I know. You can’t win them all. But this past Sunday, the NFC North laid an egg. All 4 teams went on the road, and all 4 teams lost their games. Sometimes it’s hard to win on the road in the NFL.
But should we start to sound the alarm? And by alarm, I mean, should we start panicking that the team is heading for disaster and this season is totally shot? Well, lets head around the division and see what we find.
It’s hard to believe we are at the mid-point of the NFL season. As such, there were eight teams starting the year with brand new head coaches. Six of them are in their first head coaching position, while two have held the job before.
In the competition to see who made the best hiring decision, the clear – and only – winner at this point is the Green Bay Packers. Matt LeFleur has this team leading their division at 7-1. Now, perhaps it’s the Aaron Duo – quarterback Aaron Rodgers and running back Aaron Jones – who deserve some credit, but there are other teams in this group with talented players who are not even close to being .500. That means I’m giving the Packers an A on the hire. Trust me – other coaches might have found a way to screw up this team so I’ll give credit to LeFleur because he hasn’t.
Let’s take a look at the other seven teams to see how they are faring…
Believe it or not, we’ve reached the halfway mark of the season. Crazy, right?
Well, like I’ve done in the past, it’s time to rank the performance of the teams of the NFC North. Remember, I don’t take these too seriously, I just like to have fun with them.
Some teams have surprised, some….. have not. But either way, what first started off as a possible battle for the top of the division hasn’t really come to fruition.
There’s still a good amount of season left, and who knows what could happen.
It was 2 up and 2 down in the NFC North this past week.
The Packers cruised to their 6th victory, and the Vikings had to work a little bit, but in the end, they came away with a decent victory over the Lions.
The Lions and the Bears, on the other hand, lost. The Bears lost to a “down” Saints team, and the Lions just left everyone scratching their heads.
Despite wins and losses on Sunday, there were some players on each team that had a great day. Let’s head around the division and see who they were.
I’ll get this started by saying this: I may be covering the NFC East and all of the NFC North, but it’s still #OnePride all day long over here. And I’ll be even more honest, it’s sometimes really hard when I have to play nice and write good stuff about the NFC North rivals. After Monday night, it got even harder.
It’s been almost 24 hours since the infamous Monday Night Game that I’m writing this, and it’ll be almost 36 hours by the time you read this since the latest travesty in the saga between the Lions and the referees. So, I’ve had time to cool off.
Apparently, I needed it, because I went on a mini-rant at work yesterday. And that never happens. Well, me ranting in regards to Lions football anyway. Continue reading “Detroit vs The Refs”→
Week 5 brought a bye week to one team, a couple of challenges to two others, and a nice, easy trip overseas for the last team. The Vikings and the Packers passed their tests with flying colors. The Bears, on the other hand, stumbled. The Lions enjoyed the early bye and took some time to get healthy.
Let’s take a closer look at each team and how they faired week 5.
Detroit Lions: They had a bye, and that couldn’t come at a better time. Though early, some of their major players were a little banged up. Rookie tight end TJ Hockenson was in concussion protocol, quarterback Matthew Stafford has a hip/back injury that he’s been dealing with. There were also a couple of lingering hamstring issues for some of the players as well.
We’ll get to see how recovered they are from the bye as they take on the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. This ones gonna be great! How will Stafford handle Green Bay’s improved defense?
This reminds me of middle school and high school when I’d play defense and intercept my report card so I had an idea of what I was in for. Now, to be honest, I didn’t have to do it too much, but still, I did it.
I can’t believe we’re done with the first quarter of games. It went too fast, but it’s been fun. I’ll be giving a grade for overall performance. And like I’ve done in the past, curves have helped me, so I’m going to curve theirs as well.
It was a good week 3 for the NFC North. Everybody won, and you can’t get too much better than that.
Though to be fair, I’m sure fans of each team wanted the others in the division to lose, but that didn’t happen.
They all got the win and just about solidifying that the division is going to live up to its nickname of the Black and Blue division this year. Which is always fun.
Week 3 is just about here. Let’s take a tour around the NFC North and see what’s been going around the division going into play on Sunday.
Let’s start with the Chicago Bears. What in the name of wild finishes was that? While I understand Broncos fans frustrations, a win is a win. And the biggest news out of that win? Kicker Eddy Pineiro. He was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. Which is great news for the Bears faithful, especially after last years disappointing playoff loss. The Bears have found their guy! The Bears are heading to Washington to take on the Redskins on Monday Night Football. Hopefully, they can put all phases of their game together to get the win.
The Packers face a tough schedule right off the bat. For the second week in a row, they’re facing a divisional opponent, and while we do love home-field advantage, the Vikings have shown us that doesn’t always help.
Going into Sunday’s game, both teams are 1-0, but while Green Bay was fighting a battle in Chicago, the Vikings had a much easier game in Atlanta. This is going to be another tough game for the Packers.
And while I always have all the confidence in my team, there are a few teams I still get nervous about facing. The Vikings are near the top of that list. If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you know how much I hate tense and close games. So, yup! I’m already stressing Sunday.
