Week 1 of the 103rd season of the NFL kicked off this weekend, and it was back with more dramatic finishes and memorable highlights than ever. It showed that today’s league is very balanced, and many teams have a chance to compete for a championship this year, with tons of parity all throughout, including some sleeper teams we had no idea to expect. Week 1 gave us a small preview of what to expect throughout the rest of the season, so here are our teams I think have a great chance at being sleepers for 2022 season

4. Pittsburgh Steelers– The Steelers stunned everyone with an action-packed, last-second win over their arch-rival and reigning AFC champion, the Cincinnati Bengals, and proved they have the defense to give any team in the NFL issues. After starting the game off with an interception for a touchdown by star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Steelers led throughout the entire regulation time until with 0 seconds left Joe Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase for a touchdown to tie it for the Bengals, but missed the game-winning extra point to then send the game in overtime. After another missed field goal by each team in overtime, The Steelers finally kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired and just snuck out with the win, letting the world know they are a team to be counted on, with a great defense that picked off Bengals QB Joe Burrow a whopping 4 times. The Steelers have made the playoffs the last 2 years in a row but following the retirement of long-time QB Ben Roethlisberger, not many fans expected them to be as good this season. But with a stellar turnover-creating defense, and solid enough mistake-free play from QB Mitch Trubisky, the Steelers could be bound for a playoff run and more. I expect the Steelers to be a huge sleeper team this season.

3. Seattle Seahawks– Literally everyone expected the Seattle Seahawks to take a huge step back this season after trading star QB Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos, but don’t tell that to Pete Carroll as he has another thing coming for his team. Now turning to Wilson’s former backup, veteran Geno Smith, the Seahawks look primed for a surprising season after a huge upset over the formerly mentioned Wilson and his Broncos, where Smith played exceptional football going 23/28 with 4 TDs and 0 INT. If Smith can continue his play like this for the rest of the season, the Seahawks could become a surprise playoff team with the weapons they have on the outside in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. A team surely everyone picked last, and thought might be one of the worst in the league, has a chance to be a huge surprise this year

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2. Chicago Bears– The Chicago Bears were expected to be one of the absolute worst teams in the NFL this year and were huge underdogs heading into their Wee

k 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers. However that didn’t matter for the Bears, who shook off a rough early start to rally 19 points unanswered and upset the 49ers in rainy conditions, showing their defense is worth shutting down the offense who made the NFC Championship game last year, and their QB Justin Fields is growing as he threw 2 beautiful touchdown passes in the second half. The Bears showed their defense is still a force to be reckoned with and shows flashes of the playoff team from 2 years ago, and their offense is growing much better under the direction of this new coaching staff. I expect the Bears to be better than people expect and compete for the NFC North division with the Vikings and Packers, after Green Bay got a lot worse over the offseason.

1. New York Giants– The Giants have been the laughingstock of New York sports for the last couple of years, with their inability to even achieve a winning record and constant failures. But for some reason, there seems to be something different in the New York air this year. Down 13-0 at halftime in their week 1 game, the Giants, led by star running back Saquon Barkley who had a league-high 164 yards rushing to a huge second-half comeback win over the Tennessee Titans on the road. This huge start to the season can propel the Giants into a big run, especially since the division favorite and their arch rival the Dallas Cowboys have tons of injuries, and are unlikely to compete this year following their week 1 game. With the Cowboys out of the picture, and behind a healthy Barkley, who hasn’t run the ball as well the last two seasons after being bothered by injuries, the Giants look primed to compete with the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC East title this season.

These are my four sleeper teams I expect to surprise people in the NFL this year, and have a real shot at competing or winning their divisions this year. I feel like all these teams have extremely underrated rosters, and given the right circumstances, they can all have a chance at a really great season.