Colin Cowherd’s 2026 NFL bold predictions point to Caleb Williams MVP, with the Bears’ long drought in focus

Colin Cowherd has taken aim at the 2026 NFL season with a set of five bold predictions, headlined by a pick that quarterback Caleb Williams will win the league’s Most Valuable Player award. The idea is simple and aggressive: if Williams’ individual production matches the storyline, Chicago can translate it into the kind of team results that typically travel with the award.

Cowherd’s MVP bet is framed against a franchise-specific history that underscores how unusual the outcome would be for the Bears. According to the FOX Sports preview, Chicago has not had an MVP winner in nearly 50 years, making Williams’ case not just about one quarterback having a standout year, but about a team turning quarterback performance into league-leading impact. An MVP season in the NFL rarely happens in isolation, and voters tend to reward quarterbacks who drive both efficiency and outcomes.

In the same set of predictions, Cowherd also looks past Green Bay’s usual stability by picking the Packers to be out of the postseason. That is the sort of forecast that forces attention onto the mid-season swing factors that can derail even strong programs, especially when the path to January includes tiebreakers, divisional performance, and the reliability of the offense under pressure. While the FOX Sports preview does not provide the full list of supporting details, the underlying premise is that the league’s competitive balance can punish teams that do not separate early in the year.

The most notable through-line in these predictions is how they treat 2026 as a season of inflection points rather than steady-state progress. Cowherd’s selections place both championship aspirations and veteran expectations under a microscope. Chicago’s quarterback-centered thesis is the “ceiling” story, suggesting that Williams can reach the level where the league’s award conversation becomes unavoidable.

At the same time, the Packers miss-the-postseason forecast is a “floor” story, betting that consistency will not be enough. In an NFL format that allows only so many teams to control their own destiny, even small declines or missed stretches can turn a likely playoff club into a long-shot. For viewers, that matters because it changes how divisional games and late-season matchups will be perceived in real time.

What to watch next is not just whether Williams looks like an MVP candidate, but whether Chicago’s overall profile supports the claim. An award-level season usually requires more than volume passing or highlight plays, it requires sustained decision-making, protection and play execution that show up in third downs, red-zone situations, and game management. Likewise, for the Packers, the critical question will be whether they can hold up across the year when matchups tighten and defenses adapt.

These are predictions, not verdicts, and the FOX Sports preview does not establish which specific criteria Cowherd will point to for his other picks. Still, as a preview of the kind of narrative the 2026 season could generate, the MVP-drought angle for the Bears and the postseason-slide angle for Green Bay give two clear “storylines to test” as training camps progress and the regular season begins.