Vikes Views: Who Wins the NFCN?

The Minnesota Vikings are in one of the best divisions in football (according to the experts). It’s going to be a tough road ahead.

Detroit Lions – Last year Detroit finished 12-5 last year and finally won their first NFCN crown. The should’ve been in the Super Bowl if not for being outscored by 20 in the 2nd half against the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. They’re brining back Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery and all those studs on offense. Our friend Marcus Davenport is joining Aidan Hutchinson on the pass rush. The team is stacked and will be the favorite to win the North again.

Green Bay Packers – The Packers finished strong last year thanks to a nice run by 1st year starter Jordan Love. Love proved a lot of doubters wrong. Small sample sizes can lie. The 6-2 stretch to finish the year and get the Wild Card spot was impressive. Even more impressive was the beating they put on the Cowboys defense in the playoffs. Yet another NFCN team that blew a late lead to the 49ers in the playoffs (thank goodness). The Packers will have to prove they can do it without Aaron Jones in the backfield. He was a big part of their year end run as well.

Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams looks like the next great QB. Much like Justin Fields looked like the next great QB. Chicago has never had a good QB in their entire history. I’m always going to be a prove it person with the Bears. They have a strong WR group, decent secondary and some nice pieces overall. Caleb is setup for success, but is Matt Eberflus really the coach to get them there? I don’t think so. Bears are terrible until proven otherwise.

Minnesota Vikings – The biggest wild card of the group. The Vikings would’ve given the Lions a run for their money last year if not for injuries to Kirk and Justin Jefferson. Kirk is gone. Sam Darnold is here and it’s a massive question mark. Will we get Case Keenum type run or could this be 2013 Cassel/Ponder/Freeman type year? Time will tell and it will likely be somewhere in between. The Vikings are at NYG to start. Memories of the Freeman game are all too real right now.