The 49ers miss the playoffs in 2012.
-The 49ers had the 2nd easiest schedule in 2011. 2012 should prove to be a tougher test. They were very fortunate to have no major injuries. Willis got hurt week 12 and missed 3 games but they had the division won w/ their win the same day. 49ers have a good defense but I find it highly unlikely that they duplicate the +28 takeaway/ giveaway they had last season. They will be facing some pretty good offenses GB, DET, CHI, NO, NE. This will be Alex Smith's 8th season in the league. He has only had 1 decent season and that was last year. He's probably not going to get a lot better.

Sleeper pick to win that division: Seattle

What are your 2012 bold predictions?

Packers don't make the playoffs and the Vikings do.

doesn't get much bolder than that!

LOL! I'm not willing to be as bold as Raptorman but I have a gut feeling the Vikes won't finish last in the NFC North so that's my bold prediction: the Vikes won't be last in their division.

Success!

Adrian Peterson will lead the NFC in rushing.

Chicago is the worst team in the division, it will also be Cutlers last season as a bear.
Detroit misses the playoffs, and Vikings seem like an 8-8 team.

Saints and Jacksonville will be battling for the first draft pick.

Not really bold, but...

RG3 is a complete bust, and is replaced as starter by the Redskins ninth game.

If Rodgers goes down, the Pack wins about a third of their games. Their pass defense was the worst in NFL history last year. Worse than ours!

Here are a few of mine:

AFC

The New York Jets will be a 10-6 football team and make the playoffs.

The Kansas City Chiefs will win the AFC West and advance to the AFC Championship

The Steelers will fail to make the playoffs

NFC

The Vikings will not have a top 5 draft pick at the end of the season

The Carolina Panthers will make the Wild Card Playoffs

The 49ers will advance to the Super Bowl

Dallas will miss the Playoffs causing Tony Romo to be traded/released and Jason Garrett to be fired.

A few of those predictions might be going a bit beyond bold. Cutler is signed through 2013 so it would be very surprising if he wasn't a Bear next year, especially since their GM considers him a player to build around. That doesn't mean they'll extend his contract if they don't like what they see this season but he'll probably still be playing for Chicago next year.

It's also hard to imagine the Saints falling so far this season that they end up battling for the top draft pick but hey, it's the bold predictions thread!

For what it's worth, I'm already feeling uneasy about my prediction. I think it was wishful thinking. The Vikes will probably have a hard time even finishing third in the NFCN. They have soooo much work to do....

Not encouraged by last night's performance, eh Jim?

I haven't seen it [the Charger Game] yet (I will get a look at it Wednesday when the NFL Network re-broadcasts it). The game thread made it sound pretty brutal, but that can be a "pessimistic" indicator at times. I usually watch anyway to see if it was really as bad as it sounds. It doesn't sound like it was too good though.

No.... and like you, I haven't seen it yet. I've just read about it and seen some highlights. I recorded the NFLN re-broadcast and will try to watch as much of it as I can take this weekend. However, I don't put much stock into the preseason (even the third game) so that's not the main reason I'm uneasy. I've just been really thinking about the roster, how thin the depth is, how much uncertainty surrounds key players, etc. and I think it's going to be another tough, tough year.

tim tebow wins two playoff games.

Tebow replaces Sanchez at least 3 times and brings the Jets back from 3 losses in the 4th quarter.

Tebow, after having spent 90% or more of the teams snaps on the bench, watches the Jets go down in the first round of the playoffs.

Here's the bold prediction part since the other half is actually pretty plausible;
After the game he announces his retirement and starts a new mega church making him more profit than any of his NFL contracts.

Vikings beat the Packers. In Lambeau.

Edit: Just noticed my typo

Individual Player Predictions

RGIII is a bomb but he will not be replaced by a very capable Kirk Cousins because of the fact that the Skins gave up so much to land him and RACE. True. Got my Skip Williams Race-Baiting Cap on. RGIII will not only stumble he will get injured to the point where he will miss a few games and Kirk Cousins will start and win 2 or 3 games. Redskins will be totally dysfunctional over a racial QB controversy.

Overall Prediction
Bad year for scramblers. All these "mobile" quarterbacks are going to get annihilated by larger, faster and stronger D players. Concussions galore and concussion sensitivity will bench a lot of these guys.

NFC North Crazy Prediction
The LIONS are last place. We're not last! We're not last!

I expect that!

In the Playoffs. Again.

We're still undefeated there (In the playoffs)

Buccaneers win their division. They added some very good players in the draft and free agency, and they have a good young QB who had a rough season last year but will rebound with the new talent he now has around him

broncos wont make playoffs.

Of course they wont they swapped Tebow for Manning

Not too bad, Jacksonville is tied with the worst record, Detroit was god awful, and the Viking had a winning record. I just thought Chicago would implode way earlier than they did and Cutler would miss half a season, instead the 2 or 3 he missed for the concussion. I also didn't think the Viking had a playoff run in them until they beat SF. Saints still sucked, but had an unexpected mid season surge.

Holy mackerel was I wrong about RGIII. Friends don't let friends watch Skip Bayless.

Right on the money with Detroit, though.

Well, i got this right! I didn't think it would be quite the season he had, but still a solid prediction..

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Oops i meant to quote my prediction about AD winning the NFC rushing title..

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Wasn't quite right, the Jets didn't even make the playoffs.

Got the whole offseason for Tebow to retire and start a church though.

Tebow's going to Jacksonville and Rex Ryan didn't want to play him in the last 2 games because if they had won, Ryan may have gotten the axe for not playing Tebow.