{"id":887643,"date":"2026-05-10T17:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887643\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T17:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T17:30:16","slug":"3-super-bowl-lxi-dark-horse-candidates-to-keep-an-eye-on-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/887643\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Super Bowl LXI dark horse candidates to keep an eye on in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>May 10, 2026, 11:55 a.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">We all have a fairly solid idea about who the top list of Super Bowl LXI contenders are as we enter the summer, but each season, there are always a few surprises. Let&#8217;s take a look at a few teams that you surely don&#8217;t expect to make the Super Bowl next year, but could make some noise if things go as planned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Last season was the first in Todd Bowles&#8217; four-year tenure in Tampa Bay in which the Buccaneers failed to make the playoffs, and the first time the franchise missed the postseason altogether since 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Buccaneers were off to a hot 6-2 start last year, but were plagued by injuries. If Baker Mayfield stays healthy and Emeka Egbuka continues to emerge, expect a competitive Tampa Bay team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Colts started 8-2 before the bye week last year and looked like one of the hottest teams in the AFC. Then they finished 0-7 and missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:6|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Before Daniel Jones was injured in Week 14, the Colts had lost the last two games but were still 8-4 overall, with the four losses by just 21 combined points, and three of those four teams eventually made the playoffs. If Jones returns to form following his injury, don&#8217;t write the Colts off in the AFC South.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">As a rookie, Jayden Daniels led the Commanders to a 12-5 record (their best since 1991), with the team going on to break a 19-year playoff win drought and advancing to the NFC Championship Game. He was named Offensive Rookie of the Year for his efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Daniels struggled with multiple injuries last year, rarely playing completely healthy and never finding a rhythm \u2013 he would ultimately play in just seven outings. With Daniels back this year, expect a strong season from the Commanders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 10, 2026, 11:55 a.m. ET We all have a fairly solid idea about who the top list&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,119663,99115,99116,96028,95882,95887,96861,96015,95903,96003,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,96239,96006,95881],"class_list":["post-887643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indianapolis-colts","tag-accessfree","tag-colts","tag-football","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapoliscolts","tag-nfl","tag-sourcetouchdown-wire","tag-sstssportsnfltouchdown","tag-sstsntouchdown","tag-tagafc-south","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagamerican-football-conference","tag-tagbaker-mayfield","tag-tagdaniel-jones","tag-tagindianapolis-colts","tag-tagjayden-daniels","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tagwashington-commanders","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}