Caleb Williams-mania ran wild in Chicago this time last year, evidenced by the 97.6 percent \u201coptimism score,\u201d which ranked third in our initial Hope-O-Meter. Bears fans learned there was a bit more work to do to build a contender at Halas Hall. Williams flashed, but the rookie took his lumps and the Bears finished 5-12, firing head coach Matt Eberflus after a 4-8 start.<\/p>\n
Imagine Cincinnati Bengals fans, checking in with a 93.8 percent optimism score last August before watching Joe Burrow\u2019s and Ja\u2019Marr Chase\u2019s heroics be sunk by a flailing defense. They missed the playoffs by a game.<\/p>\n
There is plenty of room for pleasant surprises, too.<\/p>\n
Last year, Washington Commanders fans checked in with a 78.0 percent optimism score \u2014 ranking 17th in our poll \u2014 before watching Jayden Daniels wow the league and lead the team to its first conference title game since 1991.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to spot the curveballs an NFL season will throw, but The Athletic asks once again for thoughts on your favorite NFL team for our second NFL Hope-O-Meter. A short survey is below. We simply want to know how optimistic you are about your favorite team and why.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll tabulate the results into optimism scores for each team. The best responses will also be selected and shared before the 2025 season kicks off on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n
Loading\u2026<\/p>\n
(Note: Readers who are using an Android device may need to use two fingers to scroll through the survey.)<\/p>\n
(Photo: Bryan M. Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aug 22, 2025<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hope can inspire and uplift \u2014 but it can also tear down even the most ardent of NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1829,1327,8849,1807,3687,8850,1822,1799,1816,7820,1810,1804,4058,3686,1811,1236,1812,6337,1820,1322,8851,1815,1814,977,5702,349,1239,1321,560,8852,99,1824,8853,3851],"class_list":["post-101911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-denver-broncos","tag-detroit-lions","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-houston-texans","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-new-york-giants","tag-new-york-jets","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-washington-commanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}