NFL Schedule, Super Bowl and Playoff Projections, Hines Ward’s Quest to be a Head Coach, and Other NFL Bullets

The 2023 NFL schedule was (finally) released in its entirety last night, and today’s going to be — for the most part — all about the schedule here at BN NFL. I’ve got some things planned for the rest of the day, so I won’t spoil too much here in bullets this morning.

• With the 2023 schedule out, the folks at The Athletic released their projection model for the upcoming NFL season and their favorites to win the Super Bowl. The Athletic has the Philadelphia Eagles with the highest chance (15.5 percent) of winning it all next February. The Athletic also gave the Eagles a 91.4 percent chance to make the playoffs. Behind the Eagles are the Chiefs, with a 14.2 percent chance to win the Super Bowl and an 88.7 percent chance to make the playoffs.

• So, The Athletic’s projection machine has the Eagles and the Chiefs destined for a Super Bowl rematch in Las Vegas. I’m good with that. Their first tilt for the Lombardi was a classic, so why not run it back? The Chiefs are a Super Bowl contender as long as they have Patrick Mahomes under center and the Eagles have had a strong offseason.

• I generally love The Athletic’s projection machines across the board. I could see the Eagles and Chiefs atop the odds. After all, I did peg them No. 1 and 2 in the latest BN NFL Rankings last week. However, their odds machine is way too high on the Cowboys. Dallas has a 10 percent chance to win the Super Bowl and an 82.8 percent chance to make the playoffs. While 10 percent might not seem like a lot, Dallas is the only team aside from the Eagles and Chiefs with double-digit odds. The Bills (9.2 percent), Bengals (6.1 percent), and 49ers (6.0 percent) slide in behind the Eagles, Chiefs, and Cowboys with the next best odds to win the Super Bowl. You can check out the complete list over at The Athletic.

• While browsing the odds machine at the Athletic, I found an interesting read on former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver Hines Ward’s quest to be a head coach.

Hines Ward took his dreams of a head coaching career to the XFL, donning black and gold once again.

As he did in Pittsburgh throughout his playing career, he learned so much.

"I want to open doors for others. I want them to have aspiration."https://t.co/piNfvw2Vhg

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 12, 2023

• Ward is the head coach of the XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas, his first head coaching gig. He took the job after two seasons as an offensive assistant with the Jets in the NFL. Ward teamed up with his old Steeler teammate, Joey Porter. They are fitting because many of the principles that Ward and Porter learned during their nine seasons as teammates in Pittsburgh are what they are trying to bring to the Brahmas.

“The thing about Pittsburgh, whatever your role was, you had an impact on that organization,” Ward said. “(Owner Art Rooney) was always there shaking people’s hands after every game. It was a blessing to come to work. That permeated throughout our whole building, from the secretaries to the cooks. The cooks were fired up. That’s what I want to create.”

• Ward didn’t have the success he hoped for this season on the field. The Brahmas finished 3-7, but Ward accomplished two of his three goals for 2023. 1.) Be the best special teams unit in the XFL and 2.) get his players looks from NFL teams. The Brahmas had the only return touchdown in the league this season and led in multiple categories. Seven players from Ward’s 45-man roster have NFL camp invites.

• Bijan Robinson and the Falcons agreed on the eighth overall selection’s rookie deal on Thursday. The Falcons and Bijan Robinson have made it official today, agreeing to a rookie deal worth nearly $22 million. Ian Rapoport says Robinson’s deal is for four years and worth $21.96 million. It includes a fifth-year option for the Falcons.

Bijan Robinson and the Falcons have come to terms on his rookie deal!#DirtyBirdshttps://t.co/owDqI6Ql9m pic.twitter.com/p5DaOkTS8M

— Bleacher Nation NFL (@BN_Touchdown) May 12, 2023

• Luis has you covered with the details on the Bears 2023 schedule:

The Chicago Bears 2023 Schedule is HERE (Dates, Times, TV Networks, More)

• Preach it, Micah!

Micah Parsons Isn’t Having Any Justin Fields (or DJ Moore) Slander

• META: We got a sudden wave of folks reaching out about being blocked/banned/spam-listed by Disqus this week. So I’m going to take a wild guess and say there was likely a bug. If that has happened to you and you’re thinking, “Why in the world would they banned me?!” – we almost never ban anyone, except for the worst of repeat offenders. We probably didn’t ban you. So, if you find yourself getting a notification about being banned recently out of nowhere, try logging out, clearing cache and cookies, restarting, and logging back in. In the past when things like this have happened, that usually clears it up for folks.