By Josh Taylor/sports columnist
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
Seven weeks and counting until the 2010 NFL season kicks off. This week, we’re going to take a look at the frigid NFC North. The mighty ‘Frostbite Division’.
There are two guarantees I can make about this season’s NFC North.
The first guarantee is that Brett Favre will play one final season as a Viking. Appropriately, the NFC North is the oldest division in the NFL. Favre should feel right at home. The Packers, Vikings, Bears and Lions collectively represent 307
years of pro football. The Chicago Bears are the oldest (founded in 1919) while the Vikings are the new kid (founded in 1961). Favre was founded in 1969.
The second guarantee is that the Detroit Lions will not win the NFC North Division crown. The 2008 Lions set the dubious record of being the only NFL team to go 0-16 in regular season play. Last season wasn’t much better. Their 2009 season ended on a six-game losing streak and the season’s only two wins came against Washington and Cleveland. Bottom line, the Lions are not very good.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay finished the 2009 regular season with an 11-5 record. A closer look shows that the Packers were 7-1 over the second half of the season. That’s what is called finishing strong. They should only get better in 2010.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers ranked in the top five in passing yards and quarterback rating in 2009. Although this will be his sixth season in the league, it’s only his third season as the franchise quarterback. His touchdown-to-interception ratio went from 28-13 in 2008 to 30-7 in 2009. His total passing yardage went up 10 percent over that same span. Expect Rodgers and wide receiver Greg Jennings to continue to blossom heading into 2010.
The Packers defense deserves a few bragging rights as well. The only defense that gave up fewer yards per game in 2009 was the N.Y. Jets. The big question on defense is the health of Pro Bowl cornerback Al Harris.
I’m expecting big things out of Green Bay in 2010. Look for back-to-back fireworks when the Packers host Minnesota on Oct. 24 directly followed by a road trip to the East Coast to face the N.Y. Jets on Oct. 31.
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota is a team with a lot of upside. They finished 2009 with a 12-4 regular season record that included a perfect 8-0 record in the Metrodome. The Vikings are loaded with young talent in Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice. They are led by one of the toughest guys to ever put on an NFL jersey in ironman Brett Favre.
There’s a downside to the Vikings as well. They are led by the only grandfather currently active in the NFL. Favre deserves a lot of respect for setting the ironman record with 285 consecutive starts as a quarterback, but he’s also been sacked 503 times (second only to John Elway). That kind of abuse takes a heavy toll over a career. Put another way, Favre has been on the receiving end of NFL sacks since before Harvin knew how to tie his own shoes.
One major issue that the Vikings need to address is the fumble machine that is Peterson. The fourth-year running back leads the league in fumbles (20) over his short three-year career. Peterson is a better player than that, but no coach is going to put up with that kind of undisciplined play forever.
Defensively, the Vikings are pretty solid. Defensive end Jared Allen is a perennial Pro Bowl selection despite having the goofiest celebration dance in the league. The Vikings should come back strong in 2010, but I expect the Packers to provide stiff competition for the NFC North crown.
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are an interesting case heading into 2010. They are only a handful of years removed from a 13-3 regular season and a trip to the Super Bowl in 2006, yet they finished at 7-9 in 2009. Overall, there seems to be a lot of underachieving talent on this Bears squad heading into 2010.
The Bears offense includes Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, Devin Hester and Johnny Knox. All four of these guys have potential to be perennial Pro Bowlers, yet they finished 2009 in the lower third in terms of total offense. The addition of offensive coordinator Mike Martz could help. Martz is widely credited for producing one of the
top offenses in NFL history, the 1999 St. Louis Rams. If Cutler and the rest of the boys can keep up with Martz’s style, the Bears offense will have a chance to make a run.
The strength of the Bears has always been its defense, yet they finished 2009 as only the 17th-best defense in the league, right in the middle of the pack. This was largely due to defensive leader Brian Urlacher being knocked out of 2009 with a wrist injury in the season opener. After Urlacher was sidelined, the defense simply wasn’t the same. Urlacher should be back to full strength in 2010. More importantly, the Bears brought in one of the top defensive ends in the NFL in Julius Peppers. The Bears defense should be back on track in 2010.
Overall, it all comes down to Martz and Cutler. If these two can mesh, good things will happen. Chicago starts the season off against the Detroit Lions followed by games scheduled against Dallas, Green Bay and the New York Giants. We should know by the end of September whether the Martz/Cutler relationship is going to work out or not.
Detroit Lions
No need to waste ink on this one, the Lions are not very good. They only won two games in 2009 and I don’t expect a whole lot to change for them in 2010. Sorry, Detroit fans. Better luck next year.
Agree/disagree? Email sports@themeridianstar and let us know your thoughts. Next week we’ll take a look at the scatterbrain NFC West.
