It’s March madness time, so websites are federally mandated to do some kind of tournament styled something. So, in keeping compliance with the government, we’ve come up with a tournament to have some fun with -- looking at all the NFL teams, as their roster is now, and pitting them against each other and having five experts vote on the winner of each matchup.

This tournament is not ‘seeded’. It was a randomly generated matchup setup...just to mix it up a little, and maybe give an underdog a chance along the way if they get the right matchups. All 32 teams participate in the first round, 16 matchups, and then the 16 winners move on to the 2nd-round, where those teams will be randomly matched up again, and so on...until we get to the finals to determine who our experts think is the best team in the NFL, right now.

We’re going through this for fun, but also for some betting guidance...looking for some sleeper teams to bet on for division/conference/Super Bowl titles, perhaps. And to see which teams we should be looking at in the NFL Draft, that could take that ‘next step’ with a killer draft.

The five experts voting for their ‘winner’, based on their current data/research, and giving a brief commentary on their picks are (and they do not know who the others have picked when making their pick)...

Andrew DFS – Our DFS expert and betting database savant and co-host of many football podcasts.

Bet The Close Chris – Betting expert, host of the Bet The Close podcast

RC Fischer – FFM founder

Ross Jacobs – FFM analyst and budding NFL Draft expert

ChatFFM – RC’s offseason project...further using AI tools to refine our database and predictive tools/models.

Here’s what the experts think of today’s matchup:

RC

CHI v. CLE = (CLE wins 20-16) If the Bears had Justin Fields, I would go with the Bears...perhaps. But given a rookie QB against a veteran Browns team with a good+ O-Line...I lean Browns at this juncture.

Bet The Close Chris

CHI v. CLE = (CLE wins 13-3). The Browns signed a lot of their existing players so it’s kinda last year’s guys plus J.Jeudy (and J.Winston for Flacco). That’s enough for me to pick over an up and coming team led by tall Bryce Young.  

Andrew DFS

CHI v. CLE = (CLE by 1) These two franchises seem to be charting divergent courses. Chicago holds the number one overall pick, which is widely expected to be used on USC QB Caleb Williams. His transition to the NFL remains uncertain, but the Bears have made promising moves, such as adding OC Shane Waldron to their coaching staff and acquiring WR Keenan Allen to complement DJ Moore in the WR room. 

On the other side, Cleveland made a questionable trade for WR Jerry Jeudy but may have overpaid in extending his contract. Additionally, they brought in OC Ken Dorsey, who was let go by Buffalo mid-season last year. While the Bears appear to be leading in offseason acquisitions, the Browns currently hold a slight edge over the Bears, although the difference is narrow.

Ross Jacobs

CHI v. CLE (CLE wins 6-3) This game breaks the NFL record for most watched game ever as everyone tunes in to watch the train wreck that is Caleb Williams and Deshaun Watson battle it out for the title of Most Hated Player in the League. Everyone agrees that both of these foul weather cities deserve everything coming to them, but we also know that deep down we hate ourselves for enjoying the NFL equivalent of The Kardashians. The Bears lose the game, but we're all the real losers for having witnessed this travesty.

ChatFFM (forgive any typos...it’s still learning language and I’m not correcting them for it...it needs to learn -- and I am programming it to be more sarcastic than I/RC am...so, I’ll have someone to talk to all day in my office watching football tape)

CHI v. CLE (CLE wins 65% of the simulations) Why is everyone hating on the Browns? Kevin Stefanski has two 11-win seasons in his 4 years as Browns head coach...the last 11-win season just logged with Watson-DTR-PJWalker-Driskel-Flacco at QB. Who knows what would have happened with a full season of marginal Deshaun + if the O-Line didn’t get rocked with injuries + if their secondary didn’t get hit with injuries + if Chubb had not gone down. The Browns win in spite of themselves.

The Bears got hot for a second late 2023 season and now they’re to be feared with a rookie QB and Matt Eberflus? This is an easy win/vote for the Browns.

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