The 2023 season is officially underway as the entire Week 1 slate has finished. There were a lot of impactful stories from the first week of the NFL season that have changed the landscape of the league. Whether it be Aaron Rodgers' injury, or the Miami Dolphins torching the LA Chargers defense, NFL fans learned a lot about Week 1.
There are still 17 more weeks of football until the NFL Playoffs but the outcomes in Week 1 count just as much as any other outcome throughout the season. There definitely will be at least one situation in which a Week 1 game determines playoff seeding or what team even gets into the dance.
It also gave NFL fans an idea of how the 32 teams in the league stack up against each other. With this data now in mind, both humans and computers are trying to come up with a list of who is the best of the best and who has the best chance of winning the Super Bowl.
The folks over at Sumer Sports recently ran 1,000 simulations to determine which teams have the best chance of winning the Super Bowl in Las Vegas and the results might shock you.
Each team's chance to win the Super Bowl after Week 1 according to 1,000 simulations of the rest of the season pic.twitter.com/I2WUJhapVj
— SumerSports (@sumersports) September 12, 2023
NFL power rankings based on Super Bowl odds: Chargers given a 0.9% chance
So you are telling me there is a chance?
Chargers fans were definitely unhappy with the team's performance in Week 1 against the Dolphins. If the Chargers defense continues to play at the level it has been the last three games (dating back to last season) then there is no hope of running through the gauntlet that is the AFC.
That being said, it is still surprising to see some of the teams that are given a higher chance of winning the Super Bowl than the Chargers. The New York Jets rank slightly higher despite losing Aaron Rodgers while teams like the LA Rams, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons rank higher despite being less talented. Heck, even the Las Vegas Raiders rank higher.
The Raiders and Jets can be explained since they both just won games against AFC opponents. In the grand scheme of things, that is a very impactful win for playoff purposes, even if in reality both teams likely won't hold it together for that long.
The Rams, Saints and Falcons rank higher because they are in the NFC. The NFC is wide open in 2023. If the Chargers were in the NFC they would be the third-best team without a doubt behind the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers (ahead of the Dallas Cowboys). That is why those teams have a higher chance.
The Kansas City Chiefs stay at No. 1 despite the loss because they are the Chiefs and they are always in it as long as Patrick Mahomes is healthy.