Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young has had a turbulent start to his NFL career, going from the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 to being benched in his second season to leading Carolina to the playoffs this past season, where the Panthers nearly defeated the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round.
Bryce Young had a career year in 2025, with career highs in yards, yards per attempt, touchdowns, passer rating, and completion percentage. While Young had a slow start to his NFL career, Carolina has finally started seeing positive returns on the draft pick, as well as the immense haul of resources they traded away for that draft pick.
Every Panthers fan wants to know: Is this the year we see Young take the step from a developing young player to a franchise quarterback? 2026 is a big year for the Carolina QB.
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears had a fantastic 2025 season. Chicago went 11-6, adding 6 wins to their 2024 tally, took home the NFC North division title, and came close to making the NFC title game.
A lot of excitement is building for this Chicago offense. Offensive guru Ben Johnson in his second year, MVP candidate Caleb Williams at quarterback, plenty of talented weapons including De'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai in the backfield, Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III on the outside, and 2nd year tight end, Colston Loveland. This offense should be one of the best in the league, possibly even historic according to Johnson.
This Chicago defense, however, has a lot more questions surrounding it. In 2025, this Bears defense finished 23rd in points allowed and 29th in yards allowed, even while benefiting from fortunate turnover luck, finishing #1 in takeaways. Speaking of luck, Chicago has been unlucky with training camp injuries, especially on the defensive roster. With safety Coby Bryant being placed on IR and cornerback Kyler Gordon on the PUP list, this defense will not be at full strength to start the season.
Additionally, Chicago has questions along the defensive line, failing to seriously address a unit that finished 29th in pressure rate, 22nd in sacks, and allowed the 6th most rushing yards in the league last year. This defensive line becomes even more of a question after its best interior defensive lineman, Gervon Dexter, was recently traded to the Falcons.
If this defense can withstand injuries from the secondary, develop its young pieces, and avoid being one of the league's worst defensive units, Chicago is a legit Super Bowl contender. However, if this defense performs in the way its personnel and injury list suggest, 2026 could be a frustrating one for Bears fans.
Cincinnati Bengals
This Cincinnati Bengals offense should be awesome this season. With Joe Burrow back healthy, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at wide receiver, and Chase Brown at running back, this offense is ready to return as one of the best units in football.
But as has been the case in Cincinnati for the past few years, this defense hasn't been good enough for the team to return to the Super Bowl, finishing outside the top 20 in points and yards allowed each of the last three years. Most recently, the 2026 Bengals defense finished 30th in points allowed, 31st in yards allowed, 29th in EPA per play, and similarly abominable rankings in most other defensive categories.
Adding 2-time All-Pro Dexter Lawrence to this defense should raise the floor of this group but this Cincinnati defense has a lot to prove entering this season.
Cleveland Browns
New Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken recently named Deshaun Watson the starting quarterback. Watson hasn't performed well for Cleveland in his 19 games, going 9-10 and averaging just over 177 passing yards per game, with only 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
During his time in Houston, Watson was viewed as one of the NFL's most talented young quarterbacks, earning 3 Pro Bowl selections and leading the league in passing yards in 2020. Is Cleveland banking on Watson resurrecting his career? And how long will this belief in Watson last?
Second-year player Shedeur Sanders will start the year as the backup, but something tells me he won't be on the bench for long and will have the opportunity to prove himself to this coaching staff. With this 2026 Browns team having muted expectations, this quarterback room will be entertaining to watch this season.
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