NFC North Preview.

NFC North

Minnesota Vikings

"Enough Is Enough. Trust Your Preparation." Said Kirk Cousins. Sometimes, I add Verses Like These Words From The Vikings Quarterback To My Spiel Of Self, Talk But I Can’t Say If I Ever Believe Those Words. Is Enough Ever Enough? When Can WE Validate This Truth? Nobody Believes The Vikings Resemble A Team Of “Enough.” Last Seaosn’s Series Of Steps Forward And Steps Back Justify More Has To Come From Kirk, O’connell Justin, And Certainly Now TJ Hockenson, The Highest Paid Tight End In The NFL. Kirk Admits Or Dispelled That He's Still System Dependent, "I Don't Own This System Yet." Kirk can't allow This System To Control Him. In Some Sense, Kirk Reminds Of An Adherent To The Sentiments Behind The Movie Equilibrium, “It’s Not The Message That’s Important. But Our Obedience To It[The Message].” Now In His Second With the Same Offensive Coordinator For The First Time, Kirk Can Perhaps Think The Offense Forward. Kirk Now Stands In Place To Have Maybe His Best Year As A Pro. Offensively; The Vikings Boost Their Best Passing Unit I Think Kirk Has Ever Played With. We Know Justin Jefferson, Arguably The Best Receiver In The Game, He's Looking To Make Another Leap In His Career, "Don't Want Any Holes In My Game." Jefferson Said He's Well Established, But The Game Faded Away From You So Fast. Plus, Jefferson Has A Contract To Secure This Offseason. The Vikings Need More Than Jefferson, But He's Another To Generate A Top Ten Offense On His Own. Members Of The Media Have Pressed Jefferson A Lot on The Potential Of A 2000 Yard. Still, Jefferson Ensures He's Focused On "Winning." That's The Teal Challenge This Season. The Real Reason I'm So High On The Vikes Offense The Addition Of Rookie Jordan Addison. He's Looked Impressive In Camp And Preseason And Shares A Similar skill set to Jefferson. With Jefferson Sure To Draw The Bulk Of The Attention Addison Could Take Off.

The Tj Hockenson Contract Negotiations Nearly Prolong The Full Upside Of This Offense Before He And The Vikes Settled On A Nearly Historical Figure. A Talented Force And A Favorite Target Of Cousins Even To The Quarterback's Hockenson And Vikings Stand In Gridlock Over Contract Demands That Reporter Describe As "Delusional." He Wants To Reset The Market, and Truthfully, We All Want To Reset The Market. Still, Demand Of 17 Million A Year Would Strike Any Body With Any Football Acumen As Unreasonable. Hockenson Provides An inline Presence That's Boosted The Vikings' Virility On Offense, But He Also Provided The Muse For The Grandest Error In Kirk Cousins's Career; I Speak Of That Last Play Dumb off Against The Giants. "It Hurts It Stick With You." That Pass Had To Sting Everyone In Vikings Nation and Baffle Many On Lookers. The Vikings' Offense Played Historically Terrible Last Year, Giving Up Over 6000 Total Offensive Yards. The Defense Some Could Look Worse If Expected Leaps Don't Happen From The Young Defensive Players. First Round Pick Andrew Booth Jr. and Byron Murphy Jr. lead a Group Of Young DBs Who Will Get Tested All Season. The Vikings Secondary Gave Up the Second Most Explosive Passing Plays In The League Last Season. The Vikings Also Lost Za'Darius Smith, The Edge Rusher Who Logged The Second Most Pass Rush Snaps And Finished Second In Snaps For The Team Last Season. His Absence Leaves Danielle Hunter All Alone To Fend off The Pass Rush Duties On His Own. Danielle's A stud, But On His Own, He'll Have His Work Cut Out For Him With a Double Team and Block Sliding. The Viking Explosive Offense Could Itself A Victim Of A Potently Vulnerable Defense. The Vikes Win The North But Face Rough Seas On The Road. Season Prediction: 11-6. 

Green Bay Packers 

I Love What I've seen From Jordan Love So Far This Season. He's All The Talent Scouts Profess About Coming Out Of Utah Three Years Ago. Now He's Got Complete Reigns Over Green Bay's Offense. All Of The Off Platform Acrobatics Jordan Love Has Displayed Mastery Over. He's Got That Seeing The Game Before The Plays Unfold. If I Had One Criticism, I'd Start With Shia's Arm Strength; He's Surely A Wrung Below Average In Velocity. He's A Soft Thrower Which Makes His Ball A Beauty To Catch But Make Tight Window Throws A lot More Risky. Stepping Into Aaron Rodgers's Shoes, One Should Expect Love To Run A Lot Of The Offense Rodgers Ran Under Matt Lafleur's Guidance. Love Got His First Look At The Pro game Last Year In A Blowout To The Vikings, And He Generated a Decent Passer Rating In The Drives He Took Over For Rodgers. Would Expecting Love To Emerge As Another Hall Of Famer Quarterback Also Serve As A Fair Assumption? Still waiting. 

He's Got a lot to Prove, And He Knows What Will Come Towards him every Week With Every Snap He Takes As A Packers quarterback. 

"I mean, it's pressure," Love told reporters last week. "No matter where you're going, there will be pressure. You're an NFL (starting) quarterback."

The World Love Steps Into Doesn't Relate At All To The World Rodgers Stepped Into All Those Years Ago. Chiefly, The Receiving Cores are Different This Time In Green Bay. Rodgers Took Over With Hall Of Famers At His Flanks. Most Of The Packers Receivers Heading Into This Season Still Have A Lot To Prove. Christian Watson Electrified Fans In Special Moments. His First Play Of The Year Almost Sucks The Life Out Of His Career. A Massive Concentration's Drop Against The Vikings Almost Saw Watson Choke Away His Whole Career. Eventually, Watson Would Shake The Jitters Or The Arrogance And Become A Catalyst For The Packers Turn Around. 

He's A Play Making Machine With Break Away Speed, But He's Not A Polished Product Or A Full Breed Receiver, More Like An Offensive Weapon Type. He Only Ran select Routes, Sticks, Goes, Bubble Routes and A lot of Quick Route To Get The Ball In His Hands. Watson Went On Touchdown Tear As Green Bay Stumble Out Of Their Slumber To Make A Ill-Fated Playoff Push. Watson Notched eight touchdowns in four games, seven Through The Air And One On The Ground, a Rookie Record For A Four Stretch Of Games. With Everything We Know Of Watson's Game, The Question Now Can Watson Thrive As A Number One Option? The Packers Other Veteran Receivers Jetted With Aaron Rodgers To New York A Huge Avoid Opens For Someone On This Roster To Seize. Other Than Watson, Fellow Second Year Man Romeo Doubs Will Stand Next To Take in Targets—Something of A "Local Celebrity" In Football Talk Circles. The 6'2 204 Lbs Receiver Struggles to Reign Consistent Targets From Aaron Rodgers, But He Has Superior Contested Catch Ability. He Lacks Burst Downfield Again. He drew too Much Attention, with Just 64 Targets, Converting 42 For 425 Yards And 3 Touchdowns. How Lafleur Incorporates These Two Linear Body Type Receivers With Rookie Tight End Luke Musgrave. The Packers Have An All-New Look On Offense With Rodgers Gone, But Can They Produce The Results Of Days Past?

On Defense, Joe Berry Still Runs The Show For The Packers, And Again This Season, This Unit Has Layers of Talent At So Many Positions. Cornerback Jaire Alexander Leads The Group, He's Prepared To Lock Up With Anybody. If The Packers Get A Full Season From Pass Rusher Rashan Gary With The Addition Of Rookie Lukas Van Ness To Go Along With Devonte Wyatt And Preston Smith, The Pass Rush Could Mountains and Rank among the Best In The League. The linebackers Quay Walker and De'vondre Campbell Solid Group. Of Course, The Cornerbacks, Lead By Jaire Alexander, Spare Head The Defense, And As They Go, So Too Does The Defense. Last Season, The Packers finished Sixth In Passing Yards Allowed and fifth In Interceptions Forced, Mostly With The Same Group. The Packers Will Ultimately Need Someone To Step Up Alongside Alexander To Make Everything Go Right. Who Will That Be? Season Prediction: The Transition Doesn't Integrate Smoothly, 5-12. 

Chicago Bears 

Give Justin Fields's The Launch Codes. He Ready To Take His Game To The Next Level. Year Three, The Year Franchise Quarterbacks In The Making Put The Rest Of The Game Together, And A More Tangible Image Of His Patterns As A Quarterback Emerge. In The Embryonic Stages Of Their Game, Some Traits Of The Quarterback Come To Life, We Know Justin's Strength, Those Bruce Lee Kicking Legs. Fields play the Game Like An Energetic Child; You Can't Put Him Down( In The Pocket) For Too Long Before He Takes Off. NFL.com Ranked Fields The Most Explosive Runner In The League Last Year. Some Of His Numbers Mesmerize The Eye Better Than Fields Rushing The Ball On Sunday. Not Only Did Fields Nearly Break The Quarterback Rushing Record, Falling One Game Short Due To Injury, but 55.6% Of Justins Tipped The Speedometer At 15 Miles Per Hour Or Better; That's Unparalleled. He's Essentially A Cheetah on the hunt Every time He Takes Off, And That's Why Fields Has Everyone Peeking In On Chicago This Season Despite Season Expectations. When The Ball's Snapped Into His Hands, The Winds Collide And Creates A Moment For Something Special To Happen. Running And athletics come naturally to Fields Like A Second Language, But Quarterbacks Pass, and Fields As A Passer, He's 50/50 As Well, And That's Not Good. He's Too Slow To Process The Game, Never Comfortable In The Pocket Again Like an Anxious Baby, Too Wuick To Take Into His comfort In The Open Field, And That Showed Up Even In The Preseason. Calls Up Simple Plays Fields Still Wants To Take Matters Into His Hands Or On His Feet, Which Works But That's Not The Growth We're Looking For From Him This Season. He Needs To Get the Strap Down in The Pocket, Make The Read, And Use That Canon Arm To Move The Offense Where His Feet Won't. A lot Of Field's Development Falls On Second Year Play Caller Luke Getsy. The Former Packers Quarterback Coach Getsy Took Over The Play Calling duties Under Matt Eberflus, And The Structure, The Picture Of His Offense Still Looks "Fuzzy ."Is Getsy Trying To Make Justin Feel, Think, Process, and Play The Game Like Arron Rodger, Or Will He(Getsy) Advance The Skill Set Already Present In Fields? One Advancement, The Bears Will Have This Season Absent Anytime Last A Number Receiver In D J Moore. A Number One Receiver Can Change The Complexion And The Programming Of A Young Quarterback. Moore brings a Sure Handed Route Runner, A Former 1000 Yard Receiver With The Panthers. The Bears Also Get A Full Season With Mid Season Acquisition Chase Claypool, A Big Bod Down Field Target For The Big Play Hunting Justin Fields. Darnell Mooney, The Bears Famous Number Two Receiver, Moves Back To Number Two Full Time And Thay Make Up A Sold Group. A Comfortable Quarterback Could Lead These Wide Receivers To Playoffs.

The Bears Also Feature Cole Kmet At Tight And Two Former Packers, Mercedes Lewis And Robert Tonyan. With This Cadre Of Receiving Options, Justin Fields' Attempts And Completion Percentage Rise. The Bears' Rushing Attack Will Feature Some Changes David Montgomery Left, Kahlil Herbert Takes Over With Rookie Rochon Johnson And Veteran D'Onta Foreman Behind him As The Bears Three Pronged Attack Looks To Continue Taking The League By Storm. The Bears Defense(Very Generous Calling Them A Defense) Got Pushed Around A lot. Only The Rushing Offense keeps the Bears In Games With The Defense Hemorrhage Yards. The Bears' Defense Gave up The Most Yards Per Play In The League Last Year(8.0) Only By Controlling The Rock Through The Run Game Did The Survive Not Getting Rail Road-ed. The Bears Made A Few Moves On That End, Signing Yannick Ngakoue To The Pass Rush and Tremaine Edmonds To The Linebacking Group, But I Doubt Any Of Them Help Much. I Don't Think The Bears Improved Enough Just Yet To Escape Another Losing Season, Season Prediction:2-15. 

Detroit Lions 

The Famed Exploits Of Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson Return For Another Season Of Awe Inspiring Play Design And Play Calling. At The End Of Last Season, The Lions Stole Away The Storylines Heading to The Playoffs. By the Time They Faced The Packers In The Final Game, Nobody wanted To hear How Aaron Rodgers Brought The Packers Back From The Grave. The Real Magic Belonged To the Lion. From An Unexpected Top Five Offense To A Last Season, The Lions Finished The Year As the Top Five On Offense In Total Points, Total Yards, points Per Game And Yards Per Game. By All Stretches Of The Imagination, The Lions Hunted Expectations From Previous Season And Return With A Carcass. Nobody Saw The Lions Coming Now They're Slated To Open The Football Season Facing The Chiefs. All Of The Lions' Success Helped Johnson Emerge From Relative Obscurity To The Prize Of Many Coaching Hunts. Like Any Good Offensive, Johnson Fits His Scheme To His Player, and his Scheme Revived Any Hope That existed in Jared Goff. Goff Doesn't possess a Strong Arm, But He Can Place The Ball And Read Coverages Like A Master. Once Keyed In On These Traits, The Quick And Spread Concept Rained Down. The Lions Ran A lot Of 11 Personnel Stuff, similar To Sean McVay Ran For Goff In LA, With A lot Of Stems And Crossers, Because The Prevailing Theory Goff Could Only succeed in McVay's system No Matter Where Anyone Installs The System. 

Johnson Also Installed Some Wonky Stuff, Like Beyond The Offensive Lineman Catching The Ball. He Once Deployed A Four Verticals Concepts With Tight Ends Alone As the Trips; Reallhe was Creative With What The Lions Employ. Goff Enjoyed A Resurgence, 4438 Passing Yards, 29 Touchdowns, Terminated Defenses When Kept Clean, A 113.6 Passer Rating In A Clean Pocket. The Lions Boost 

A Top Five Offensive Line In Football Anchored By Taylor Decker, And Penei Sewell The Moving Mountain. While Pass Blocking Lands sat at The Forefront Of Their Responsibilities, Their Road Craters In The Run Game. The Lions Finished 9th In Run Block Win Rate Overall, Paving The Way For D'Andre Swift and Jamal Williams, Both Celebrated Career Years Before Departing From Detroit, in steps Former Bear David Montgomery And Rookie Jahmyr Gibbs. The Lions Have A Special Excitement For Gibbs's Skillset As A Pass Catcher Out Of The Backfield. The Former Alabama Product Will Give The Lions A Safety Net As A Check Down, With A Next Level Gear. The Lions Kept Most Of Their Receiving Core, led by Amon-Ra St. Brown and Khalif Raymond. They'll Lose Jameson Williams For A Portion Of The Season, But They Should Have Enough Weapons To Take Off With. Marvin Jones Came Back To Detroit, And They Added Rookie Antoine Green In The Draft. Rookie Sam LaPorta joins Brock Wright, Shane Zylstra, and James Mitchell at Tight End. On Defense, Last, Dan Campbell Had An Awful Time Stopping A Nose Bleed. Only The Bears Gave Up More Yards Per Play Than The Lions(7.9) Last Season. The Lions Favored Playing Man To Man Defense, And The Rest Of The League Favored Them Playing That Style. The Seahawks Tore Apart The Lions' Defense In A Week Four Shootout, A Game That Ultimately Cost The Lions The Playoffs. The Cornerbacks For The Lions Will Get Tested This Season. They also Got Crushed On The Ground, Giving 145 Per Game In The Run Game. The Lions' One Saving Grace is their Defensive Line, Mainly Their Pass Rush led by Rookies Aidan Hutchinson And James Houston IV. The Two Rookies Lead The Lions To 39 Sacks, Not Break The Walls Down Production, But Aidan Hutchinson Did Finish The Season As One Of The Most Double Team Edge Rusher Behind Only Myles Garrett. Teams Already Revere Hutchinson As A Highly Respected Pass Rushing Threat. The Lions Have Football's Attention, Football's Interest Now Can They Deliver On The Product? Season Prediction: 10-7.