Jerry Jones figures to look long and hard for weapons to help Dak Prescott avoid further regression next season. The NFC East may be loaded but the Cowboys’ foundation is strong enough to win a title with the right moves.
5. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Buffalo Bills
This may seem surprising to casual observers but the Bills did not look right in the second half of the season. The loss of Von Miller to a season-ending knee injury was devastating but it should not have led to Buffalo’s Divisional Round flameout at home against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bills have been knocking at the door of a title for the past few years but appear to have taken a noticeable step backward toward the end of 2022. GM Brandon Beane has his work cut out for him to avoid more stagnation as Buffalo can easily win a Super Bowl next year or fall to third in the AFC East if the Jets and Miami Dolphins make the correct offseason moves.
4. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow recently said that the Bengals’ Super Bowl window is essentially his entire career. That statement is quite accurate as Burrow is the type of special quarterback whose game ascends in the postseason, giving Cincinnati an excellent shot to win it all whenever they get into the playoffs.
Injuries along the offensive line killed the Bengals in the AFC title game and their defense will likely need a few upgrades as well. It’s hard to bet against Burrow, however, as Cincinnati has risen from the ranks of laughing stock to legitimate Super Bowl contenders over the past two seasons.
3. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Kansas City Chiefs
You can easily make the argument that the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, which is the best coach/quarterback duo in the league, should be at the top of this list after making three Super Bowl appearances in four years and racking up two Lombardi Trophies in the process. The reason that Kansas City isn’t number one is due to the strength of the AFC, which is a much deeper conference with more opportunities to trip up the Chiefs along the way.
One of the top priorities for GM Brett Veach in the offseason should be to add another playmaker at receiver to give Reid more options to replace Tyreek Hill, whose elite skill set was irreplaceable after he was dealt to Miami for draft picks. Having the best quarterback on the planet is always an automatic head start so no one should be surprised if Kansas City wins another Super Bowl next year.
2. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – San Francisco 49ers
It certainly feels like the team most overdue for a title is the 49ers, who have navigated some of the league’s worst injury luck to reach three NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl over the past four years. San Francisco’s roster is loaded with skill-position talent and an elite defense, which should help them lord over an NFC West that is in rapid decline with the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals falling off significantly in 2022.
The one major question that the 49ers have is at quarterback, where late-season hero Brock Purdy will likely compete with Trey Lance for the starting job with Jimmy Garoppolo set to depart in free agency. Head coach Kyle Shanahan should get the most out of whoever is under center, however, and a bigger swing at the position could make San Francisco the top contender to win Super Bowl 58.
1. Super Bowl 58 Favorites – Philadelphia Eagles
GM Howie Roseman did a masterful job assembling the roster that helped the Eagles reach Super Bowl 58 and this team is far from done. Philadelphia has the deepest talent base on the lines in the league, which should lead to sustainable success, and Roseman is holding the 10th overall pick in this year’s draft (in addition to the Eagles’ own first-rounder) thanks to a savvy draft-day deal with the New Orleans Saints a year ago.
That pick, combined with a roster that doesn’t need much fine-tuning, leaves Philadelphia well-positioned to contend for a Super Bowl title next season. The fact that the Eagles could be in position to become the NFC’s most dominant franchise with a largely different roster than the one that won Super Bowl 52 is incredible and should serve as a model of team-building that the other 31 teams can learn from in the future.