NFL 2010: Will a Dominant Team Emerge and Who Are The Candidates?

Three weeks into the season the NFL has left us with far more questions than answers. It seems that the power balance is dramatically shifted towards the AFC as they have dominated the head to head matchups with the NFC, but other than that we don't know much.

The big question is whether or not a dominant team will emerge in either conference and stake their claim as Super Bowl favorites. Last year we saw the Colts and Saints begin the season with long winning streaks and eventually meet in the Super Bowl, this year the pool of undefeated candidates has already shrunk to just three.

In the NFC the only remaining undefeated team is the Chicago Bears led by Quarterback Jay Cutler. This team does not however appear to be on the path to dominance as they were only able to eek out a victory against the Lions because of a hole in the rulebook and a victory against the Packers who did as much as they could to defeat themselves on Monday night.

Speaking of Green Bay, this is a team that many people thought could be that dominant team that could end up playing for it all in February. Aaron Rodgers has lived up to his heightened expectations but the team has still shown the same weaknesses they had in years past along the offensive line, secondary, and an overall discipline problem that manifests itself in outrageous penalty numbers.

As far as the third contender in the NFC North, the Minnesota Vikings will need a serious attitude adjustment from the old gunslinger Brett Favre, which could be aided by the eventual return of favorite target Sidney Rice. If the offense can catch up with the menacing defense the Vikings could shoot their way back up to contention.

In the NFC East the race appears to be wide open as there are three 1-2 teams trailing the 2-1 Eagles led by the resurgent Michael Vick. Despite how good Vick has looked its far too early to say whether or not this team can be considered any kind of favorites.

Although the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gotten off to a nice start, the NFC South will probably come down to a race between the aforementioned Saints and the Atlanta Falcons. Neither team however looks ready to run away with it as the Falcons are flawed and the Saints have struggled to some degree in every game so far this season.

I won't even get into the NFC West as it appears the winner of that division will be lucky to end the season with eight or even seven wins.

In the AFC the problem is not that there are a bevy of mediocre to good teams, but that there are several very powerful teams that could vie for the top spot.

Both the AFC North and South boast three very good teams that will likely be duking it out for playoff spots all year, even though all six teams may deserve one. The South features the Colts, the Texans, and the once again dangerous Tennessee Titans as contenders for the top spot.

The Texans have already beat the Colts and appeared ready to take over as the premiere team in the division before a shocking home loss to the previously 0-2 Cowboys. Since that loss the Colts have looked dominant and once again appear ready to battle for the crown till the end of the season.

In the North, the Pittsburgh Steelers have used a dominating defense to jump out to an undefeated start without star QB Ben Roethlisberger. However until we see them matchup at full strength with both the Bengals and the Ravens, we won't know which team should be considered the favorite out of this conference.

If Joe Flacco and Carson Palmer can properly utilize some of their new weapons there's no reason to think they can't jump to the top of the division.

The East could also turn into a three team race depending on how much of a believer you are in the Miami Dolphins. This Sunday's matchup with the Patriot's should go a long way towards seeing if they are for real or not.

Despite this I think this will turn into a two team race between the boastful New York Jets and the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots. The Jets got the better of them in the first matchup but I very much expect the Patriots to return the favor when the two play later in the year in Foxboro.

The most surprising start in football certainly belongs to the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs who sit atop the AFC West. Despite already losing the the Chiefs I fully expect that the Chargers will end the season on top of the division, but they may be in more of a fight than they expected.

So it appears that every team has at least two if not three quality teams ready to compete for a division title. All of this parity means that we likely wont have any teams really separate themselves as prohibitive favorites. This certainly won't stop the analysts from proclaiming that one team or another is the favorite, but from watching the games and looking at head to head matchups there is really no way to determine a favorite.

If all of this is good for football is a matter of opinion. I think that the more good teams the more good games fans get to watch and for me that is what will truly make this an exciting season.