SideLion Report
FanSided

NFL Week One: What do you do when you assume?

By Mike Payton

facebooktwitterreddit

Unless you’ve been living under a rock your entire life, you’ve heard the old adage “what do you do when you assume?” Most likely you heard it from your parents, a teacher or a stranger on the street. The lesson to be learned is that you know nothing about the future and when you think you do, you’re generally wrong.

The NFL is not exempt from this theory. Generally after week one, fans and prognosticators alike will band together to make their assumptions after week one. These assumptions always range from “this team will be the worst” or of course “this team will be the best.” you’re both wrong pretty much every time. The most popular assumption is this one here.

This is not a knock on the Packers. While their fans do say it at the beginning of every season, so does the fan of every other team in the NFL, Packers fans just believe it the most. There is nothing wrong with saying a team will win the Super Bowl, being a fan is a good thing. But you’re still assuming and you’re more than likely going to be wrong. Think about it, every year 32 groups of people make a proclamation and only one of them winds up being right. Sticking with the Packers for just a moment. Last year the Packers got off to a rough start when they lost two of their first three games and the world went crazy.

Packer fans worried while prognosticators made sure to question the Packers on every broadcast and in every article. The assumption here was that the Packers were regressing and the wheels were finally starting to fall off. Of course those assumptions were wrong. After exclaiming a five letter word in a press conference, Rodgers went off on everyone and claimed the leagues MVP award on his way to leading the team to another NFC North championship and the NFC title game.

As you can see here, the assumptions didn’t just fall on the Packers. Remember when the Patriots lost week one in 2014? The Patriots  would go on to get manhandled in week four against the Chiefs in Kansas City. This prompted Trent Dilfer to make a grand assumption about the Patriots and the media and fans followed right along with “is Tom Brady declining?” talk. You would have thought the sky had fallen over New England. The Patriots would go on to win seven straight games and of course the Super Bowl.

Teams lose on week one. It happens every year. It’s certainly not uncommon for a Super Bowl winning team to lose in week one. In fact since 1994, eight Super Bowl winning teams lost in week one. It’s also not uncommon for a great team to lose on the road. Five 2014 playoff teams lost this week, the correlation is that all of them lost on the road. Of the other seven, four won at home and the other three won on the road against teams that won five or fewer games in 2014.

six teams from Fox Sports power rankings lost this week. That’s the issue with power rankings and game predictions. I’m at fault too, as is SideLion Report altogether. We all assume and we all assume early. I caution the fans of any team in the NFL this season, whether your team won or loss in week one will more than likely have nothing to do with the outcome of your teams season.

Oops too late. Assume away football fans. Assume from the mountain tops, assume with your friends and family. but just ask yourself. What do you do when you assume?

Mike Payton is an Editor at SideLion Report. He is from Holland, Michigan by way of Warren, Michigan. He considers himself to be obsessed with the Detroit Lions. Mike’s work has been featured on ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio, CBS Sports Radio and si.com. Mike is also a weekly contributor on It is what is with Sean Baligian on ESPN 96.1 and a contributor for The Holland Sentinel. Follow Mike Payton on Twitter@SLR_Mike

Next: Lions vs Chargers: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

More from SideLion Report

Home/Lions News