4. Chicago Bears
After their breakout season in 2025, everyone seems to be riding the Chicago Bears' bandwagon in 2026. And that's understandable.
Ben Johnson was obviously the perfect fit as the head coach of this team, and the Bears' young offensive core absolutely exploded in his scheme last season. Most notably, of course, was the development of Caleb Williams.
The #1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft rebounded after a tough rookie season by cutting down on turnover worthy plays, making much better decisions with the football, and ultimately leading the Bears to one of the best seasons they've had as a franchise in recent memory. And he's got the likes of Colston Loveland, Rome Odunze, and Luther Burden to keep growing with.
The biggest question mark for the Bears right now is whether or not their defense can keep it up in the takeaways department. They led the NFL in that category last year, but the defense had some rough stretches outside of taking the ball away a bunch. If they can take another step on that side of the ball, this team could realistically represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
3. San Francisco 49ers
Even with so many injuries last season, the 49ers still managed to win 12 games and stay competitive in the best division in the NFL.
Kyle Shanahan is obviously a great head coach, but seemingly one of the unluckiest in the NFL at times as well. It feels like whenever the 49ers have one key group of players healthy, they're missing another entire group of mission-critical guys.
Last year, the 49ers had the fewest sacks of any team in the NFL, which isn't surprising considering they didn't have Nick Bosa for most of the season. But they are going to have to be much better in the pass rush department to take over their division in 2026. We already know this team has the pieces in place to be elite on the offensive side of the ball, seemingly even if Brock Purdy has to miss time.
The one non-negotiable player seems to be Christian McCaffrey, who is impossible to contend when he's fully healthy. If this team gets a clean bill of health, they might even be better than the Los Angeles Rams as a team.
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