When it comes to the NFL there is pressure everywhere, and pressure of every kind.
Teams, players, coaches, and everyone in between are feeling it in the name of one goal or another. Different groups have different goals and therefore different expectations, and we can translate this to point out that they all experience different points of pressure as well.
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Today we will be focusing on teams that are under different types of pressure ahead of 2026.
Pressure to win in general
RJ:
It has been a long time since the Tennessee Titans were relevant.
When you consider that they currently have a dynamic duo to get off of the ground in Cam Ward and Carnell Tate, I think you have to have some legitimate expectations for them in 2026. Legitimate in this sense in my mind simply means being competitive and hanging around them rim as this rebuild clearly has multiple steps to it.
Simply put, the Titans cannot be anywhere close to the number one overall pick in 2027. That would be a failure of galactic proportions in my mind.
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Michael:
The Raiders have had pressure to win every single year for as long as I can remember. They’ve been so bad for so long that they’ve seen more than their fair share of tip-top draft picks come and go without making anywhere near the impact they wish they would have and every time it looks like they may be able to turn a corner, they’re reminded that they’re still at the bottom of the AFC West more often than not.
Entering this season, they’ve got a brand new quarterback they took at No. 1 overall and a new head coach who just won a Super Bowl calling offensive plays for the Seahawks. It’s not Tom Brady’s first year in his role with the team, either. Whatever plan they’ve got in their heads should be on and popping, but they’ve got one of the bigger tasks in all of football to start winning immediately.
The other three teams in the division are either coming off a playoff appearance or they’re the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. Still, time waits for no one and the Raiders need to show life this season because the unending purgatory they’ve sat in for the better part of the past decade cannot continue with how many chips they’re seemingly pushing up right now.
Pressure to reach the playoffs
Michael:
I think it’s easy to pick a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in some time and their coaching staff may be running out of time to deliver on some early promises, but I would actually point at a trio of teams in the Chiefs, Ravens, and Lions. These are a group of perennial powerhouses most years but each of them had some out-of-left-field issues last season that really knocked them off their usual game and ultimately kept them out of the postseason.
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I mean, you’d call someone an absolute lunatic if they predicted before the 2025 season that all three of those teams would miss the postseason. That’s why I believe all three of them will be under the most pressure to return to the playoffs because PHEW, I would not want to be the one who doesn’t.
RJ:
Did you know that the New Orleans Saints have not been to the playoffs since 2020? That is absurd to really think about.
Their last playoff game was the final season of Drew Brees’ career and he is officially a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame now (soon to be enshrined). Maybe you could have believed that the Saints would not win another Super Bowl before Brees got a gold jacket if I’d told you that then, but not making the playoffs? In the crummy NFC South?
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That’s part of my answer here. The division is SO gettable, and most of the time these things turn around collectively. New Orleans has some juice going with Kellen Moore, Tyler Shough, and now Jordyn Tyson … they have to find a way to cash in.
Pressure to go deep in playoffs
RJ:
My answer is a bit strange as it involves a team with the exact same playoff drought as New Orleans. You’d think that it would make sense then to not put a ton of pressure on them to go far, but the Indianapolis Colts have won at least 8 games every year of their current drought.
It is time. There simply has to be more. Amazingly, we are now entering year four for the Colts under Shane Steichen and somehow 10 of Chris Ballard. That is a long time for a leadership group to be in place, and simply reaching the playoffs is hardly going to be enough to justify this much patience.
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Michael:
I think I have to look inside myself, be humble, and say it’s the Chargers.
I don’t agree with the majority of the discourse around the team, and specifically Justin Herbert every year, but the facts and numbers from their last two playoff games is reality. Greg Roman and Herbert combined to put up back-to-back stinkers in the wild card round and that ultimately led to the firing of the former.
When we look at Justin Herbert’s career, a lot of people point to his early years and say THIS is who he really is. And I want to believe them, but his record-breaking first three seasons are now matched by the latter three years where his numbers were nowhere near as prolific.
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It’s also hard to make excuses when he had a “bad” offensive coordinator for two of three years in each of those “eras.” Joe Lombardi was not the right one for him, but Herbert still managed a 5,000-yard season with 38 touchdowns because of how much garbage time they played in thanks to Brandon Staley’s defense.
The past two seasons, Roman was the play-caller for Herbert, and one of those years saw him throw just three picks during the regular season which was incredibly impressive. But then he followed it with 13 picks and a career-high 2.5 percent interception rate.
No matter what anyone wants to say about those numbers and who the OC was, the final stat that matters is the Chargers’ 0-3 record in the playoffs with Herbert as the starter.
This year needs to add to the postseason win column or I’m not sure what the discourse will be on this team and its quarterback over the next offseason. One thing I do know is that it will likely still be insufferable.
Pressure to win the Super Bowl
RJ:
At some point the Kyle Shanahan dust has to wear off, right? I recognize he has proven himself to be more than legitimate, but the current core of 49ers players isn’t going to be around forever.
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San Francisco has to find a way to put everything together before it is too late. Since last winning the Super Bowl, people forget they have a drought older than the Cowboys’ in this respect, they have seen the Rams and Seahawks each do it twice. The Rams even did it while calling two separate cities home. The Seahawks just won one on the 49ers’ field!
Michael:
The 49ers are an excellent choice here. They consistently have one of the best teams in the NFL with some of the best players at key positions. They’ve come so close to winning a Super Bowl in the past decade but dropped two Super Bowls to the Chiefs, and NFC Championships to the Eagles and Rams, both franchises that went on to won the Super Bowl those years.
I’d be remiss not to mention that the 49ers have also been one of the worst teams in recent years when it comes to injuries to some of their star players. Guys like George Kittle and Nick Bosa have been on and off the field at an alarming rate which is an extremely tough draw given how impactful they are when they’re healthy and the rest of the team is firing on all cylinders.
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After their divisional rival won the Super Bowl this past season, and the Rams looking like the preseason favorite to do it this year, I’d say the pressure to get it done is at an all-time high entering this season.
