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State of the Division: NFC North

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How do you feel the NFC North stands as far as teams with potential title contention are concerned? What about the overall power within the division?

 

To me, there are only two teams that even have a shot at sniffing contention in Green Bay and Chicago, but neither has a defense. While the other two teams have better pieces in important places than either Chicago or GB, neither Matt Stafford or Matt Cassel will ever, EVER quarterback a Super Bowl winning team.

 

As far as power within the division is concerned, I do think both Minnesota and Detroit could challenge for WC spots under perfect circumstances, but that so rarely happens in the NFL. All four teams are going to be fairly good--I don't think there's a traditional cellar dweller in this division.

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Chicago's front seven has scary potential. Said it before.

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We'll have to see. Chicago, if the pieces come together, could be my NFC favorite, but I just don't see it working out, for some reason.

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Green Bay's defense could be good.They were performing well in the first half of the season before injuries started mounting and we lost Rodgers for 8 games. A lot of young players that need to contribute but outside of the ILBs, I really like the defense.

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Green Bay's defense is the only defense worth talking about, IMO. Chicago and Minnesota's defenses have been utter garbage lately. Chicago snagged Allen and that Kyle Fuller will help some of the bleeding in the secondary. I see one complete team and contender in GB, two teams that have a lot of pieces that could potentially win 1 playoff game in CHI and DET, and then a cellar dweller in Minny.

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Not sold on the Bears at all. I'm not convinced we'll see a repeat of the offense we saw at some point last year. I'm not sold on that defense either. I think they'll surprise people this year who think they'll be great, and not in a good way.

 

I like the Vikings chance more then the Bears.

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Not sold on the Bears at all. I'm not convinced we'll see a repeat of the offense we saw at some point last year. I'm not sold on that defense either. I think they'll surprise people this year who think they'll be great, and not in a good way.

 

I like the Vikings chance more then the Bears.

Usually I agree with you about everything (related to football) but come on man lmao.

Edited by monstersofthemidway

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Vikings have an average at worst defense. They have the players, and with Mike Zimmer running the show in Minny. You can bet your ass that defense will be the staple of that team in Minnesota.

 

The thing that has been holding back the Vikings the past few years is their offense. AP is consistently great, but as far as their passing game goes?

 

..well let's just say when opposing defenses are stacking 8 in the box every play that's how bad your passing offense is.

 

Today's NFL is driven by the QB. The Vikings drafted Teddy for a reason. He's a guy that can create, and can hopefully more than just be a game manager, which in time I think he'll be a very good QB.

 

Will he be great this year? No, I highly doubt it. But he has all the pieces to do well as a rookie, and at least make teams respect their passing game.

 

Rudolph is an endzone threat at TE, but he's reliable, but the big guy here on their offense is Patterson. Massive potential. If the Minny coaching staff can channel their offense through him, AP, Rudolph, and Teddy's playmaking ability....

 

You have a tough team to beat. So yeah, I can expect Minny being competitive in this division this year. They won't be at the bottom..that's for sure.

 

That's most likely going to be the Lions. When you don't help your defense at all...you are really in a world of hurt when you have to face the Packers twice and many other elite offenses in the NFC.

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Looks like a good division one through three. I actually am bullish on the Lions chances. Caldwell is a good coach and I think the change will do that team good. From afar, it seemed that Detroit just didn't know how to keep their cool and lost games they had in hand as a result. Caldwell should infuse a sense of confidence on the team and settle their nerves much better than the previous regime.

 

Not unlike the Harbaugh situation in SF, this Lions team has talent. But they've been misfiring. They needed a head man who can calm them down and allow them to play smarter and disciplined.

 

I like the Bears too. Trestman is an outstanding coach and Chicago has been drafting very well since they jettisoned Tim Ruskell. That talent is now poised to take that next step and the offense should run much smoother now that they have a year's experience in the system under their belts.

 

The Packers of course remain the favorites. But this is a division that is notoriously tough. I wouldn't expect whomever wins the division to do so by more than one game. I expect all three of these teams to be a factor deep into December. Injuries or lack thereof will determine the winner I expect. It's entirely possible that 2 wild card teams emerge from this division. They have a very cushy non divisional schedule with the AFCE and NFCS. Those divisions have a lot of W's in them.

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Ok I guess I was pointed to this thread to again voice my disappointment with my Chicago Bears and their upcoming season.

 

Simple and plain we had an amazing offense and horrible defense last year. We were the #2 scoring offense in the league (yeah don't hate) and that is with Cutler missing games. We were right outside the playoffs because while we could put up points, we weren't build to shoot-out with teams and lost a few that we should have had.

 

I been putting my new NFL Game Rewind to work and watched 15 games worth of the Bears' defense (couldn't stand one more after the Philly game) and while the cry has been about our defensive line needing to improve and all the noise made about bringing in some free agents and rookies....the fact is that it was our LINEBACKERS that were the main problem last year. Our safeties are horrible and beyond garbage no need to discuss that. But our pass offense was middle of the road, because teams were too busy ripping off 50 yard gaines and making Bostic look like a 8th grader. The problem was simple....we didn't control the correct gaps. Our LBs were consistently in the wrong gap or they sat back and got blocked instead of filling it. People can try to make football as complex as they want, but at the end of the day you are a gap responsible defense and we didn't play responsibly.

 

NOW while the D-Line got a makeover our LBs are the same and watching the pre-season they have not gotten any better at playing the position. We have a healthy but aging Briggs. Shea is out of position and honestly he hasn't been too bad. The next level of the problem is the safety play. We don't run the alleys well to clean up plays and we don't do that because we are backed up 80 yards to defend the deep play which we STILL give up.

 

To answer the question we will be fighting to shoot-out with teams this season. Small fact...defense with the most touchdowns last year? DA Bears (tied), so we still take the ball away that part of the Bear spirit is with us. With a better four man pass rush I believe we continue to intercept and cause fumbles, but with a bad run defense the opportunities won't be all over the place. In the division it will be us and the Packers for the title....if the Packers start off fast then we won't see the postseason. Unless Packers have alot of injuries or stumble to start then I don't see anyone else in the division making a move.

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If I had to harbor a guess:

 

1. :Packers:

2. :Lions:

3. :Bears:

4. :Vikings:

 

I was kind of shocked at how bad the Bears defense was. They are either slow and old or young and confused. Offensively, they are good. But not Packers good. The Lions may have the best defense in this division.

 

Could see a wild card team out of this division if the 2nd place team can manage 10 wins. Nine could do it but it would rely on other teams stumbling.

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Losing Tretter is going to hurt the Packers for the first 5 or 6 weeks until he is back. We are relying on a rookie having his first actual game snap with Rodgers in Seattle. This may be ugly, but outside of center I really like this offense and once Tretter is back it will be better as he has looked really good.

 

As for the defense, the front 7 looks a lot better though losing Raji does hurt as he has looked a lot better in camp and preseason. The secondary hasn't been too impressive but they are using simple schemes so I'm not too surprised there haven't been any spectacular plays.

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I'm excited to see if Ebron gets snaps right away.

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