NFL fans predict AFC division winners

In the heat of the summer, the pads are quiet.

But not for much longer.

The sports world is focused elsewhere at the moment, with the World Cup in full swing, the MLB season speeding towards the All-Star Game, the WNBA season pushing forward, and the motorsport world rolling along in NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1.

But the NFL is never far removed from our minds, and later this month training camps will begin, and the pads will thunder again.

This summer, we’ve been taking the pulse of NFL fans, looking at each division in the season ahead. Having completed a tour of the AFC, here are the four teams fans believe will win their respective divisions.

Last year, the New England Patriots shocked the NFL world by not just winning the AFC East, but working their way to Super Bowl LX.

While the emergence of Drake Maye as a franchise quarterback was part of the story, peeling back the layers a bit found that the Patriots benefited from an historically easy schedule on their way to the Super Bowl.

Looking ahead, NFL fans strongly believe a bounceback season is coming for Josh Allen and company. 78% of respondents picked the Buffalo Bills to win the AFC East this season, followed by 18% for the Patriots.

The New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins each received 2% of the vote. You can see the results, and the discussion, here:

Arguably the most fascinating division in the AFC is the North. Between new head coaches in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, a healthy Joe Burrow after last season’s toe injury, and the departure of Myles Garrett from Cleveland, this division feels wide open.

By a slim margin — 44% to 34% — NFL fans picked the Bengals to win the division, ahead of the Ravens. The Steelers secured 15% of the vote, while the Browns rounded out the field with 7%.

You can see the vote, and the discussion, here:

Up next in SB Nation’s tour of the AFC? The AFC South. The Jacksonville Jaguars won the AFC South a season ago, but the Houston Texans joined them in the playoffs as a Wild Card team. Those two teams figure to be in the mix once more, but what about the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans? The Colts got off to a hot start, but faltered after Daniel Jones was lost for the season with an Achilles’ injury. As for the Titans, they are hoping to be this season’s New England Patriots, rebounding in year two of the Cam Ward experience.

Houston was a rather strong pick in this poll, securing 55% of the votes ahead of the Jaguars with 26%. The Colts finished third with 16%, followed by the Titans with 3%.

You can see the full results, and the discussion, here:

We closed out the tour of the AFC with a stop in the AFC West. Bo Nix and company won the division a year ago, and were perhaps an ankle injury to Nix away from reaching the Super Bowl. But with Patrick Mahomes coming back from his knee injury, can the Kansas City Chiefs return to the top? Is this the year the Los Angeles Chargers live up to expectations? And how quickly can the Las Vegas Raiders turn things around?

In a somewhat surprising result, the Broncos were picked to win the division by 52% of voters, followed by the Chiefs with 22% and the Chargers with 20%. The Raiders rounded out the vote with 6%.

You can see the results and the full discussion here:

So … did the fans get it right?

We’ll see soon enough.

And you can join the discussion as well, over at SB Nation’s NFL Feed!