It’s opening night of the NFL season and pundits around the nation are making their Super Bowl predictions.  Most, if not all will be wrong and in the fun of mindless prognostication it’s time for the Football Insiders staff to weigh in.

Mark Gunnels-

Super Bowl prediction: Packers over Patriots, 31 to 27. On paper, this contest has all the makings of a shootout. You have the top two quarterbacks in the league in Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. However, I have to give the slight edge to Green Bay because of their playmakers offensively. With Jordy Nelson back in the fold, it’ll be hard to contain both him and Randall Cobb.

Devon Jeffreys-

Super Bowl pick: Cardinals over Steelers

At the end of every Super Bowl, I write down my prediction for the next year’s Super Bowl. Usually that changes after free agency, the draft and injuries, but this time I’m sticking with it.

The NFC is as wide-open as it’s been in quite some time with several teams, most notably Arizona, Seattle, Green Bay and Carolina, in contention here. But the Cardinals are stacked and the only thing keeping them from being that top team without question come January is Carson Palmer’s playoff history. Though that’s a big hurdle to get over, I think they clear it with the help of what may be the league’s best defense.

In the AFC, it’s likely to be a two-horse race between New England and Pittsburgh. Though Tom Brady will be on the warpath once his suspension ends, I like Pittsburgh’s offensive talent too much and this time I think the Steelers come out on top. That sets up a Super Bowl XLIII rematch, where the Cardinals defense proves to be the difference in getting a measure of revenge for Arizona and bringing the Lombardi Trophy to the desert for the first time.

Andrew Garda- 

Steelers over Packers

With Green Bay’s offense healthy again, and given that the defense played better last season than we’ve seen them play in years, it’s easy to see this being a big year for the Packers. Meanwhile, the Steelers look like a potent offense with potentially a very good defense. Both will have fights on their hands for conference championships, but should survive. We’ll have a repeat engagement of Super Bowl XLV, with a different outcome as the Steelers offense will be too much for the Packers defense on Super Bowl Sunday.

Charlie Bernstein-

Patriots over Packers

The Patriots will experience some bumps and bruises with Jimmy Garoppolo for the first four weeks of the season, but even if they come out of it at 2-2, they will be in great shape to capture their eighth straight AFC East title.  Meanwhile in Packerland, the team won’t be challenged in their division and Aaron Rodgers has Jordy Nelson back and a slimmer, trimmer Eddie Lacy to give the offense much more balance.

Both teams will make it through their respective conferences and in the Super Bowl I’ll take the genius of Bill Belichick over the genius of Mike McCarthy, every single time.

In summation, we have four different writers with a maximum of eight different matchups, picking just four different teams to represent their conferences, showing that the NFL is indeed NOT  a league of parity.