After years (decades) of seeing the New England Patriots dominate the AFC East and come home with six Super Bowl titles between 2001 and 2018, the NFL has finally moved to a position where it seems some other franchises are rising to the top and pushing the Patriots – who did make the playoffs this year – to the side. The AFC now includes contenders like the Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans, along with teams making a move like the Cincinnati Bengals as well as some teams that appear ready to break through like the Los Angeles Chargers. It appears, however, that NFL fans would like to see an AFC East team once again rise to the top of the conference – and, unfortunately, it is not the Miami Dolphins who are in the position to make the Super Bowl appearance.
The latest round of SB Nation Reacts polls presented by DraftKings Sportsbooks, asked the question “Which remaining AFC teams would you most like to see in the Super Bowl?” The Buffalo Bills clearly dominated the results. The Titans are the team fans seem to want in the Super Bowl the least, coming in with just 14 percent of the vote. The Kansas City Chiefs, who have made the last two title games with one ring, are third at 20 percent. The Bengals are second at 26 percent. Meanwhile, 41 percent of the fans said they want to see the Bills in the Super Bowl this year.
On the NFC side of the bracket, the Los Angeles Rams were on top of the poll with 34 percent of the fans saying they would like to see the Rams in the Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers received 27 percent of the vote, while the San Francisco 49ers received 23 percent, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, last year’s champion, were fourth at 16 percent.
As for our normal look at the SB Nation Reacts polls, the fan confidence in the Miami Dolphins’ direction took a major hit as we reached the end of the regular season. With the team winning eight of their last nine games, things had rebounded over the second half of the season, reaching 79 percent of the fans saying they believed in the direction of the franchise. After not making the postseason and the team firing head coach Brian Flores, the fan confidence in the team has fallen off a cliff, dropping down to 35 percent.
We will get our next look at the fan confidence rating for the Dolphins after the team hires a new head coach. Will it be enough to move it back up or will this be an offseason of worry for Miami fans?
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