Football season is right around the corner, which means the Super Bowl will be here before you know it. While all 32 NFL teams will be fighting for the chance to hoist the Lombardy Trophy at the end of the season, at this point only four teams have a legitimate shot at calling themselves Super Bowl champions when February rolls around.

The first of those four teams are the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Despite all that happened during the off-season with Deflate-gate and Tom Brady’s four-game suspension to start the season, the Patriots are still more than ready to defend their title this season.

Obviously not having Tom Brady for the first four games of the season will hurt, but the Patriots will bounce back. The team should be more than ready to go on a big run once the team's soon-to-be Hall of Fame quarterback returns from his suspension.

The one major hit, other than Brady, that the Patriots took this off-season was to their defense. Replacing Darrelle Revis, who is arguably the best defensive back in the league, won’t be easy.

However, the Patriots have some nice young replacements for Revis that should help keep the defense intact. The defense won’t be elite, but it should be enough to help the Patriots stay in contention for this year’s Super Bowl.

Staying with the AFC, one team that could be ready to make the jump and be considered a real Super Bowl contender this season are the Indianapolis Colts.

Andrew Luck is entering his fourth season in the NFL. So far in each of those seasons Luck has been able to not only get the Colts into the playoffs, but also get them farther than he did the previous year.

After falling to the Patriots in the AFC championship game last season, the team may finally be ready to contend for a Super Bowl.

Luck is already an elite NFL quarterback despite his young age, and this year his job was made a lot easier when the Colts acquired veteran wide receiver Andre Johnson and veteran running back Frank Gore.

Despite both Johnson and Gore’s ages, they will be a major help to Luck this season. Gore will no doubt be an upgrade for the Colts in the backfield, especially after the team attempted to rely on Trent Richardson for a good portion of the season last year.

Johnson will be a major upgrade as well. Not only does Johnson provide veteran leadership to a young team but he’s also another deep ball threat that Luck will be able to utilize very well this season.

Now on to the NFC. If the Seahawks had run the ball on the one yard line late in last year’s Super Bowl then the Seahawks would be competing to do what no team in the history of the NFL have ever done and that’s competing for a three-peat as Super Bowl Champs.

Unfortunately for the Seahawks, they did not run the ball and lost to the Patriots on what many would consider “the dumbest play in the history of sports.” Despite Pete Carroll’s horrible play-calling on the last drive of Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks are still more than ready to return to the Super Bowl and redeem themselves for last year’s loss.

Now, the first thing that comes to mind with Seattle is the team's amazing defense. The Legion of Boom did take a major hit with the loss of both Byron Maxwell and Brandon Browner to the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints, respectively, last season.

Despite those two losses the Legion of Boom is still ready to defend at an elite level with the return of Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas.

The two biggest moves the Seahawks made this year were not even on the defensive side of the ball, for once. Instead, the team focused on their offense.

The Seahawks re-signed quarterback Russell Wilson to a new contract and they also took in tight end Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints.

Graham is arguably the best tight end in football, with only the Patriots' Rob Gronkowski being his equal. This gives Wilson another big and very productive weapon on offense.

All of these players, both new and returning, give the Seahawks a much needed boost on offense, which will hopefully allow the team’s offense to finally stay on par with its fantastic defense.

The final team in contention for this year’s Super Bowl are the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers will always be in contention for a Super Bowl as long as Aaron Rodgers is on the team. Despite the Packers' recent loss of wide receiver Jordy Nelson to a season-ending ACL tear, the team’s offense shouldn’t lose a beat with Rodgers under center.

The Packers are in a similar situation as the Patriots—both have a future Hall of Fame quarterback who will more than likely lead his respective team to at least an 11-win season.

The problem is whether or not the defense will be able to propel the Packers into the Super Bowl. The passing defense should be okay with Morgan Burnett and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix both returning at safety.

However, the key problem for the Packers is their run-defense. Will the Packers be able to stop players like Marshawn Lynch, DeMarco Murray and Adrian Peterson from running all over them? Only time will tell.

Who will ultimately win Super Bowl 50 is anyone’s guess. In my opinion, I see the Packers beating the Colts, with Aaron Rodgers winning his second Super Bowl and his first in the past five years. Now the Super Bowl is still very far away, and anything can happen this season.

As of right now you should expect to see Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers hoisting the Lombardy Trophy as the champions of Super Bowl 50.

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