The best of the next: Windy City Gridiron picks the 2020 NFL Divisional Round

Do you hear that? There’s something different about the NFL Playoffs this January. Something amiss. A glitch in an intricate, broken system. A clerical error of epic proportions in a sport where every detail and ounce of nuance is fed into a shredder, processed for later.

Oh, right. My mistake. It’s Divisional Weekend and the Patriots, as seemingly invincible and esteemed as they have proven to be, are nowhere in sight. There will not only be a new champion crowned in the Super Bowl this February (there hasn’t been a repeat winner since New England in 2004), the preceding, dramatic January will be where the Patriots have no part to play.

Unthinkable. Unconscionable. But ... incredible.

Not many organizations can match the excellence New England has fostered since 2001. That this is the first January where they are not keeping company among the eight best teams in football since Mark Sanchez was Mitchell Trubisky before Mitchell Trubisky, is remarkable in itself. It’s also a sign of the shifting tides toward youth and other general stars. A needed narrative for the NFL to market and ride with that isn’t related to popular, convenient villainy the Patriots invited on a regular basis.

The next four weeks can serve as a coming-out party for the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, a young man who only turned 23 but a few days ago. Then again, it might be the next notch in the belt for one of the more underrated quarterbacks of his generation in Seattle’s Russell Wilson, and the reinvention of the Seahawks after the Legion of Boom era. Perhaps Pat Mahomes gets in on the fun, builds on his historic MVP campaign of, oh, last year, adds a Super Bowl MVP, and delivers the championship ring that has eluded Andy Reid since The Backstreet Boys Wanted It That Way.

The stories can almost write themselves for any number of the final teams standing and their respective core players. How far can Deshaun Watson take a flawed Texans roster? Will Derrick Henry ever be brought to the ground, or will the dark horse Titans fall short? Perhaps, if they earn their keep, the 49ers can call San Francisco home again to make their nickname accurate.

Without the Patriots in the fold, new fairy tales are free to bloom unimpeded. Such wonderful possibilities arise from the fire-breathing dragon’s death.

Windy Gridiron’s staff picks for this weekend’s Divisional Round.

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Photo by Todd Olszewski/Getty Images

Robert Zeglinski

Saturday:

Vikings over 49ers

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Lester Wiltfong Jr.

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Sam Householder

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images

Ken Mitchell

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Bill Zimmerman

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Erik Duerrwaechter

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images

Robert Schmitz

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Seahawks over Packers

Jacob Infante

Saturday:

49ers over Vikings

Ravens over Titans

Sunday:

Chiefs over Texans

Packers over Seahawks

Robert wants to assure the masses that no matter what happens between now and Super Bowl Sunday, the real winner will have been the friends we lost along the way.

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WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Whiskey Ranger; Robert Schmitz; Robert Zeglinski; Bill Zimmerman; Like us on Facebook.