2024 NFL Preview: Five Teams With Most At Stake This Season
Veteran NFL writer Armando Salguero is getting OutKick readers ready for the march to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans with a handful of stories looking ahead to the 2024 NFL season.
The stakes are always high for NFL teams. No one gets a season off (unless you're talking about the 2019 Miami Dolphins who were tanking).
But if you're measuring which teams have the most at stake during the 2024 NFL season, that's different. That's elite level stakes that can potentially rewrite NFL history, or determine the fate of coaches, players, and entire franchises, really.
So here are the five NFL teams with the most at stake in the 2024 season:
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - AUGUST 17: Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs kicks a football like a soccer ball during pregame warmups prior to a preseason game against the Detroit Lions at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on August 17, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images)
Kansas City Chiefs: You can argue they shouldn't be on this list because they've won consecutive Super Bowl titles and three in five years. They've got nothing to prove. But they want to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls – a three-peat. Eight teams have won two in a row. None have ever won three in a row. The stakes for the Chiefs is no less than achieving a historic feat.
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San Francisco 49ers: They've been successful in that they've reached the NFC Championship game four times in five seasons and two Super Bowls in that same span. But, um, no Super Bowl win. They're becoming a perpetual bridesmaid. And the problem is their wildly talented roster is starting to age. And player contracts are starting to stretch salary cap limits. And QB Brock Purdy, on a rookie contract now, will want a gigantic extension sometime next year. When that happens, other players may become suddenly unaffordable.
Dallas Cowboys: Jerry Jones went on this spiel during his training camp opening press conference about ambiguity in the NFL. And that's his right, but let there be no ambiguity about this: The Cowboys, winners of 12 regular-season games three consecutive seasons, have to not only reach the playoffs but do significant damage to please Jones. If that doesn't happen coach Mike McCarthy will likely be fired and Bill Belichick might be next man up.
FOXBOROUGH, MA - AUGUST 15: Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni during a preseason game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles on August 15, 2024, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Philadelphia Eagles: It's win now or bust in Philly and the reason is the Eagles are victims of their own success. They went to the playoffs and came very close to winning it all in 2022. They seemingly picked up where they left off in '23 but then something went terribly wrong late in the season. So, coordinators got fired. Some players, expected to be great, are now under scrutiny. And jobs are the line for head coach Nick Sirianni and possibly folks in the front office.
New York Jets: They were supposed to compete for the Super Bowl last year but that went out the proverbial window four plays into the season when Aaron Rodgers injured his Achilles. Well, after a year on the sideline, Rodgers is back at age 41 saying reaching New Orleans (site of the Super Bowl) is the goal. They better get close – at least to the postseason for the first time since the 2010 season – or owner Woody Johnson might decide to go in a totally different direction.