Every year, the NFL resets its unpredictability scale to deepen the intrigue.

Last year, that came in the form of extreme parity, with 12 AFC teams winning at least four games by the midway point.

This season, several teams are making us question what we thought we knew about quarterback play.

Three quarterbacks who dominated ESPN's summer poll of league execs, scouts and coaches -- the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers (No. 1), Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Tom Brady (No. 4) and Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford (No. 6) -- have losing records entering Week 10. Meanwhile, three of the league's top passers -- the Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa (NFL-leading 79.9 QBR), Seattle Seahawks' Geno Smith (68.1) and Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts (63.1) -- did not record a single vote. Yet their teams are a combined 20-6.

Quarterback is still the most essential position, but the notion that every team with playoff aspirations must have a proven, $50-million-per-year passer feels dated. Team football is at the forefront, and defenses have come to play. Points are down leaguewide, with the team average of 21.8 points per game the lowest since 2017 and the second lowest since 2009.

This has created a winning lane for teams with differing approaches. Several offenses heavy with rushing attempts -- the Atlanta Falcons (303), Eagles (276) and New York Giants (263) -- are in the playoff hunt. Teams with revamped defenses such as the New York Jets (6-3) and Dallas Cowboys (6-2) are eyeing high playoff seeds.

Seventeen teams are projected to win between eight and 14.7 games, according to ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI). The games that will decide those records should be incredibly close. Seventy-nine games have been decided by one score, the most through nine weeks since the 1970 merger, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

There's plenty of time for underachieving teams to pick up steam and salvage the season. Yes, we're talking about the Bucs, Packers and Rams, among others.

What's safe about the NFL? Nothing. To make sense of the second-half playoff picture, we reached out to league execs, scouts and coaches for some old-fashioned forecasting. What will happen in key division races and the tightening wild-card hunts -- and which team will win the Super Bowl?

We're just about at the midway point of the 2022 NFL season, and things have been... interesting so far this year. The league has quickly separated itself into tiers with a few elite squads, a few dregs, and then everyone else who is seemingly of roughly similar quality.

That makes predicting what will play out the rest of the way quite an arduous task. Nevertheless, it is one we have decided to undertake. In the space below, you will see our revised season predictions. We did this exercise before the start of the season, but armed with new information, we're giving it another go.

What did Jason La Canfora, Pete Prisco, John Breech, Ryan Wilson, and myself predict? We're glad you asked, because the answer to that question is contained below. Here are a few notes before we get to the projected standings for each division, wild card teams, and Super Bowl participants:

Our panelists agreed far more about how things will shake out in the AFC than the NFC, which makes sense given how this season has gone so far.

Three of the eight divisions had a unanimous order of finish: AFC East, AFC South, and NFC East.

We had six unanimous playoff participants in the AFC: the Bills, Titans, Ravens, Chiefs, Dolphins, and Bengals.

There were only four unanimous playoff teams in the NFC: Eagles, Vikings, 49ers, and Cowboys.

Other teams receiving at least one vote to make the playoffs were the Chargers, Patriots, Giants, Packers, Buccaneers, Saints, Falcons, and Seahawks.

Our experts combined to have a total of five different teams playing in the Super Bowl. Only one panelist (myself) did not change his Super Bowl matchup from preseason to midseason, though multiple panelists kept the same champion and just changed up who that team will defeat. We have three different teams predicted as Super Bowl champions, two from the AFC and one from the NFC.

2. (AFC West Champion) Chiefs

There is no team the computer likes more right now than the Chiefs (6-2). According to SportsLine, the Chiefs have a 93.2% of chance of winning the AFC West, which is the highest percentage for any division leader in the AFC. The Chiefs also have a 99% chance of making the playoffs, which means the computer basically views them as a lock.

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