Sportsnet’s Jim Lang previews each of the NFL’s divisions leading up to the opening kickoff on Thursday, Sept. 10. Today we preview the NFC North and the Chicago Bears challenge for the division, and the toothless Lions.
NFC North
Chicago Bears
(2008 record: 9-7)
Ignoring the long held theory that there aren’t any good trades in the NFL anymore; the Bears pulled off a stunner in the off season when they dealt Kyle Orton to Denver for Jay Cutler. All of a sudden head coach Lovie Smith Coach has gained a young quarterback who is coming off of a season where he threw for over 4,500 yards and 25 touchdowns. A young quarterback with a strong arm and can throw for over 4,000 yards is not easy to come by. For a Bears team that is all about the running game and defense, having a quarterback like Cutler totally changes the dynamics of their offence.
If Jay Cutler can play like he did against the Broncos in the much hyped pre-season game, he will become the biggest sports star in Chicago. Playing quarterback for the Bears isn’t easy. If Cutler can light it up this year for the Bears, he will literally own Soldier Field.
With Cutler, there is good, and there is the bad. The good is his arm strength and his intensity. The other that is good the way he has dealt with his Diabetes. The bad is his habit for pouting and throwing tantrums when things are not going his way. Football fans in Chicago will tolerate a lot, but they will never put up with a starting quarterback who comes across as a cry baby.
The Bears have to kick off the season in Green Bay, and then they come home to host the Steelers. If Cutler can survive the first two weeks and put up solid numbers, than the Bears will have finally found their franchise quarterback they’ve been desperately searching for all these years. Having said that, how Cutler deals with adversity and how he deals with the fans and the media in Chicago will be as important as how he does on the field.
The first thing Cutler likely realized is that he doesn’t have a receiver like Brandon Marshall to work with any more. Devin Hester and Earl Bennett will never be confused with Jerry Rice and John Taylor. The Bears do have a solid tight end in Greg Olsen.
The ground game is in very good hands because the Bears have a rock solid running back in Matt Forte. The amazing thing about Forte is not only did he run for 1200 yards, he caught 63 passes out of the backfield. That is pretty impressive stuff for a raw rookie out of Tulane.
To help out Cutler and Forte, the Bears went out acquired Tackle Orlando Pace. With the likes of Pace and Olin Kreutz, the offensive line should be strong enough for the offense to put up some points.
Defensively, the Bears are all about their linebackers, always have, and they always will be. However, the Bears best linebacker isn’t the media darling Brian Urlacher, its Weakside Linebacker Lance Briggs. Not only did he lead the Bears in tackles, Briggs was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fourth straight year. With Briggs and Urlacher, the Bears love to pull of the Double A gap blitz. When he’s on his game, Tommie Harris is one of the top defensive tackles in the NFC.
Briggs will need some help from his veteran teammates on defense because the Bears were one of he worst teams in the NFL is giving up passing yardage. That means defensive backs like Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman need to step up their game.
The Bears have a great kicker in Robbie Gould, a top punter in Brad Maynard and electric kick returning tandem in Daniel Manning and Devin Hester.
After going 9 and 7 last year, the Bears nation feel the addition of Cutler at quarterback might be the missing piece of the puzzle to get them over the top in the NFC North. One thing is for sure, with Cutler in Chicago, the Bears will push the Vikings and the Packers for the NFC North title. December is a huge month for the Bears. On the 13th, they host the Packers at Solider Field. Then on the 28th,, the Bears host the Vikings in the Monday Nighter. I can only imagine how nasty the weather will be off the shores of Lake Michigan that time of the year.
Incredible fact: Between Billy Wade in 1962 and Erik Kramer in 1995, the Bears franchise went an incredible 33 years between 3,000 yard passers. In the long and storied history of the Bears, there have been only five years where their starting quarterback threw for over 3,000 yards; and Kramer is on that list twice.
Detroit Lions
(2008 record: 0-16)
When you are a franchise that is bouncing back from a record 0 and 16 season, you really can do no wrong. If the Lions new head coach Jim Schwartz only leads the Lions to one win this year, it will be seen as a major improvement over 2008. When you are the worst team in the league, you are rewarded with the first pick over all in the NFL draft. After much debate, the Lions selected quarterback Matt Stafford from Georgia.
While the Lions gave Stafford over $41 million dollars in guaranteed money, Schwartz still isn’t prepared to hand him the reins of the offence. Veteran Daunte Culpepper is with the Lions and hasn’t looked horrible. Schwartz might be wise to let Culpepper start the season and let Stafford ease into his NFL career; especially when you think about the fact that the Lions allowed 52 sacks in 2008.
No matter who gets the start at quarterback, they get the pleasure of throwing passes to six foot five inch receiver Calvin Johnson. In his second season, Johnson had over 1300 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns. The Lions aerial attack received another boost when they selected top ranked tight end Brandon Pettigrew out of Oklahoma State.
The Lions running features a decent back in Kevin Smith. While he’s not considered one of the elite running backs in the NFC, Smith had a strong second half and finished the year with just under 1,000 yards.
One of the Lions key off season signings was Detroit native and former Steelers linebacker Larry Foote. Foote comes back to his hometown with two Super Bowl rings and a wealth of experience from his time in Pittsburgh. Schwartz feels Foote’s leadership is being felt throughout the entire Lions organization.
"You see it out here, but you know where you really see it? It’s in the cafeteria, in the locker room; you see it in the weight room. Leadership isn’t just an on the field thing, it’s calling a group up when practice is over. Leadership is going to occur in the hotel, it’s going to occur when guys are out to dinner. I mean if I were a young player, and a guy with a couple Super Bowl rings and a guy that has been to two out of the last three pro bowls, I would respect what they say."
Foote and the Lions defense have nowhere to go but up because in 2008, they were dead last in nearly every category. To that end, the Lions also went out and added other veteran defensive players in tackle Grady Jackson and cornerback Phillip Buchanon.
Other than Calvin Johnson, the other bright light on the Lions last year was kicker Jason Hanson. Hanson went a perfect eight for eight kicking 50 yard field goals.
After going winless in 2008, the Lions have extremely modest goals this year. 2009 is all about laying the foundation of a team that Schwartz hopes will become a contender before Stafford is ready to retire.
Cool fact: One of the first things Schwartz did when taking over the Lions was totally revamp their off season conditioning program. Goodbye "girlie man" off season workouts, and hello Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Power Squats and some of the toughest bad ass weight lifting routines in the NFL.
Green Bay Packers
(2008 record: 6-10)
With all the hype surrounding the major changes at quarterback in Chicago and Minnesota, little was made of the subtle, yet extremely effective changes that went on in Green Bay. Head coach Mike McCarthy brought in the experienced and highly respected Dom Capers to run the Packers 3-4 defense. To provide Capers with the tools he needs to succeed, the Packers drafted Nose Tackle BJ Raji and linebacker Clay Matthews in the first round. Add those two young studs to talented holdovers like Aaron Kampman, Charles Woodson, Nick Barnett and AJ Hawk and you have the potential for an extremely tough defense.
The newest member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame – the NFL Network’s Rod Woodson has probably forgotten more about defense than any of us will ever know. Woodson thinks the addition of Capers has the potential to turn a good defense, into a great one:
"Green Bay already had the athletes on the defensive side, they just needed a system to match what they can do and I believe Dom Capers 3-4 system fits like a glove."
The Packers offence is much different from the days of Vince Lombardi’s famed power sweep. With quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the controls and receivers like Greg Jennings Donald Driver to throw to; the Packers are more than capable of lighting it up on offence.
Rodgers emerged from the shadow of Brett Favre and ended up throwing for over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2008. Every good quarterback needs a great target to throw to and Rodgers has a special talent in receiver in Jennings. In fact, Jennings led the NFL with eight catches of 40 yards or more. With Rodgers arm and Jennings gift for going long, expect more big play fireworks from the Packers in 2009.
With Ryan Grant in the back field, the Packers have a solid, but unspectacular, running game. While he won’t be confused with Adrian Peterson, Grant did still run for 1200 yards last year.
Chad Clifton and the Packers offensive line gave up 34 sacks last year. That’s not horrible, but there is room for improvement.
There is one thing that McCarthy needs his team to work in 2009, and that’s penalties. The Packers took more yards in penalties, 984, than any other team in the NFL in 2008.
The Packers have a brutal schedule in the last half of the season. Beginning in Week 13, the Packers will end the season with a killer five game stretch. Green bay is home to the Ravens, then on the road at Chicago and at Pittsburgh, home to the Seahawks and then wrap up the season back on the road in Arizona. Yikes. With Rodgers, Jennings and Grant, the Packers have the foundation of a solid offence. The tipping point in green bay this year could very well be Dom Capers and his 3-4 defense.
Amazing note: If you thought Steelers fans were crazy, then Packers fans are down right obsessive. The waiting list for Packers season tickets is now hovering around 81,000 names. If you are willing to wait 30 years, you will be able to buy your own pair of season tickets to the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field.
Minnesota Vikings
(2008 record: 10-6, won division)
Vikings coach Brad Childress got more face time on TV this summer than any of his players. That’s what happens when you spend all your free time courting an NFL legend. Ultimately, Childress and the Vikings pulled it off and landed the one player they fell is standing between them and the Super Bowl, Brett Favre.
All of a sudden, there are a lot of people who feel the Vikings are the team to beat in the NFC North. After all, they already have the best running back in the NFL in the machine that is Adrian Peterson.
Favre has some work to do with the Vikings. Last year with the Jets, Favre led the NFL with 22 interceptions. This isn’t the same cannon-armed, good old boy from Mississippi who could throw a football through a brick wall in his younger days. This is Adrian Peterson’s team; Favre is just a piece to the puzzle. To be perfectly frank, Vikings fans should be more excited about rookie speed burner receiver Percy Harvin than a soon to be 40-year-old quarterback who is living on borrowed time. Harvin isn’t the only receiver with speed to burn in Minnesota, they also have veteran Bernard Berrian. Known as B-Twice on Twitter, Berrian averaged over 20 yards a catch and scored seven touchdowns last year.
One thing Favre will quickly learn to appreciate is the Vikings incredible offensive line. With the likes of Bryant McKinnie and Steve Hutchinson, Favre and Peterson will have plenty of room to work.
The big issue for the Vikings defense involves a supplement called StarCaps. If the NFL prevails in a pending court case – than both Kevin and Pat Williams – the Vikings massive run stopping defensive tackles will begin the season serving a four game suspension. Even if the Williams’ are forced to serve a suspension, they Vikings still have one of the best defensive ends in the NFL in Jared Allen. Rounding out a top notch Vikings defense is linebacker E.J. Henderson and cornerback Antoine Winfield.
The aptly named kicker Ryan Longwell was six for six in his 50 yard field goal attempts.
For those who didn’t know, the Packers and Vikings rivalry has always been intense; but the Favre signing takes it to a level never before thought possible. Circle these dates on your calendar. First, October the 5th, that’s the day Favre and the Vikings host the Packers. Then the big one will take place on November the 1st when Favre and the Vikings pay a visit to Lambeau Field. With the addition of Cutler, the Vikings also have to worry about the Bears if they have any plans on repeating as NFC North champs. That game will take place on a frigid Monday Night at the end of December when the Vikings pay a visit to Soldier Field.
With the addition of Favre, Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen and the defense, there are lot of people who feel the Vikings are poised to take a great leap forward in 2009. If Favre’s arm holds up, they should be better, but so are the Bears and the Packers. For the Vikes, Bears and Packers this year, every win will be huge, and every loss will be devastating in their quest to make the post season.
Peterson Power: Adrian Peterson has done some incredible things on the football field and he’s only entering his third year in the NFL. In the first 30 games of his career, Peterson has run for 100 yards or more a remarkable 16 times. To put that into some sort of perspective, LaDainian Tomlinson, "only" had eleven 100 yard games in the first two years of his career.
