Must take the opportunity to talk some football while it’s still here

Wisconsin’s first high school games of the season are today, Thursday, NFL teams make their final cuts Tuesday and the Wisconsin Badgers play their first game of the season a week from tonight against Miami of Ohio. Yep, football season 2025 is here. The end of August is usually filled with high hopes, both for your favorite teams and your fantasy teams, most of which will be drafted within the next week to 10 days. Whose dreams, fantasy or reality, will be shattered in the next four months by injuries, controversial calls or multiple one-score losses? Who will come out of nowhere and surprise us all? Seeing how column space is going to be hard to come by for awhile now with the local sports calendar back to being at fullgo, this may be my last chance to talk football for awhile, so let’s take advantage of it. Thankfully the NFL’s preseason ends this weekend and finally we can get on to the real stuff. New faces in new places –– especially when it comes to quarterbacks –– are always the talk of the off-season in the NFL. Indeed, there are a few interesting ones this year, including one who once did a lot of great things in these parts. But now when it’s all for real, it feels like the discussion always gets back to the teams and players who are back with the teams that did well a year ago and how do teams knock them off their perches. When a real game was last played in February, the Philadelphia Eagles left no doubt they were the best team in the land when they blew out the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. I don’t see how they are not the favorite to start this year behind that offensive line, reigning MVP Saquon Barkley and star power in every area. In the Eagles’ division, the NFC East, the Washington Commanders were that surprise, out-of-nowhere team last year, making it all the way to the NFC Championship Game. Are the Commanders a true team on the rise or did they just catch fire and some breaks last year (the Hail Mary vs. Chicago being one)? Closer to home, the NFC North was the NFL’s toughest division in the regular season and then flopped in the postseason, with the Packers, Vikings and division champion Lions all losing their first games. I think the division remains tough, mainly because Chicago will be better. The top off-season question has been how different will Detroit look after losing its offensive and defensive coordinators. The Lions’ innovative former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, is now Chicago’s head coach. Detroit still feels pretty darn talented to me and I don’t think head coach Dan Campbell will allow the Lions to lose their aggressiveness. Minnesota might be the most complete team, but the Vikings are handing over the offense to quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who has not played a regular-season down in the NFL. The Bears will have a new energy behind their new head coach and I do think secondyear quarterback Caleb Williams can eventually be the best one they’ve had in my lifetime, which isn’t saying much. They won’t win the division yet, but they won’t be a pushover. As for our Green Bay Packers, I don’t know. A year ago at this time we wanted to believe the momentum of 2023’s finish would lead to great things in 2024. The record was better at 11-6. The 1-5 division record and the three straight losses to end the season don’t have us feeling the same vibe coming into this season. At least that’s my perception. Training camp injuries raise concerns about a potential slow start. The inability to get a cornerback to replace Jaire Alexander makes you wonder if they’re one player short on defense. Of course, the quarterback standard is really high in Green Bay. Does Jordan Love stay healthy and stay consistent through a 17-game (and hopefully longer) season? I’d say Matt LaFleur and the coaching staff probably need to be better in close games as well. Offensively, there are a lot of tools to work with. There are certainly going to be some tough cuts at the skill positions. Today, I kinda feel like 11-6 again is about the ceiling and 9-8 or 10-7 is certainly possible. I think the team is talented enough to win 12 or 13 games. The schedule is tough. Not sure the Packers can actually get there. In the NFC South, it’s hard to pick against Tampa Bay to win it, but Atlanta is a team to watch I’d say. In the West, there’s no way San Francisco can be bombarded with as many injuries as it was last year. The 49ers won’t go 6-11 again but I’m predicting their Super Bowl window has closed. The Los Angeles Rams won the division last year and are contenders again, having added Davante Adams. I don’t know why, but I just never take the Rams that seriously. The Seahawks, I don’t know, The Cardinals, another team you just can’t take seriously, it seems. In the AFC, can someone finally beat the Chiefs? I’m all for it. I’d like to see Buffalo be that team. I think that town and that fan base deserve it. Maybe it’ll be the Ravens. Maybe the Bengals. People seem to think Denver is the AFC’s up-andcoming team. Can Aaron Rodgers bring magic to Pittsburgh? Ask the Jets for their opinion. I’d be surprised if it’s not some combination of Chiefs, Ravens, Bills in the AFC title game. There used to be a lot of anticipation each year in this state for Wisconsin Badgers football. This year, there is no hype. Going into his third year, this is it for head coach Luke Fickell. Either this team shows significant progress against one of the nation’s toughest schedules or it’s time for athletic director Chris McIntosh to admit it was a mistake to not retain Jim Leonhard, who I doubt would come back if begged to do so. There are many reasons for my lack of great anticipation this year and it doesn’t all go back to Fickell. With the transfer portal and NIL mess, you don’t know any of the players anymore from year to year. You used to know the depth chart. You used to be able to follow in-state recruits and root for them. Now, you wonder if UW even recruits in-state anymore. The Badgers had no choice to hit the transfer portal hard in the off-season. I don’t know much about anyone they brought in. Whoever is on the field this year, good luck at Alabama, at Michigan, at Oregon, at Indiana and even at home against Ohio State, Iowa and Illinois. I’ve lowered my goals to just don’t screw up against Miami of Ohio, Middle Tennessee and Maryland and please, please don’t lose to Minnesota again. Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star News.