Trying to predict the outcome of the NFL season has always been one of the great fool's errands in sports. This year, however, it's just plain foolish.

A summer labor squabble, which led to a vast reshuffling of personnel and a truncated offseason, has knocked the whole league off its axis. Rookies who just got their playbooks are about to be ordered onto the field to execute plays.

So rather than trying to predict the season's outcome, why not focus on another sort of ranking? Since the NFL's opening game between Green Bay and New Orleans Thursday coincides perfectly with the start of Fashion Week here in New York, we've decided to explore a vaguely related question: Which NFL team is the handsomest?

At the Journal's request, researchers at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania analyzed the facial structure of a sampling of 320 NFL starters (five offensive and five defensive players from each team). They also threw in two of the most photographed personalities on any team, the owner and the head coach.

To measure each subject's attractiveness, the researchers analyzed their photograph with a computer program that measures facial symmetry, or how closely the two halves of a person's face match up. Research suggests this is a reliable measure of how attractive a person is perceived to be. It also suggests that looks are a fair predictor of a person's career success. A 1994 study found that more-attractive "symmetrical" people are paid about 5% more than the average person while more homely "asymmetrical" people earn up to 10% less.