# John Middlekauff: Middlekauff picked the Bengals to win the AFC North and claim the No. 1 seed, the Cowboys to win the NFC East with Dak Prescott as MVP, the 49ers to win the NFC West, and predicted Max Crosby gets traded to the Bears midseason. **Claimed:** Aug 15, 2026 **Pundit:** John Middlekauff — https://missedtakes.co/pundits/john-middlekauff **Outlet:** The Herd with Colin Cowherd (podcast) — https://missedtakes.co/outlets/the-herd-with-colin-cowherd-podcast **How it reached us:** said on air or in an interview **Original:** https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/1508ddb2-0c9a-42f6-aafe-ae3300346aa9/4b9772fd-1d9e-4d6d-a38c-b4a600fc0859/audio.mp3?in_playlist=bf391792-153e-41b3-9d3d-ae3300346ad8 6 checkable claims — 3 division winners, 1 award pick, 1 seeding, byes and home field and 1 trade and signing call — each graded on its own rather than as one all-or-nothing bet. It names 6 players and teams, each linked to their own record. None of them have settled yet — they grade once their results are in. Of the 1 unsettled call enough other pundits have weighed in on, this one lands below the rest of the room. > I got a team finishing first, and they're the Cincinnati Bengals. I got him as the number one seed in the AFC. *(their words, quoted for attribution)* ## The claims - **San Francisco 49ers to win the division** - Kind: Division Winners · About: San Francisco 49ers - Verdict: not settled yet - **Cincinnati Bengals to win the division** - Kind: Division Winners · About: Cincinnati Bengals - Verdict: not settled yet - **Cincinnati Bengals to take the top seed** - Kind: Seeding, Byes and Home Field · About: Cincinnati Bengals - Verdict: not settled yet - **Dak Prescott to win MVP** - Kind: Award Picks · About: Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys - Verdict: not settled yet - **Maxx Crosby to move to Chicago Bears** - Kind: Trade and Signing Calls · About: Maxx Crosby, Chicago Bears - Verdict: not settled yet - **Dallas Cowboys to win the division** - Kind: Division Winners · About: Dallas Cowboys - Verdict: not settled yet ## Who this take is about - San Francisco 49ers — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/teams/49ers - Cincinnati Bengals — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/teams/bengals - Dak Prescott — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/players/dak-prescott - Dallas Cowboys — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/teams/cowboys - Maxx Crosby — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/players/maxx-crosby - Chicago Bears — https://missedtakes.co/nfl/teams/bears ## What others said about the same people - Chris Simms on San Francisco 49ers: Simms went through the entire Week 3 slate with straight-up winners and predicted final scores, taking Jacksonville, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, Carolina, Kansas City, Seattle, the Giants, Baltimore, New Orleans, Minnesota, San Francisco, Denver and Philadelphia. He also expected Zay Flowers and Puka Nacua to sit, Kyler Murray to play, and said Marvin Harrison Jr. projects as no better than a good No. 2 or high-end No. 3 receiver. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/662b7ba3-1bf6-4ad0-9f93-9f2ab83143fd (scored 88.1) - Chris Long on Cincinnati Bengals: Long liked the Rams over the Broncos on Sunday night even without Puka Nacua, and expected the Bills to beat the winless Chargers in Buffalo. He also backed the Bengals over the Steelers, expected an angry Detroit team to handle the Jets, and still thought both the Lions and Vikings could win the NFC North. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/3df9ea25-e57f-4fd7-b20c-c910a1c3633a (scored 0) - Matt Harmon on Cincinnati Bengals: Harmon picked the Bengals to beat the Texans in Week 2, expecting Nico Collins to miss the game with a hamstring injury, and also predicted the Titans would be shut out by the Eagles. He took the Rams over the Giants, the Bears over the Vikings, and the Jaguars at Denver. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/21a71025-ab65-4716-ac2c-e77ad5ce3348 (scored 100) - Nate Tice on Chicago Bears: Tice picked the Bengals over the Texans in a low-scoring game, the Jaguars at Denver, the Bears over the Vikings, the Patriots over the Steelers and the Rams to edge the Giants, and his Hail Mary was the Cowboys scoring 40 on Washington. He also floated Abdul Carter as a possible All-Pro. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/b6211c80-3d1c-46b8-8a0c-151fc0ba92de (scored 0) - Tracy Sandler on Chicago Bears: Sandler predicted Caleb Williams would miss two to three weeks with his hamstring injury, and in the picks segment took the Broncos, Ravens, Vikings, Bills and Bears (switching off an earlier Tampa pick). — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/74f12600-9587-488a-af00-2e8c11643531 (scored 100) - Adam Chudwin on Chicago Bears: In his annual game-by-game Bears prediction, Chudwin went through all 17 games and landed on a 12-5 season for Chicago. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/b6e5e93f-2997-4140-881f-3acec911a1f1 (scored 100) ## More division winners The same kind of call, about other players and teams. - Daniel DiBerardinis on Atlanta Falcons: Danny D predicts Sonny Styles goes in the top ten (maybe top five), doesn't think Ty Simpson goes before late first round, says Kenyon Sadiq lands with the Rams at 13, and picks the Falcons to win the NFC South while naming the Bengals an AFC bounce-back team. He also gives a Final Four of Michigan, Florida, Purdue and Arizona with Michigan winning. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/8a8e0b7c-9f1c-4c13-8138-1332d73b9b02 (scored 0) - Colin Cowherd on New York Giants: Cowherd projects the NFC East with the Giants winning the division ahead of Philadelphia, Washington and Dallas, pegging the Cowboys as a six- or seven-win team. He also expects Malik Willis to land a big free-agent deal, Kayvon Thibodeaux to be moved, and Baltimore to lose Isaiah Likely, and he floats the Rams reaching on Ty Simpson late in round one. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/cd243624-9451-4824-a8a4-7b468d681c8f (scored 0) - Colin Cowherd on Los Angeles Chargers: Cowherd unveiled his top 10 NFL teams entering next season, with Seattle first, the Rams second and the Chiefs tenth, and separately picked the Chargers to win the AFC West. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/78de302a-c2f9-41b4-8897-87943ca44caa (scored 0) - Colin Cowherd on Baltimore Ravens: Cowherd likes Jacksonville, Chicago and Pittsburgh (with DK Metcalf back) in the wild-card round, ranks the league's head coaches with McVay first and Ben Johnson seventh, and predicts Lamar Jackson has about two strong years left. He also names the Rams as a possible team to draft a receiver and floats next year's draft having seven first-round quarterbacks. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/432d7268-d5b1-49f6-9435-12c9442d3023 (scored 0) - Danny Parkins on Baltimore Ravens: Parkins lays the points with the Eagles and Cowboys, takes Baltimore to beat Pittsburgh and win the AFC North, picks Carolina over Tampa Bay and Seattle over San Francisco, and says he'd probably pick the Rams to come out of the NFC. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/23bf1e09-f607-4b9a-bdb4-888da7992c89 (scored 0) - Rich Eisen on Jacksonville Jaguars: Eisen forecast the Week 18 results and the entire wild-card field: Buccaneers over Panthers but Carolina still gets in as the 5 seed when Atlanta beats New Orleans, 49ers over Seahawks, Ravens over Steelers, Jaguars beating Tennessee to win the AFC South, and six wild-card matchups (Seahawks-Panthers, Bills-Jaguars, Texans-Ravens, Packers-Bears, Chargers-Patriots, Rams-Eagles), with Houston upsetting Baltimore. He also tabbed Saints rookie Tyler Shough as a possible Offensive Rookie of the Year. — https://missedtakes.co/opinions/34345186-876a-4c4b-9567-9c289a6cbace (scored 100) --- Accuracy is 0-100 against what actually happened. The naive guess is what a strategy requiring no knowledge would have scored on the same call — the difference is the skill, and it is what the MissedTakes Score averages. Full method: https://missedtakes.co/methodology We summarize what a pundit said and quote a short span for attribution; we never republish their article. If this is wrong, tell us: https://missedtakes.co/corrections?pundit=john-middlekauff