With the new NFL season starting soon, fans are starting to wonder which teams are going to win the titles that they’re aiming for. The NFC Championship is always fiercely contested, but which teams are likely to do well in it this year?
The Philadelphia Eagles
The winners of the NFC Championship game in the 2022-23 season when they won 31-7 against the San Francisco 49ers, the Eagles are many people’s favorites to win the championship game again. They narrowly lost out at Super Bowl LVII, with the Kansas City Chiefs winning 38-35 but can they reach Super Bowl LVIII this season?
The Eagles are widely regarded as the favorites to win the NFC title with odds of +275 and some predictions suggest Philadelphia going 13-4 during the regular season. If they collect the NFC Championship again, they’ll be the first NFC East franchise to successfully retain this title since they won it four consecutive times between 2001 and 2004.
James Bradberry signed a new three-year contract with Philadelphia and will be hoping to make up for the penalty call that went against him at the Super Bowl. Fletcher Cox also signed a new deal, while defensive tackle Jalen Carter and linebacker Nolan Smith were their first-round picks in the 2023 draft.
The San Francisco 49ers
After losing the NFC Championship game last season, the 49ers will be looking to win this title for the first time since 2019. They were the first team to win their division last year, sweeping the NFC West in a way they hadn’t done in more than two decades.
Injuries eventually hampered the 49ers last season, but the emergence of quarterback Brock Purdy was one of the positive signs for them to carry into the new season. Their attempt to win the NFC title for the eighth time in their history will be conducted without Jimmie Ward and Jimmy Garoppolo, who have both left the franchise. When we view latest NFL odds, we see that the San Francisco 49ers are second favorites for this title, with odds of +400 putting them behind only the Eagles. You can also get odds of +125 on the NFL winner coming from the NFC and can bet on individual San Francisco games throughout the season too.
The Dallas Cowboys
With just five NFC Championships in their history and the last one coming in 1995, it could be time for the Dallas Cowboys to win it again. The last few years have seen the team from Dallas lose at the divisional round, with the San Francisco 49ers beating them at this stage in each of the last two seasons.
What are their chances of being crowned NFC champions in the 2023 season? They’ll want to improve from the 12-5 winning record from the last couple of seasons if they want to win the NFC East first of all. Currently, the Cowboys are at +600 and are third favorites behind the other teams we’ve already looked at
Ronald Jones II and Chuma Edoga are among their new recruits while QB Cooper Rush leads the list of re-signings. Wide receiver Brandin Cook joined from the Houston Texans to set a new NFL record for the number of times a player has been traded. They’ll be looking for him to continue racking up the received yards and receptions as he has done in the past few seasons.
The Detroit Lions
At +900, the Lions are next on the list of favorites in the NFC. Last season was their first winning season since 2017 and they achieved it with a strong finish that turned a 1-6 record into 9-8 eventually. They lost out on a play-off due to their head-to-head record with the Seattle Seahawks but will be hoping to start where they left off in the 2022 season.
Their last conference championship was claimed way back in 1957 when they won the NFL Western. In terms of division championships, we need to go back to 1993 to find them winning the NFC Central. They’re now looking to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Will the 2023 NFL betting predictions give them a chance of a successful postseason?
The first round of the 2023 draft saw the Lions pick running back Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell to bolster their roster. The high level of change in their roster this year makes it difficult to predict how they will perform, although a strong finish to 2022 means that some analysts are hoping they will have a strong season.
Other Teams
The likes of the Seattle Seahawks, the New Orleans Saints, and the Minnesota Vikings are all listed among the other teams with a chance of winning the NFC Championship this season. The Arizona Cardinals are the underdogs at +8700, with the other franchises in this conference listed in between those extremes.