NFC North Preview: Will Captain Kirk Lead Vikings to NFC North Title?
The NFL released the 2018 schedule last Thursday for all 32 teams and over the course of the eight days, MTV's Hot Takes will be giving predictions for each NFL Division for the 2018 season. Today, we take a look at the NFC North which features the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings.
When you think of the NFC North, you probably think of Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers have won the division five times since Rodgers became the starter in 2008 and will look to try competing with the Minnesota Vikings this season for the division. This should be a competitive division this season, hold your horses because here we go.
Chicago Bears
The Bears improved their win total by two from 2016 and went 5-11 last season. They fired coach John Fox after three years with the team and hired Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to replace him. Running back Jordan Howard rushed for over 1,000 yards in his second season in the league for the Bears and scored nine touchdowns. He will be a big part of the offense this season with quarterback Mitchell Trubisky entering his second season. Trubisky led the Bears to the 30th overall offense in the league and league-worst 175.7 years per game last season. He will need to improve upon those numbers entering his sophmore year if the Bears want to take another step forward. In addition to his improvement, the key to making the playoffs in the NFL is beating your division opponents. Chicago will need to improve their record against division opponents after going 0-6 in the NFC North last year. That will not cut it and while this team may not be in the playoffs this season, they can definitely take a leap forward by winning within the division.
One thing the Bears have going for them is their defense which ranked 9th in the NFL last season. The defense allowed 20.0 points per game last season which was good for 9th in the league. Defensive tackle Lamarr Houston departed in free agency after a his second stint in Chicago, but linebacker Sam Acho will be returning after a successful season with the Bears. Additionally, they added defensive end Aaron Lynch in free agency to bolster the defense. But they still need to be upgrade the pass rush to be able to apply pressure to the quarterback even after finish the season with 42 sacks which was 7th in the league. This is important given the quarterbacks they face in their division are very mobile in Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, and Matthew Stafford.
Prediction: 7-9
Detroit Lions
The Lions are looking to win the division for the first time since 1993 when the NFC North was still called the NFC Central. They will be hunting for the title this year with former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia steering the ship at head coach. They still have Matt Stafford to lead the Lions offense and upgraded the run game with the signing of LeGarrette Blount in free agency. The Lions run game was ranked 31st last season and averaged just 76.3 yards per game. Blount is a power back that can get extra yards after contact for a team and the Lions will welcome his services to the run game. The passing game needs no explaination with Matthew Stafford leading the way with reliable receivers Golden Tate and last year's breakout player Marvin Jones to throw to. They were ranked 6th last year in passing with 261.4 yards per game and with the pieces they have, should continue to succeed offensively. Getting the rushing game going this season will be critical to their success. Another positive from this squad is their 5-1 record last season against NFC North opponents, they will need to have that kind of success again in the division to make it back to the playoffs.
While success on the offensive side seems inevitable, improvement on the defense will be necessary for Detroit if they want to be playoff bound. The Lions defense was ranked 26th in the league last year, but will have a new coachign staff. Defensive guru Matt Patricia is coaching this team alongside Paul Pasqualoni who gave him his start in college calling the defensive plays for the Lions. There should be much needed improvement on the defense with these coaching changes, but the team still has holes to fill on defense. They need to improve the defensive tackle position with Haloti Nagata gone and be able to apply for pressure to the quarterback. They also have to improve their defensive ends with Ziggy Ansah being really the only proven guy there. This team can be good with a few defensive upgrades and back in the playoffs.
Prediction: 10-6
Green Bay Packers
After Green Bay started the season 4-1 and came off a huge last minute win against the Cowboys, Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone in the first quarter of the game against Minnesota. From there, the Packers relied on Brett Hundley to lead the team and Green Bay struggled. They still had a outside chance at making the playoffs when Aaron Rodgers returned in Week 15 with a 7-6 record. But they fell to the Panthers and then the Packers let Hundley finish out the final two games of the season, losses to the Vikings and Lions. With a healthy Aaron Rodgers back this year, the Packers should find more success on the offensive side of the ball after being ranked 26th overall last year. They have a pair of strong receivers with Davante Adams and Randall Cobb, also the addition of tight end Jimmy Graham should fill the void left by the departure of Jordy Nelson in free agency. The Packers offense revolves around the health of Aaron Rodgers though, as long as he stays healthy they will no doubt be better than last season.
Mike Pettine comes into Green Bay to replace Dom Capers as the defensive coordinator. The Packers defense gave up an average of 24.0 points per game last season which ranked them 26th in the NFL. Mike McCarthy expects Pettine to run a system that allows players to succeed on the defensive end of the ball. Linebacker Clay Matthews will again be leading this defense coming off a season in which he recorded 7.5 sacks and 43 total tackles. The Packers will need help in the secondary at the cornerback and safety positions. Cornerback Damarious Randall left Green Bay in a deal with Cleveland and safety Morgan Burnett went to the Steelers in free agency. For a Packers passing defense that ranked 23rd last year, these positions will be crucial to fill if they want to improve against the passing game and make a run in the playoffs. While they should be back in the playoffs with a healthy Aaron Rodgers to lead the offense, the defense will have to step up its game. Winning the division is not out of the question either and they have a decent shot to do so.
Prediction: 11-5
Minnesota Vikings
Sam Bradford started the season before getting injured and Case Keenum took over to help lead the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game. Yes, you heard that right, Case Keenum led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game. However, neither quarterback remains on the team as well as the once considered franchise quarterback of the team Teddy Bridgewater. They all went to various teams this offseason and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur left as well to coach the New York Giants. But fear not Vikings fans, Kirk Cousins is the quarterback for the team now after signing a free ageny deal with the team. Cousins has thrown for over 4,000 yards in each of his last three seasons and has lots of weapons to throw to again with Minnesota. He will have the opportunity to throw to Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, and newly signed free agent Kendall Wright coming from the Bears. Thielen is coming off a 1,000 yards receiving season that included four touchdowns while Diggs recorded 849 receiving yards with eight touchdowns. Not to mention, the tight end Kyle Rudolph who is a big red zone threat on the team and finished last season with eight touchdown grabs. Minnesota also has running back Dalvin Cook returning from a torn ACL in his rookie season in which he started four games and was impressive. Latavius Murray will be second in line at the running back position this year and he filled in well with Jerick McKinnon last season after Cook went down. Overall, this offense can only get better from here, it will be up to offensive coordinator John DeFilippo to channel the same success Pat Shurmur had with the team last year.
The Vikings defense was phenominal last season and was ranked 1st overall in the NFL. They allowed 10 or less points to their opponents in eight games last season. Defensive coordinator George Edwards will enter his fifth season with the team in that position and try to replicate the success they had last year. One of the big reasons for their success on defense was cornerback Xavier Rhodes who dominated opponents lined up against him and shut them down. Defensive lineman Everson Griffen also had a great year posting 13.0 sacks to add on to the Vikings 37 sacks on the year. Those 37 total sacks by Minnesota's defense was 17th in the NFL. However, they got shelled in the postseason against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. They will need to be able to continue to apply pressure to opposing quarterbacks in 2018 as well as play better in the secondary to avoid a repeat of games like the NFC Championship Game last year. The sky is the limit for this team and if Kirk Cousins can lead the team offensively, the defense should be able to help lead them back to a division title and a deep run in the playoffs.
Prediction: 13-3
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