There’s a lot of football to be played before the replacement referees are forgotten and the Super Bowl champion is determined, but the early fan favorites are the San Francisco 49ers. However, there are a lot of teams in the hunt.

Fifteen percent (15%) of National Football League fans expect the ‘Niners to rebound from last year’s tough loss in the NFC Championship game and go all the way this year, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) think Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are likely to win yet another title this year. The Patriots won the AFC last year before losing in the Super Bowl. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eleven percent (11%) pick the Houston Texans. The Baltimore Ravens (10%) and Green Bay Packers (10%) are the only other teams with double digit support.

Five percent (5%) think the defending champs, the New York Giants, will win for the second year in a row.

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This survey of 643 Professional Football Fans was conducted on October 4, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.