LHS Super Bowl Predictions
The 2021 NFL Season kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 9 with the Dallas Cowboys taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before the season began, a survey was conducted, asking the LHS Student Body and Staff which teams they think will make it to the Super Bowl this season, as well as their pick for who will win it.
Below are the results for who was picked from each conference to make it to the Super Bowl.
Tom Brady and the defending champion Buccaneers were picked once again to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Second and third place in the conference were the hometown rivals, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Five percent more of those who responded to the survey picked the Packers (19 percent) than the Bears (14 percent). The LA Rams received 30 votes to take fourth place in the NFC polls. Two of their NFC West foes, the Seahawks and 49ers came in fifth and sixth respectively, despite a steep drop off between them and the Rams. The Atlanta Falcons were just outside the cut off with seven votes, and there was a four way tie for eighth in the conference between the Dallas Cowboys (5), Philadelphia Eagles (5), New York Giants (5), and New Orleans Saints (5). Every NFC Team received at least one vote, with the Arizona Cardinals (4), Minnesota Vikings (3), Detroit Lions (3), Washington Football Team (2), and Carolina Panthers (2) rounding out the list.
Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs, the defending AFC Champions, dominated the polls in their conference. They garnered nearly 40 percent of the votes to make it to the Super Bowl from the AFC. The Bills received 25 percent of votes, as they are a popular pick to take a leap this season. The new look New England Patriots, defense dominated Pittsburgh Steelers, and two run game oriented teams, Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans, round out the top six. The Cleveland Browns were tied with the Titans at ten votes apiece. However, Tennessee won the tiebreaker because they received more votes to win the big game (five to three). Other AFC Teams receiving votes to represent their conference in the Super Bowl were the New York Jets (7), Miami Dolphins (6), Los Angeles Chargers (5), Jacksonville Jaguars (4), Indianapolis Colts (3), Cincinnati Bengals (2), Houston Texans (1), and Denver Broncos (1). Out of the 16 AFC teams, only one did not receive a single vote: The Las Vegas Raiders.
The Kansas City Chiefs dominated the polls once again, as 22 percent of respondents chose them to win Super Bowl 56. The Chiefs won Super Bowl 54 over San Francisco but came up short last year against Tampa. The defending champs,the Buccaneers, did not come in second to the Chiefs despite winning the NFC poll. That title belongs to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo came in two votes ahead of both the Buccaneers and the Packers, but none of those three held a candle to the Chiefs, who are the overwhelming favorite among Libertyville High School Students and Staff. The only other team to garner more than a tenth of the vote were the Chicago Bears, who came 5th with 10.8 percent picking them to win the Super Bowl.
The votes for the rest of the league not expressed in the image are: 49ers (6), Titans (5), Steelers (4), and Browns (3). Eight teams received two votes: Cowboys, Colts, Chargers, Jaguars, Jets, Dolphins, Bengals, and Lions. Eight teams also received just one: Ravens, Panthers, Saints, Texans, Cardinals, Vikings, Eagles, Giants. Finally, four teams did not receive a single vote to win Super Bowl 56: Falcons, Broncos, Washington Football Team, and Raiders.
