Historically, how accurate have these media predictions been? I personally don't put much stock in them. Besides the factors they typically mention, there are things like injuries, officiating error skew, and team chemistry that play a part. Not so easy to get a handle on these items, yet as close as games are, they often determine a team's final record. Bottomline, these predictions are educated guesses wrapped in random events. They provide a revenue stream for media during off season, and emotional fodder for anxious fan bases. That's about it.