The agonizing 200-plus day wait for real, live NFL football games that actually count is finally coming to an end. The National Football League’s centennial season kicks off tonight as the Bears and Packers renew the league’s oldest rivalry and fight the first battle to become kings of the north.

And what better way to usher in this glorious occasion than by foolishly attempting to prognosticate about something as wildly unpredictable as the NFL. Below you’ll find nearly 300 total predictions from 11 of Hogs Haven’s finest scribes and analysis from yours truly on those picks in what is the seventh annual edition of this series.

Check out our predictions and be sure to share some of your own as you prepare for the beginning of another memorable season of pro football.

Writers 1-3:

(listed alphabetically by last name)

Writers 4-6:

Writers 7-9:

Writers 10-11:

Redskins and NFC East Predictions

• Our fearless leader, Ken Meringolo, was the only one among us who was bold enough to predict that the Redskins would make the playoffs. Ken has the Burgundy and Gold racking up nine wins, winning the NFC East for the first time since 2015 and getting knocked out of the playoffs in the wild card round. Bill was the only other writer who picked the Skins to win more than seven games (8). More than half of us have them winning six or fewer contests this year (6.23 average).

• Of the ten writers polled who were not named Ken Meringolo, 90% of them picked the Eagles to win the NFC East crown. Mark Tyler was the only other one who did not choose Philly in this category; he picked the Cowboys to repeat. However, Mark isn’t the only one who likes Dallas’ prospects this year, as Aaron, Scott and I all picked the Cowboys to make the tournament as a wild card. Gross section, I know.

• Derrius Guice was the near unanimous choice to be Washington’s best offensive player in 2019. The lone HH writer who didn’t pick Guice here was Gabe Ward, who really likes the potential of rookie third-round wideout Terry McLaurin. We were fairly split on the defensive side of the ball, but the majority of us think Landon Collins will be the team’s top defender. Daron Payne and Ryan Kerrigan, who has seemingly won this made-up award 100 times, tied for second with two votes each.

Super Bowl Picks

• All but two of the participating Hogs Haven scribes picked either the Chiefs (7) or the Patriots (2) to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Things were similarly split in the NFC where the Saints and Eagles were chosen to go to the big game by six and two of us, respectively.

• Kansas City and New Orleans were the only clubs that received more than one vote to win the big game in Miami at season’s end, with KC edging the Saints out by a margin of five to three. The Eagles, Bears and Rams also received votes.

• I find it a bit odd that we always seem not to give love to the previous year’s finalists when we do this exercise, but I can’t rightfully hate because I do the same thing myself. Only three of the 22 picks to make it to the NFL’s championship game were made for last year’s participants (2 Patriots and 1 Rams). Ken was the only one who selected either of those two teams to win the title this season (Rams).

Other Prediction Trends

• I believe we set a new record for this series, with three unanimous picks. All 11 participating writers chose the Patriots to win the AFC East, the Chiefs to win the AFC West and the Dolphins to finish with the worst record in football and pick first in the 2020 draft. We typically only agree on the Patriots dominating the East, but KC’s historic offense and the Dolphins’ obvious tank provided us with two exceptions to the rule.

• There were several instances in which, while we might not all have agreed, the vast majority of us saw eye to eye: the Redskins missing the playoffs (10 of 11), Derrius Guice being the Redskins’ offensive player of the year (10), the Eagles winning the NFC East (9), the Chargers getting in the playoffs as a wild card (9), the Saints winning the NFC South (8) and the Rams winning the NFC West (8).

• As a group, we were most split when it came to picking the NFC wild card teams. The following clubs all got three votes to sneak into the playoffs via the wild card: Falcons, Panthers, Packers, Rams and Cowboys. The same can be said of the AFC North, where the Ravens, Browns and Steelers all received at least three votes each. The AFC South, on the other hand, wasn’t as tight (Texans 7 to Jaguars 2), but it was the only division in which all four teams were picked to win by at least one of our writers.

• There were also a lot of differing opinions when it came to the predictions for the Offensive Player of the Year award and the Redskins’ final record. No more than three of us made the same pick in either category.

Writer Pick Trends

• Aaron Lesher, of Hogs Haven Twitter and draft profile fame, played things extremely safe this year, as he picked a whopping 12 repeat winners from 2018 and did not make a single unique prediction. Bryan Stabbe and Bill-in-Bangkok were right behind him with 10 and 11 repeat selections of their own, respectively. On the other end of spectrum, Ken, Mark, Kennedy Paynter and I only anticipated seeing seven of last year’s winners pull off back-to-back appearances.

• For the second straight year, the same two members of the Hogs Haven brass led the way with the most unique calls. Bryan made seven predictions that only he can call his own, which is down from the eight such picks he made in 2018. Ken, who finished just behind Bryan in unique picks last season, took things up a notch by making nine exclusive predictions.

So there you have it; we’ve made all of our best guesses for the forthcoming NFL season. Now all that’s left is to sit back and find out if we hit home runs with scores of prescient predictions or if we would’ve just been better off just pulling a George Costanza by going with the opposite of our instincts at every turn.

Either way, I’ll be back shortly after the confetti drops at Super Bowl LIV to share the results with you, at which time you can either mock us for our fortune-telling failures or erect virtual statues to praise and worship our infinite wisdom and foresight.

In the meantime, let us know what you think of our picks and share your predictions for the season in the comments section. Happy season kickoff day and HTTR!