And the division winner is . . . !

USA TODAY published an article reporting that the major preseason football magazines went on record with their predictions of NFL 2006 division champions. The Carolina Panthers are the mag's consensus pick to win the NFC. (See Out Of Bounds preview of the Panthers here.) Of course, the article rightly points out that none of these rag sheets picked Pittsburgh to make it to the Super Bowl last season, much less to win it all.

Three of these publications bought into the hype that Terrell Owens makes the Cowboys the instant division winner. They picked Dallas to take the NFC East. The other two split the vote between Washington and Philadelphia (Philadelphia?). All of them ignored the boost to New York's defense. None picked the Giants to defend its division title. Hmmm!!! All of the magazines picked the Bears to win the NFC Central and the Seahawks to win the West.

The shortcoming of early-predictions-in-print is timeliness. Information is perishable. Things change during the preseason, but these vehicles go to press in the off-season, making it impossible to for them to take notice and evaluate changing situations. Team info is out of date before the magazines hit the shelves. (The problem is even worse for fantasy predictions! I don't buy fantasy magazine forecasts anymore. Instead, I prefer online offerings that are updated daily from preseason through the last game.)

Still, just for fun, here is USA Today's compilation of the magazine's NFL forecasts:

Division winners:

•Athlon— NFC East (Dallas Cowboys), NFC North (Chicago Bears), NFC South (Panthers), NFC West (Seahawks). AFC East (New England Patriots), AFC North (Steelers), AFC South (Colts), AFC West (Broncos).

•Lindy's— NFC East (Eagles), NFC North (Bears), NFC South (Panthers), NFC West (Seahawks). AFC East (New England Patriots), AFC North (Steelers), AFC South (Colts), AFC West (Broncos).

•Pro Football Weekly— NFC East (Washington Redskins), NFC North (Bears), NFC South (Panthers), NFC West (Seahawks). AFC East (Patriots), AFC North (Steelers), AFC South (Colts), AFC West (Broncos).

•Sporting News— NFC East (Cowboys), NFC North (Bears), NFC South (Panthers), NFC West (Seahawks). AFC East (Patriots), AFC North (Steelers), AFC South (Colts), AFC West (Broncos).

•Street & Smith's— NFC East (Cowboys), NFC North (Bears), NFC South (Panthers), NFC West (Seahawks). AFC East (Patriots), AFC North (Steelers), AFC South (Colts), AFC West (Broncos).

The article was written by Skip Wood and published in the USA Today Friday, June 23, 2006, edition on page 2C.

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