NFL offseason 2026: Bears, Raiders at opposite ends of the hope spectrum

The first Sunday without football was terrible.

It is horrible to realize that this is our reality for the foreseeable future, but thankfully the NFL has established an offseason that feels like a season in many respects. Soon enough it will be NFL Combine time; there is actually less than a month to go until free agency starts… everything is about perspective.

As we begin to look toward 2026 for all 32 teams with the Super Bowl now behind us we can do so through the unique lens that only Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa can provide.

That’s us. Let’s go.

Which NFL teams should feel really optimistic heading into the 2026 season?

RJ: 

If I am ranking Teams Who Did Not Win The Super Bowl That Must Feel Awesome then I feel like the Chicago Bears are probably at the top of that list.

Just about everything that Chicago did across the 2025 calendar year (and a bit beyond) worked out. There has to be so much validation in their decision-making and good luck that they won the Ben Johnson Sweepstakes.

Beyond having Johnson, he amplified someone they believed in previously in Caleb Williams. Chicago’s rookie draft class impressed as well and helped to establish the core for a nucleus to contend in the immediate future.

Things are coming up Bears!

Michael: 

I also agree that the Bears should be feeling very optimistic because they’re next in line to win the Super Bowl next year after the Eagles and Seahawks each won 20 years after losing a Super Bowl.

In 2006, the Colts beat the Bears. If this wild coincidence should continue for another season, the Bears will be destined to win the Lombardi Trophy a year from now.

Now for an individual who should feel wildly optimistic, that would be Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. The hire of Mike McDaniel gives the offense something it hasn’t had since Kellen Moore was the team’s OC for a single season: Hope and potential.

Herbert has suffered long enough with the likes of Joe Lombardi (who was also fired by the Broncos this offseason) and Greg Roman – two guys who were the antithesis of what Herbert needs as a quarterback. Then as bad luck would have it, Staley’s defense was so bad in 2023 that it cost Herbert the best OC he ever had.

Now is the time to finally flip the narrative on its head. Herbert will be back to slinging it around the yard in no time.

Which team has no hope at a time where hope is all over the league?

Michael: 

I think as long as you’re a Raiders fan, you’re not one to invite hope into your life unless proven emphatically otherwise. It hasn’t mattered who the coach, general manager, or quarterback is, history tells us they’re going to be at the bottom of the AFC West more often than not.

John Spytek and Tom Brady have a lot of work left on their hands and they have to really, really hope that Kubiak is the right guy for the job. The Raiders were one of the last teams to hire their new head coach which means they likely did not get any of their first few choices. Now, getting the offensive coordinator from this year’s Super Bowl champions is a good start, but that’s just step one in a long, long journey.

RJ: 

The whole world lies ahead of every team in the NFL right now, but even with that being the case there is one team in my opinion who I would very easily write off for 2026. Maybe 2027, too.

What is there to like about the Arizona Cardinals? Seriously asking here. If your favorite team could trade for anything to do with their team (throw in their front office, coaching staff, heck even their stadium) what would you want? Trey McBride is probably the consensus answer.

The Cardinals are a really directionless franchise right now and sort of got (all due respect) the last pick when it came to head coach candidates. I’m sure that they are excited about Mike LaFleur, but would they not have been more excited than anyone else? 

I’d say so!

Are the Dolphins doing the right thing by purging?

RJ: 

Honestly I don’t know how anyone can disagree with this approach from Miami. They tried to create a window for themselves and it didn’t work out. There is no shame in that. 

The worst thing that an NFL team can do is tread water. Miami moving on from Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb is proof that they are ready to take their medicine on this particular front and commit to a new wave of future stars. Being afraid of finding those stars is how so many teams compromise themselves and so I have zero issue with this approach.

If I have any criticism it is for Miami not recognizing all of this sooner. You can make a strong argument that they just wasted the last year by retaining Mike McDaniel and that they arguably should have traded these particular assets away instead of clinging on to loose hope.

Michael: 

I think it’s their only option, in all honesty. They started getting rid of good players before the regular season ever came to an end and now they’re leaning full into a reset now that they have a fresh general manager and head coach.

Letting go of Tyreek Hill is a smart move given his age and the potential for him to miss the start of the regular season after a severe leg injury ended his 2025. Bradley Chubb has been fine, but he’s replaceable with the right moves at a lesser cost. Guard James Daniels is the same case.

A new regime would rather get their guys in the building as soon as possible instead of wasting a year with a group they did not bring together.

How would we feel about Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers together again?

RJ: 

It is always weird to me when a coach lands on a new team and just recreates what he had going on in his previous stop. We typically see this from a coaching perspective; Sean Payton certainly took a few Saints to Denver as just one example, but Pittsburgh is on the verge of a very unique example of this.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to a Steelers fan and watch the head coach and quarterback who beat you in the last Super Bowl you were in… be your dudes. Is that not weird? Am I alone here?

All of that being said… it would sort of be fascinating on a human-interest level to see McCarthy and Rodgers work together after a decade (almost) apart. Perhaps they are each at a place where it can work out for the better of everyone involved and on some level that would be really neat.

Fine. Let’s do it. 

Michael:

It would be a big deal for those who want to feel a nostalgic tingle in their body, but that’s all I got. Both of them have been through quite a few ups and downs since they were together in Green Bay and I’m sure there’s a level of familiarity with a potential reunion that’s tantalizing.

I also agree with your point that it would be weird for Steelers fans to have to root for the same head coach/quarterback combination that beat their team in its last Super Bowl appearance, but that’s sometimes how things go in the NFL. And hey, if McCarthy and Rodgers can deliver some massively successful season in their first year together with the Steelers, then that’d be an easy way to make fans forget about the past.