Normally when we project out the NFL season, we provide a percentage chance of an event occurring -- it's all degrees of maybe. But there's no maybe today.
Before each season, we simulate the entire NFL slate 20,000 times using the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI), our prediction and projection system. In the preseason, it is based on a few factors, including each team's preseason win total matched with their schedule, past performance in all three phases of the game, returning starters and who the starting and backup quarterback are expected to be.