In the Meantime, the Rest of the NFC North...

[Fritz]

...fiddles and burns. The Vikings are up to their usual plan - spend wildly on a big name that you sign away from a division rival, and in general just try to kinda buy your way into competetiveness through one or two big, head-scratching contracts. Have one of your defensive lineman go down to illness or injury, too.

Da Bears? Sign some re-treads, trade away a re-tread QB. Let the remaining re-treads fight it out for the honor of not losing the damn game for you.

Lions? Secretly and quietly they have put themselves in a bad cap position. In order to not further infuriate Lions' fans they've kept this on the down low by pretending that it's part of their plan this year to not sign any but the lowest rung free agents. Most of those free agents are coming from Rod Marinellis old team, the Bucs. Also, the Lions unload a talented but lazy player who never lived up to the contract he signed, or if he did it was for half a season at a time. In return, they get a third rounder and a corner with talent whom the previous coaching staff had attitude issues with...so the Lions trade one head case for another. And we know how well Millen drafts in the third round...

So for those of us fretting over Favre's retirement and perhaps fretting over TT's lack of movement so far, all I can say is that the division rivals are - from my perspective - operating with their same old half-assed methods.

The draft is going to be key for everyone, although of course it's hard to get too much from a first year player.

What other points of view do people have about how the other NFC North teams have handled the off-season so far?

[Bretsky]

9 wins should win this piss poor division

I expect GB to win the division; that is an equal kudos to TT for restocking but also a sad statement as to how bad the division is

[Fritz]

Yeah, Bretsky, I agree. A weak division. Or so it seems at this point.

So who are you and I going to agree on the Packers drafting this year? Who's going to get our kiss of death this year?

[Bretsky]

Yeah, Bretsky, I agree. A weak division. Or so it seems at this point.

So who are you and I going to agree on the Packers drafting this year? Who's going to get our kiss of death this year?

I know there is somebody we could put a curse on Fritz

I'm not sure which route to go this year; we're probably a few years away right now so I'm not as high on drafting for our needs.

I would hope we address OG,TE, and CB's early though.

Maybe we should put a curse on Cromartie ??

[falco]

Yeah, Bretsky, I agree. A weak division. Or so it seems at this point.

So who are you and I going to agree on the Packers drafting this year? Who's going to get our kiss of death this year?

I know there is somebody we could put a curse on Fritz

I'm not sure which route to go this year; we're probably a few years away right now so I'm not as high on drafting for our needs.

I would hope we address OG,TE, and CB's early though.

Maybe we should put a curse on Cromartie ??

what happens when the player you curse ends up being the one we pick???

better stick to someone with name recognition, then you won't have to worry about it

[Bretsky]

Yeah, Bretsky, I agree. A weak division. Or so it seems at this point.

So who are you and I going to agree on the Packers drafting this year? Who's going to get our kiss of death this year?

I know there is somebody we could put a curse on Fritz

I'm not sure which route to go this year; we're probably a few years away right now so I'm not as high on drafting for our needs.

I would hope we address OG,TE, and CB's early though.

Maybe we should put a curse on Cromartie ??

what happens when the player you curse ends up being the one we pick???

better stick to someone with name recognition, then you won't have to worry about it

I was 100% for drafting AJ Hawk; come to think of it that may be why he isn't as dominant as we were hoping for

But the Odell Thurman curse was a classic
And then Meachem last year

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

I think we will win the division, but look out for the Vikings. AP is going to have a hell of a year. Their running game alone is going to be very scary.

The bears are still the bears, all about defense. Except now their offense is even more horrid with the loss of their two starting wr's. Also, Benson is a bust, and Grossman is still the starter. That’s one hell of an offense.

The lions lost Rodgers and may loss Williams if he’s also traded. On top of that, Matt Millen can't draft for shit and thus they will remain shit.

I see us going 9-7 and the Vikings winning anywhere between 8-10 games.

My prediction

Packers 9-7
Vikings 9-7
Bears 6-10
Lions 5-11

[Fritz]

It'd be interesting to do the research - I'm lazy and busy now - to see which teams in the North have been favored in the pre-season over the past five or six years. I'd bet the Queens always get a fair share of love.

I just read that the Lions are furiously signing about every former Tampa Bay player that they can. A dt named Darby (also played for Seattle), a defensive back - can't remember the naem - plus Dwight Smith, plus another guy they are looking at - Brian Kelly.

Guys who were in their prime when Tampa won the Super Bowl six years ago...

Also, the rumor in Detroit is that Philly is calling Matt Millen about prying Roy Williams away from him. Hmm. Could Millen trade away his only offensive weapon so far (excluding C. Johnson if he develops)? The Eagles are dangling Lito Sheppard and a draft pick.

The Lions have also lost Bailey and Teddy Lehman and so have a shortage at linebacker, as well as running back. They also need help on the offensive line. Their entire defense is a patchwork quilt of overacheivers - the kind of guys Marinelli loves.

So at this point it looks like the Lions will be a bunch of hard-working losers.

[denverYooper]

It'd be interesting to do the research - I'm lazy and busy now - to see which teams in the North have been favored in the pre-season over the past five or six years. I'd bet the Queens always get a fair share of love.

I just read that the Lions are furiously signing about every former Tampa Bay player that they can. A dt named Darby (also played for Seattle), a defensive back - can't remember the naem - plus Dwight Smith, plus another guy they are looking at - Brian Kelly.

Guys who were in their prime when Tampa won the Super Bowl six years ago...

Also, the rumor in Detroit is that Philly is calling Matt Millen about prying Roy Williams away from him. Hmm. Could Millen trade away his only offensive weapon so far (excluding C. Johnson if he develops)? The Eagles are dangling Lito Sheppard and a draft pick.

The Lions have also lost Bailey and Teddy Lehman and so have a shortage at linebacker, as well as running back. They also need help on the offensive line. Their entire defense is a patchwork quilt of overacheivers - the kind of guys Marinelli loves.

So at this point it looks like the Lions will be a bunch of hard-working losers.

Oh man, I love the Lions. I can always count on them to suck.

[Tony Oday]

Bears offense is just crap no need to expand on that. Their defense is getting older and seems to be banged up however it seems when they have a terrible year recently they have a great year the next...

The lions are going to be real bad this year. They dont have a defense at all...period...their offense reminds me of a run and shoot offense that can work in the begining of the year but enough film you can shut them down.

The Vikings will not have an offense with T Jack he will never be a real NFL QB the only reason he still has a job is because Childress wont admit when he is wrong. AP will not have the year he did when he broke out because if you look at his last games last year he was stopped because there were 8-9 men in the box! Other teams stopped the run and said T Jack try to complete a pass.

Their defense is good but Fat Pat is getting too old he will get hurt this year and the defense will fail all around him.

Pack win the North at 12-4

[mngolf19]

Geez guys, I at least try to be objective when I talk about the Packers and Vikes. Yes the Vikes tend to spend more than the Pack in FA but does that mean they are way overspending and getting nothing for it? Since TT has joined the Pack, outspending them doesn't take much. Some players have worked out, Sharper-Hutch-Longwell-Leber-P.Williams. Others have not-too many to list here. But the spending is because of 2 things, McCombs never spent diddly and the entire roster needed refilling and they have managed the cap very well. (why not spend it if you have it available every year)

As for the Pack, they did very well last year but that may be a one year run if Rodgers doesn't pan out. And due to lack of action, we don't know how that will turn out. Will your opinions of how each team is being built stay the same if the Pack goes 8-8 or worse and the Vikes win 13 next year?

Just my opinion here, but I think that Favre has covered for alot of bad decisions over the years and that includes TT. Now that he is gone, we'll find out.

[Joemailman]

I think the Packers have the best group of receivers, best defense, and 2nd best running back in the division. That is probably enough to win the division unless Rodgers falls flat on his face. I don't think that will happen. Rodgers is at worst the 2nd best QB in the division right now.

[Rastak]

I think the Packers have the best group of receivers, best defense, and 2nd best running back in the division. That is probably enough to win the division unless Rodgers falls flat on his face. I don't think that will happen. Rodgers is at worst the 2nd best QB in the division right now.

The guy has ZERO starts in the NFL....how can you say that?


You and I both don't know enough of how he'll do as the starter to say where he'll rank.

[Lurker64]

The guy has ZERO starts in the NFL....how can you say that?


You and I both don't know enough of how he'll do as the starter to say where he'll rank.

Just curious Ras, say you're GM of the Vikings for 5 minutes and are presented with an opportunity to trade Tavarius Jackson for Aaron Rodgers straight up. Do you pull the trigger? How fast do you pull that trigger?

[HarveyWallbangers]

The guy has ZERO starts in the NFL....how can you say that?

You and I both don't know enough of how he'll do as the starter to say where he'll rank.

That's because he's watched Grossman and Jackson. They do have starts, and have looked awful. I think it would be hard not to be better than them. I smell a passer rating bet again. We've seen some good QBs go through Green Bay, and all we could do was evaluate them on preseason. Rodgers looks comparable to those other QBs that went elsewhere.