This image is a derivative of Will New England be champs or chumps? by Steve Baker (CC BY-ND 2.0)

If you've been watching the New England Patriots throughout season 2019 and thought them rampaging their way through the competition is eerily familiar, you're right.

Not only have the Patriots stormed to an eight-game undefeated start to the season, but their most recent evisceration of the Cleveland Browns has prompted the Stats Insider futures model to install them as 27.1% Super Bowl favourites.

RELATED: 2019 NFL Mid-Season Report

In fact, even the bookies are treating the Patriots advancement to a potential fourth straight ‘Big Dance’ appearance as a better than even money proposition.

And, while the Patriots have played quite easily the league’s gentlest schedule to date, there’s no denying how truly devastating they’ve looked while devouring their opponents.

Through eight games, they’ve conceded just 61 points with their defense looking particularly dominant, producing no less than 25 turnovers which is six more than the league's next best defensive unit.

At this point in time, the Pats seem destined to cruise through the AFC with minimal fanfare, with their conference packing nowhere near the kind of cast of contenders the NFC can boast.

Rival AFC outfits such as the Kansas City Chiefs are not only dealing with a deplorable defense, but their superstar quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is injured, revealing for the first time ever that he might actually be human.

The Baltimore Ravens present another threat to the Patriots, owing to the rapid development of second-year QB - and 2019 MVP candidate - Lamar Jackson, however, their defense - like the Chiefs - has degenerated significantly this season, owing in large part to off-season personnel upheaval with the likes of Terrell Suggs, Za'Darius Smith, CJ Mosley and Eric Weddle all finding new homes, along with a season-ending knee injury to  enforcer, Tony Jefferson.

And so the question remains: 

Is there anyone who can stand in the way of the Patriots seventh Super Bowl title, which would be their fourth in six seasons? 

The answer is, thankfully, an absolute yes, with the Stats Insider model identifying three clear and present threats within the NFC, all with a greater than 9% chance of winning this season's Super Bowl.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

Stats Insider Super Bowl Win: 15.5%

When the New Orleans Saints' future Hall of Fame quarterback, Drew Brees, broke his thumb in week two, the prognosis for recovery - along with New Orleans’ ability to withstand the loss - wasn’t great.

Instead, with back-up quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at the helm, the Saints won five matches in a row, all the while playing what to date has been the NFC’s second most difficult schedule.

While Bridgewater was faultless while filling in for Brees, the reality is the Saints really never needed much from him other than to not turn the ball over.

Through six games, Bridgewater threw just two interceptions, while his minuscule 4.8 air yards per attempts ranked 28^th out of 32 qualifying QB’s, and is indicative of the ‘dink and dunk’ relatively conservative approach head coach, Sean Payton, has preferred to take with his back-up QB.

Brees returned to action last week against the Arizona Cardinals and appears not to have missed a beat, throwing for 373 yards and 3 touchdowns as his Saints won 31-9 and improved their record to 7-1 heading into their bye-week.

What’s actually fuelled the Saint’s blistering first half of the season, however, has been a defense which is now ranked #6 in the NFL.

This season, the Saints’ pass rush is being driven by the reliable engine of veteran Cameron Jordan, while getting incredible production out of second-year defensive end Marcus Davenport. The two have already combined for 25 QB hits and 11 sacks. 

Meanwhile, cornerback Marshon Lattimore has returned to the kind of form which won him Defensive Rookie of the Year honours in 2017, with an All-Pro selection most definitely on the former Ohio State Buckeye’s horizon. Though Lattimore has been the most targeted Saint, opposition quarterbacks are having little success against him, completing just 56.4% of passes thrown in his direction, while registering just an 88.6 passer rating.

If the Saints' defense can hold up through the second half of the season, they’re a legitimate chance to contest back-to-back NFC Championships for the first time in franchise history, while perhaps even bringing back their second Super Bowl title to the ‘Big Easy’.

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GREEN BAY PACKERS

Stats Insider Super Bowl Win: 9.0%

There’s been a lot of upheaval in Green Bay these last few years.

Not only was long-term General Manager Ted Thompson moved out of his position, but last year head coach Mike McCarthy’s 13-year run as head coach came to an end, amid a season where the Green Bay Packerslimped to just six wins and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second season in row.

Thankfully for the Packers, these two enormous changes were withstood by replacing the GM with long term Packers Head of Scouting and Player Personnel, Brian Gutekunst, while of course having the ever-familiar presence of future Hall of Fame QB, and two-time league MVP, Aaron Rodgers, to ensure they remain relevant.

While new head coach, Matt LeFleur, has won plaudits, a lot of credit should go to Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine who has crafted one of the league’s most tenacious units and which has been the driving force behind Green Bay’s 7-1 start.

READ: 2019 NFL Mid-Season Report

Over the last eight drafts, Gutekunst and his team have introduced no less than 14 defensive players through the first two rounds, resulting in a Packers organisation flushed with high-end defensive talent. When you factor in the off-season acquisitions of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, it’s little wonder the Packers defense is rated as the league’s #13 unit, up from their 29th rank last season.

An addon effect of having such brilliant defensive play is that it's provided Rodgers a sense of security on offense, knowing that he doesn’t have to continually, and brilliantly make up for their errors like in the past.

He’s playing at a much less frenetic tempo this season, and has even been comfortable letting the running game take over, with Aaron Jones enjoying a career season, having already broken through for a league-best eight rushing touchdowns, while also looming as the Packers' first 1,000-yard rusher in ten years.

The Packers have surprised many this season and have emerged to be one of the NFC’s biggest threats. While the schedule is set to ramp up in intensity in the coming weeks with three of their next four games on the road, there’s every indication the Packers will remain a clear and present Super Bowl threat throughout 2019.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

Stats Insider Super Bowl Win: 9.0%

The once wildly successful San Francisco 49ers franchise has had a lean run in recent years, missing the last five post-seasons, while averaging just five wins per season over that time.

While the roster has unquestionably improved under the John Lynch-Kyle Shanahan GM-Head Coach partnership, the 49ers Vegas win total entering the season sat at just eight, with few believing this was a team on the cusp of making an immediate return to the playoffs.

Needless to say, their seven-win, undefeated start to the season has many wishing they could have a re-do upon their pre-season 49ers predictions.  

The reality is San Francisco have been the league’s revelation in season 2019, fuelled by a defense that is ranked #2 overall, behind only the all-conquering, historically good Patriots.

While on offense, Kyle Shanahan could likely design sophisticated, highly nuanced offensive schemes blindfolded and under torture, it’s been their defense led by coordinator Robert Saleh that has truly electrified the Bay Area.

What’s most scary for the opposition is that to this point the 49ers have only won the turnover battle in three of its encounters this season. Once quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, can ease up on his own turnovers (he’s thrown seven interceptions on the season and fumbled five times) the 49ers may well have the kind of team which bulldozes through all and sundry.

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If nothing else, those five years of persistent losing ensured that first-round picks over the last few years such as Arick Armstead, DeForest Buckner, Solomon Thomas and, most recently, Nick Bosa, have formed a formidable pass rush, which has been complemented by the free-agent acquisition of Dee Ford who is a key component of a pass rush that has already produced 27 sacks.

However, what’s most impressive about the 49ers defense is that though they are just one of seven teams in the league to have produced 23 or more sacks this season, they are blitzing on just 14.8% of plays which is the second least frequent mark in the league behind the Detroit Lions (12.4%).

Generating so much pressure on the QB without sending the house is allowing the 49ers to drop seven or eight guys into pass coverage, resulting in the opposition quarterback often finding himself throwing into a sea of red and gold. It’s a chief reason as to why the 49ers defense already has ten interceptions to its name, with opposition QB’s completing just 54.5% of their passes against them.  

The scary thought for the rest of the NFL, is what happens when ‘Jimmy G’ actually clicks into gear and starts playing up to the five-year, $137 million contract the franchise invested in him?

The 49ers' years of underachievement are over and they are now ready to reoccupy their position at the very top of the league. 

Even if very few saw this level of dominance coming to fruition so soon.

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