NFC North - A new overview

[Fritz]

"Ben Leber"? Who is Ben Leber? I didn't know the Packers had a Jewish linebacker.

[Dabaddestbear]

The Bears' D is good but it is certainly not all it was made out to be for the first 12 games last season. Both of their corners are only average and can be beat. They had very good luck on that side of the ball last year with regards to injuries.

Four our sake, I hope that Lance Briggs holds out and tries to stir up some trouble in CHI.

Yeah, one of those corners went to the probowl so I would say he is more than average. And they had injuries last year(more on offense than defense) but they still found ways to win. Thats what a TEAM does. The leader of the defense Mike Brown was injured most of the season yet they still rose to the occasion. Your Bias views shines through.

Vasher is very good but he is hardly a shutdown corner. I wouldn't rate him as one of the top 6-7 corners in the league.

But if you really feel he is one of the top 5 corners in the league than do you think the Bears should pay him like one? I'm interested to see what happens with Jones, Briggs, and Vasher.

Vasher has already reported back after 1 week absence and said he will let his play on the field speak for him this season. He said he refuses to be a distraction to the team. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/new...l.jsp?id=15966

[Dabaddestbear]

The Packers are going to be much better. I still think the Bears have the North locked down for at least one more year.

With that being said, Favre takes Bears games seriously and I think the Packers will win at least one. If Favre stays healthy and comes back, I think this young team could compete for a championship. Not quite yet but I think there will be some real gains this year.

I think the Bears are a legit 11-5/12-4 team. I don't think GB is as far off as many seem to think though. It looks to me like an 8-8 season but that is just a guess.

as much as a homer I would like to be , I do think GB will take one from the Bears

[Scott Campbell]

I think Grossman and Griese will make for a solid one two punch since chances are whoever starts will get injured and not finish the season.

Well that covers games 1 and 2, but what happens for games 3-16? Maybe the refs could let them play with the red jerseys during the regular season. Wait, scratch that. Grossman wasn't even touched the last time he got a booboo.

The highly favored Bears get thier next opportunity to choke again in Lambeau field on September 10th.

[red]

I think Grossman and Griese will make for a solid one two punch since chances are whoever starts will get injured and not finish the season.

Well that covers games 1 and 2, but what happens for games 3-16?

LOL

honestly, can anyone name another team that has worse luck with keeping their starting qb's healthy?

[woodbuck27]

Maybe the refs could let them ( the Bears QB's) play with the red jerseys during the regular season.

Hahahahahahaha. Now . . . that is funny.

[Dabaddestbear]

I think Grossman and Griese will make for a solid one two punch since chances are whoever starts will get injured and not finish the season.

Well that covers games 1 and 2, but what happens for games 3-16? Maybe the refs could let them play with the red jerseys during the regular season. Wait, scratch that. Grossman wasn't even touched the last time he got a booboo.

The highly favored Bears get thier next opportunity to choke again in Lambeau field on September 10th.

Well that just means they will have to only go 10-6 for the rest of the season like they did last year with a third string QB (Orton). No shame in that as long as they win. Wonder how good the Pack will do if Brett goes down for the season?
The Bears has had the worst fortune with QB's of all the teams over the past. Its got to end one day, one year, one decade, one century....you get the picture.
And unless you guys just signed Steve Smith I am not worried about the Bears choking to the Packers of all teams. Lovie Smith has seemed to figure out how to beat Brett since he been running things these past few years 3-1 and counting.

[Dabaddestbear]

amazing how a team that dayum near swept the entire division last year (only cuz they didnt play there starters in the second half of that last game against the Vikings), is written as suspect to win the division by packer fans on here .

• They are the only team to retain ALL starters on there most dominate side of the ball (defense) plus a few extras for back up purposes.

• They are the only team with a vetran coaching staff that proves it knows how to win.

• The injuries to there top draft picks last year kept them very limited in play (well Benson also wasnt going to supplant Jones and his rush to 1300yds in his first year).

• You speak of an offensive line for the Vikings, but no team in the division has a more secure solid line than the Bears, as a matter of afact no team in the Division has a better line on either side of the ball than the Bears.

Your talking about a team that did not take any questional steps back this year at all at any possition. They only got stronger in their weakest areas. Safety/CB secured backup and nickle possitions with the two Mannings. And at WR they have Bradley, Berrianat and Currie at full strength to compliment Moose(although I hope his ass wont drop as many balls!). All those guys have tremendous speed for the slot and to stretch the field. If you need a reminder I only need to direct you to the clip of Berrian running past the Packers D deep as if they wasnt even there.

I dont want to toot my horn too much....nah, YES I DO . But the Bears ARE the team to beat just like the Packers once were back in the day.
I think the Vikings will follow two games behind since they are under suspect leadership and there is no true since of what they have yet. I will wait to past judgement on them after watching a few preseason games.

The lions are the trickiest to figure out here cuz they once again have the talent on the offensive side of the ball but they always refuse to show it. That may change with the mad scientist Mike Martz up there in control of the O. Plus they have the D cordinator as the head coach from Tampa which should make them an interesting team to watch. For they dont have much talent on the defensive side but the right fire under your butt can get you moving.

Now I dont want to bash GB too much...uh, yes i do!!
They have waaay too many question marks across the board. Only thing you know for sure is Brett is gonna toss some TD's that may just match his INT total. Top draft pick Hawk may be good, but will he be great? He wasnt even great in College. He was a very solid standout in college but so was his other LB's that played beside him. So the question will be answered if they made him better or vice versa.
O-line on at the Tackles are solid, but that enterior is garbage. Zone blacking scheme may work against most Heavy d-lines but if you havent noticed the Tampa 2 defence that require quick smaller linemen is being installed in Detroit and is already been suscessful in Chicago. So in other words when the zone blocking moves, smaller quick DT's like Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek can knife right thru. Plus shiftier RB's usually make that scheme shines. Shify is not Gado in the backfield and tha is why he is having a hard time picking this stuff up now.
Woodson is signed but trust me when I say he no longer has the speed he had several years ago to be a CB. If he was moved to safety I would be more wooried as a Bears fan. The WR corps aside from Driver is very poor. At least the Bears WR opposite of Moose showed flashes of potential when the ball came there way and they werent injured. Ferguson had all the chances in the world and should not make it out of camp with the Pack this year.
[/list]

[The Shadow]

The Bears are just not that impressive, on many levels.
I think the division is wide open.

[Zool]

All good points.

If Birk is back to his previous form, I would take the Vikes O line over the Bears O line.

Detroit has 1 good WR, a good TE and who knows at RB. As sad as it may be, Scotty Vines is their #2 WR. Detriot hasnt worried me since Barry hung em up. They are in shambles and will continue to be until Millen is finally shown the door.

Packers have lots of holes and have young guys filling them. How many rookie guards to well in the NFL? Looks like we might have 2 starting this year. If they do well, who will be carrying the ball? Green seems an almost perfect fit for the ZBS but does he have anything left? Poopy McCloset will have a good second half to a game, start the next game and get hurt after picking up 80 yards in the first half. Gado is a north/south guy. He runs forward very fast and very hard. Cutback might not be his thing. He has been passed up by Noah already in the OTS. Thats not a great sign.

Driver and.....well a bunch of middle of the road WR's. Rookie WR's rarely have huge years, but I'm not sure Jennings is your average rookie WR. He has caught alot of short/midrange passes in college and turned them into big gains. That sounds alot like what he will be asked to do here. TE's will be good blockers and average recievers.

D will be better but I expect to see a slip from last years inflated numbers. 10-12th in the NFL would be just fine with me and keep us in alot of games.

Bears D will dominate teams again. The O did not get any improvements other than Brian Griese. There must be a reason teams keep letting him go.

Bears 11-5
Vikings 9-7
Packers 7-9
Lions......man who knows. Anywhere from 1-15 to 6-10. They are embarrasing. Last year before the season there was big talk of them and playoffs. As usual that didnt happen. It wont happen this year either.

[Partial]

amazing how a team that dayum near swept the entire division last year (only cuz they didnt play there starters in the second half of that last game against the Vikings), is written as suspect to win the division by packer fans on here .

• They are the only team to retain ALL starters on there most dominate side of the ball (defense) plus a few extras for back up purposes.

• They are the only team with a vetran coaching staff that proves it knows how to win.

• The injuries to there top draft picks last year kept them very limited in play (well Benson also wasnt going to supplant Jones and his rush to 1300yds in his first year).

• You speak of an offensive line for the Vikings, but no team in the division has a more secure solid line than the Bears, as a matter of afact no team in the Division has a better line on either side of the ball than the Bears.

Your talking about a team that did not take any questional steps back this year at all at any possition. They only got stronger in their weakest areas. Safety/CB secured backup and nickle possitions with the two Mannings. And at WR they have Bradley, Berrianat and Currie at full strength to compliment Moose(although I hope his ass wont drop as many balls!). All those guys have tremendous speed for the slot and to stretch the field. If you need a reminder I only need to direct you to the clip of Berrian running past the Packers D deep as if they wasnt even there.

I dont want to toot my horn too much....nah, YES I DO . But the Bears ARE the team to beat just like the Packers once were back in the day.
I think the Vikings will follow two games behind since they are under suspect leadership and there is no true since of what they have yet. I will wait to past judgement on them after watching a few preseason games.

The lions are the trickiest to figure out here cuz they once again have the talent on the offensive side of the ball but they always refuse to show it. That may change with the mad scientist Mike Martz up there in control of the O. Plus they have the D cordinator as the head coach from Tampa which should make them an interesting team to watch. For they dont have much talent on the defensive side but the right fire under your butt can get you moving.

Now I dont want to bash GB too much...uh, yes i do!!
They have waaay too many question marks across the board. Only thing you know for sure is Brett is gonna toss some TD's that may just match his INT total. Top draft pick Hawk may be good, but will he be great? He wasnt even great in College. He was a very solid standout in college but so was his other LB's that played beside him. So the question will be answered if they made him better or vice versa.
O-line on at the Tackles are solid, but that enterior is garbage. Zone blacking scheme may work against most Heavy d-lines but if you havent noticed the Tampa 2 defence that require quick smaller linemen is being installed in Detroit and is already been suscessful in Chicago. So in other words when the zone blocking moves, smaller quick DT's like Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek can knife right thru. Plus shiftier RB's usually make that scheme shines. Shify is not Gado in the backfield and tha is why he is having a hard time picking this stuff up now.
Woodson is signed but trust me when I say he no longer has the speed he had several years ago to be a CB. If he was moved to safety I would be more wooried as a Bears fan. The WR corps aside from Driver is very poor. At least the Bears WR opposite of Moose showed flashes of potential when the ball came there way and they werent injured. Ferguson had all the chances in the world and should not make it out of camp with the Pack this year.
[/list]

I agree with you. I think some young guys will surprise, though.

[wist43]

The North is a pretty pathetic division with the Bears clearly the favorite. Minnesota may give them a run for their money if Childress turns out to be any sort of coach at all... for my money though, I don't like Childress, and don't think he was a very good hire.

Green Bay and Detroit are both pretty dismal teams... neither one can seriously contend for the division title.

[The Shadow]

I just don't see all the talent on the Bears that some others see.
To me, they look extremely thin overall.

[Partial]

I just don't see all the talent on the Bears that some others see.
To me, they look extremely thin overall.

They have 2 DEs better than Kampman and KGB. Both are serious pass rushers.

They have this generations warren sapp and best pass rushing tackle in the league in Harris. Their other DT is a big fatty who can stop the run. Both starters are better than anyone we have.

Urlacher and Briggs are both better than our best linebacker by a landslide.

Vasher is better than any corner we have. Brown is a better defensive back than any we have.

They're very, very, very good defensively.

[Dabaddestbear]

I just don't see all the talent on the Bears that some others see.
To me, they look extremely thin overall.

Thats because you may only watch football when YOUR team plays.

• Chicago has by far one of the deepest Defensive lines in the league.

• The offensive line is solid inside and on the ends with quality backups.

• They are now deep at safety and corner with the Manning Pickups.

• They are more solid at Qb than they have been in 20 years.

• They have a starting RB that rushed for 1300yds last year when everyone knew he was the only offense with Orton behind center and they have last years #5 pick Cedric Benson who led all rushers in yardage when he was drafted wating in the wings.

• 2 pro bowl LB's in Briggs and Urlacher.

• Even WR has the fastest young group in the NFC north opposite Moose that showed strong potential (whenever Orton threw the ball within 20 yds of them)

Once again I must also add that these guys have also became a cohesive unit over the past few years. You can never underestimate familiarity players have with one another. That is what is going to give packer fans fits this year. They made some good additions in the offseason. But how well will they mesh with one another. No one made more key additions to their team on paper these past few years than the Vikings, but as we all know without proper coaching to make all that talent work together you will be in for a long frustrating season. Add that to the fact that you have Vrigin coaches taking over that have never really had any success on the Pro level at any head possition. A head coach from SF who produced one of the worst offenses in the league last year. A DC that was always the flunky of last years DC and for some reason always was just an asst. to an asst. never the man in his own right. He may run the same scheme as last year but do that mean he will make the same calls at the right time? Will he be able to push the players and motivate them enough when it is needed? See you must understand that if it was just about knowing the same scheme it is how you run it. If knowledge of a scheme was all that was needed we would all have a job in NFL.