At least the battle for second place will be interesting.
The Green Bay Packers won their fourth consecutive NFC North title and were a Brandon Bostick onside kick recovery away from punching their ticket to the Super Bowl last season. They enter the 2015 NFL campaign as heavy favorites to earn their fifth consecutive division crown and, frankly, it would be shocking if anyone knocked them from the top spot.
That doesn’t mean the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears are going to mail it in, though. The Lions grabbed a wild-card spot last season after winning 11 games. Who’s to say two — or even three — NFC North teams won’t make the playoffs this season?
Let’s take a stab at projecting where everyone will land when the dust settles.
1. Green Bay Packers
The loss of wide receiver Jordy Nelson hurts, no doubt, but any Aaron Rodgers-led offense is going to be one of the league’s most dynamic units. Plain and simple.
Expect the reigning NFL MVP to not miss a beat, even with Nelson sidelined for the season. Randall Cobb and Davante Adams give Green Bay two good receiving playmakers, and Eddie Lacy enters his third season as one of the NFL’s best running backs.
The Packers lost cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Davon House in free agency, so one could argue there are questions on the defensive side. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is a rising star, though, and even a middle-of-the-pack defense should do the trick given Green Bay’s elite offense.
2. Minnesota Vikings
The Teddy Bridgewater hype train is gaining steam. It would be wise to pump the brakes, but there’s reason to believe the Vikings will improve upon last season’s 7-9 record under the second-year quarterback.
Adrian Peterson is back, and Minnesota has other potential impact weapons on offense, including Mike Wallace, Charles Johnson, Cordarrelle Patterson and Kyle Rudolph.
The Vikings’ defense struggled against the run last season, and there are questions along their offensive line, so while they’ve become a sexy sleeper pick, they’re in no way a slam dunk. Then again, neither is anyone else in the division besides the Packers. Minnesota at least is trending in the right direction.
3. Detroit Lions
Matthew Stafford never took that next step toward becoming one of the game’s elite quarterbacks. He has his moments, though, and Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate give him an excellent receiving tandem, assuming Megatron can stay healthy this season.
Running back Ameer Abdullah is one of the division’s most intriguing players, though it remains to be seen how the carries will be divvied up between him, Joique Bell and Theo Riddick.
The Lions’ defense was awesome last season, so there’s a chance — perhaps a good one — that Detroit will contend for a wild-card spot based on its holdovers. But Ndamukong Suh is gone. And while he acts like a dummy on the field sometimes, he undoubtedly added attitude to Detroit’s defense. Losing him in free agency is going to sting, despite the Lions adding Haloti Ngata to lessen the blow.
4. Chicago Bears
Jay Cutler still is Chicago’s quarterback. That doesn’t bode well for the Bears’ playoff hopes, as he’s about as mediocre as it gets nowadays and it’s hard to imagine him going ham on the league at age 32.
Losing rookie wide receiver Kevin White doesn’t help, either, especially in the wake of Chicago trading Brandon Marshall to the New York Jets.
But the biggest issue? The Bears’ defense. The unit was just plain bad last season, and there’s really no reason to believe it’ll be significantly better this season. That’s really a problem in this division.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
