LogFAQs > #903839496

NFC North

1. Minnesota Vikings
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Detroit Lions
4. Los Angeles Bears

It sucks that the Vikings lost HB Julius Jones, the only HB with eight 1000 yard rushing season, for the season. It might be his last season, which sucks even more. That being said, they have second-year pro Jahvid Best ready to show what he can do, one of the two reigning MVPs in QB Josh Portis, a deep WR corps, and a deep and extremely talented OL. As a team with five seasons finishing in both the Top 10 on offense and defense, it goes without saying that they have a great defense to pair with their offense. DL is actually the weakest part of it, but what they lack in pass-rushing ability, they make up for it defending the run against the likes of Chris Brown, DeAngelo Williams, and the combo of Carnell Williams/Tyrod Taylor six times a season. That secondary is leagues better than anything the Bears, Lions, and Packers trot out. Barring anything shocking, the Vikings will win the division, but can they go undefeated to give them a better shot at claiming a first round bye? They face the AFC's best division in the East and their unique games apart from their divisional foes are against the NFC Championship opponents in the Cowboys and Rams. It's a tough task, but the Vikings might be up to the challenge.

The Packers did not have the defensive season that I was expecting and losing the other half of the MVP co-winners in OLB Spencer Havner for half the season does not help matters, but they are a great bet to regress to the mean and at least finish in the middle of the pack on defense. To get back into the playoff race and compete for the division, they will need their offense shape up. It begins with QB Tyrod Taylor who regressed super hard. He played in a career high 13 games, but after fumbling 2 times in hist first 16 starts across his first two seasons, he fumbled 12 times last season. After coming into the season with a career 77.0 rating, he recorded 62.9 last season with a 14:19 TD:INT ratio and 52.8% completion percentage. There's nowhere to go but up from there right? Carnell Williams continues to be the steady offensive force that prevents the offense from becoming complete shit, but he's 32 now and his backups are a HB who lost last season to injury and a 71 overall rookie. That OL is good when healthy, but it often isn't, and the youngest starter is 32. The easiest portion of the Packers schedule is in the first half, so like the Ravens, they need to grin and bear their terrible injury and find themselves at least at .500 through Week 8 or 9 to have a shot at becoming a playoff team.

Madden deemed the Lions to be the first team in the league last season, I was inclined to agree that they would be among the league's worst. They overachieved like hell to finish 8-8 and not be eliminated from the playoffs until Week 16. They didn't suffer too much when it came to retirements, they used depth to trade for needs on defense, and they used draft picks to build up their defense. That being said, like the Titans, they could easily improve from their performance last season and still finish with a worse record. They don't have as much talent as the Titans or Bills, so throwing schedules out the window, I see them as the most likely of the three to fall back down to earth.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
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