Week 1 has arrived. It's a straight shot from Sunday to Feb. 8 in Santa Clara.
The new season brings with it unbridled optimism that every club has a chance to end the campaign hugging the Lombardi Trophy.
"I'm excited," new Steelers tight end Jonnu Smith said, via the team’s official website. "It's Week 1. I think the whole NFL, we all have the same feeling right now across the league, all 32 teams.
"There's a lot of turnover year-to-year with a lot of teams, so you always want to establish your identity early on. Allow all the work that's been put in during the offseason to come to fruition. So, we'll be looking forward to that moment, for that opportunity.
"There's nothing like this time of year. It's like Christmas for us."
The NFL is like unwrapping a new present every week. You simply never know what you might find inside.
Since 1990 (35 consecutive seasons), at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the year before -- last year brought us the Vikings, Commanders, Chargers and Broncos.
Making the playoffs is usually just the start of the turnover. While last year was an aberration, with all eight division winners making the playoffs the previous season, in 53 of 55 campaigns since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, at least one team won its division the season after missing the playoffs. And since the 1970 merger, at least one team has improved its win total from the previous season by four or more wins in every season except the strike-shortened 1982 season (the regular season was only nine games in 1982).
In the 23 seasons since realignment in 2002, 31 of the 32 NFL teams have won a division title at least once -- the Browns (1989) are the only team without a division title since 2002 (apologies to the Cleveland loyalists).
In September, there is always unbridled positivity. We'll see which clubs keep that Christmas-like bubbliness into December.
