Category Archives: minnesota vikings

2009 NFL Preview: NFC North

I recently went through every game on the NFL schedule and predicted every game. I will be using those totals to predict who will win the NFC North this season. Will Brett Favre help the Vikings this season? Will Jay Cutler compose himself? Can the Packets defense step up and help their offense? Will the Lions win a game? Check out out NFC North Preview.

Chicago Bears– (Projected Finish 11-5)

The Bears sold the farm and got their prized quarterback. Jay Cutler is going to be a nice addition to the Bears offense. They haven’t had a decent quarterback since Jim McMahon, Erik Kramer almost had that title, but one good season doesn’t count. Matt Forte is going to have a great season and I would watch Earl Bennett to be catching balls left and right from Cutler. The Bears offensive line is sold and with the addition of Orlando Pace and with Chris Williams having a year under his belt, Cutler will stay upright more than he was in Denver.

The Bears still have a strong defense, but their Achilles heel would be their secondary, especially safety. The linebackers have to hold this defense together and makes sure that they control the running game, so the safeties can cheat a little to make up for the lack of athleticism at the position. They aren’t the same defense that made the Super Bowl a few seasons ago, but they are still very good.

The NFC North play the NFC West and AFC Central this season and they lucked out. Both of those divisions are a bit down, minus the Steelers, but Chicago gets them at home. The other non-divisional games are at Atlanta and they get Philadelphia at home, both should be very tough. The Bears should bounce back and make the playoffs this season and will at least garner a share of the division title this season.

Minnesota Vikings– (Projected Finish 11-5)

Brett Favre made the Minnesota Vikings as popular as the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers this off-season. There were more stories about them than both of those teams combined. Favre isn’t the quarterback that lead the Packers to a comeback season two years ago, but if he can stray away from the turnovers, he can help this team. All they need to do is give the ball to Adrian Peterson, throw some underneath passes to Percy Harvin and let him run, and go over the secondary and throw deep to Bernard Berrian. It’s a pretty simple plan and it will work.

The Vikings defense has been statistically one of the best defenses over last three seasons. The addition of Jared Allen added the extra pass-rushing presence that they needed to be elite. Pat Williams and Kevin Williams cog up the defensive line and make it near impossible for any running game to be established. The way to beat the Vikings would be to pass on them and allow the running back to help pass block. Antoine Winfield will pick off passes and make quarterbacks pay, but he is the lone star in the secondary.

The Vikings early season schedule is very favorable. It can allow Favre to get seasoned and get into better shape as the season goes by. The five out of the last six games of the year, they play possible playoff teams. They play Arizona, Carolina, NY Giants, and Chicago twice. If Favre can stay healthy all year, they will make the playoffs.

Green Bay Packers– (Projected Finish 6-10)

Packers’ fans have only two games circled on their calendar, at Minnesota, and home against Minnesota. I believe they realize that they won’t be a playoff team, but their season would be considered a success if they can beat Favre. Aaron Rodgers had a decent season last year and should have another decent year, if he can stay upright. Ryan Grant had an off-year last season and needs to produce or Green Bay could be looking for a new running back next season. James Jones and Jordy Nelson should establish themselves and up-and-coming receivers this season.

The Packers have put in a 3-4 defense and Aaron Kampman is going to play linebacker. It’s a change from a defense that looked like swiss cheese last year. The addition of B.J. Raji should help their run defense and look for decent seasons from A.J. Hawk and Nick Barnett. Their secondary is old and they need to get younger. Al Harris and Charles Woodson have been in the league 12 years and are showing signs of age. Teams will be able to pass on them all day. They will need to score a lot of points to win games this season.

Green Bay is a tough place to play towards the end of the season. They get Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Arizona at home the last month of the season. They will need that extra Lambeau-edge to compete with those teams. The Packers are facing another tough season this year and need to re-build their secondary to be a contender.

Detroit Lions– (Projected Finish 2-14)

Good news for the Lions, they will win a game this season. Bad news for the Lions, they will lose a lot of games. It doesn’t matter who plays quarterback for the Lions, they aren’t going to win many games. Matthew Stafford will be starting by mid-season, but Daunte Culpepper might be a decent option to start the year. Calvin Johnson and Bryant Johnson are both nice receivers, but they need a QB to throw them the ball. They should rely heavily on Kevin Smith this year, but their offensive line still needs work.

Head Coach, Jim Schwartz, should help get this defense up to par, but they are still a long way from being good. They have some nice pieces there, but they will need to gel as a unit. Julian Peterson, Ernie Sims, Phillip Buchanon, Anthony Henry, and Stuart Schweigert should all help out. They have at least one good player at every area, but the depth is not there. If the injury bug hits the defense, it will be even worse.

The Lions will be searching for their first win in over a season. The third game against the Redskins could potentially be their first win, but that would be the earliest potential win and it is still a long shot. The sixth game agains the Packers or the seventh game againt the Rams could be when the winless streak ends. One game that I have to watch is the game on October 11th against the Steelers. I don’t think the game will be competitive, but it will be a good litmus test of how this team will react when they are faced with elite talent.
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Speak Before You Think Monday

After a long weekend, it is easy to do or say something that is completely insane. Your mind isn’t right on a Monday. You are still thinking about how you should have gotten that blonde’s number at the bar or how your team still has a shot at the National Championship, even if you lost a nationally televised game 35-3 (sorry Buckeyes, i live in your territory and I shouldn’t be so ill, but it’s real talk). Here is a few observations of things people are saying or what they have done without thinking things out clearly.

– The Milwaukee Brewers fired Ned Yost. Really? Before the Brewers hired him, they hadn’t had a winning season since dudes named Yount and Molitor were sporting the yellow and blue gear. I know that they imploded last season, but the team was full of rookies, I am not sold that they are used to the long Major League season. You can’t make much of an argument that they are tanking again this season, because they haven’t been in first place since the beginning of the season. Milwaukee is realizing that they only have Sabathia and Sheets for this one season and they will not be able to sign them, so they must win now. Rickie Weeks has been a disappointment so far and J.J. Hardy is not consistent. The trade talk has already started about Prince Fielder, they realize that they can’t win every game with their offense and your #1 starter cannot be Dave Bush or Manny Parra. Fielder is set for abitration soon and he will also grant a huge contract when free agency comes around. The Brewers may still make the playoffs, but now they have to combat the Phillies/Mets, whoever doesn’t win the NL East, and Houston. Not a smart move by the upper management in Milwaukee, Yost will get a job next season, either as a manager or a high-profile bench coach.

– Carlos Zambrano is back. I’m a Chicago Cubs, everyone who reads this blog knows this is true. Historically, Zambrano is extremely good on a long rest. He nearly had a no-hitter mid-season this year after he took some time off for injury. He may throw another gem next time out too, but it’s too soon to say he is back. Houston evacuated a hurricane and their minds were not 100% on baseball. The game was also played in Milwaukee, which is Wrigley Field North. If you go to any Cubs/Brewers game, the Cubs fans/Brewers fan ratio could learn in Chicago’s favor, let alone Houston fans versus Chicago fans. Also, Ted Lilly took a no-hitter today into the 7th inning against Houston and the last few games I watched Lilly pitch, he looked horrible. Zambrano needs his last few starts to be solid for me to be sold.

– Ohio State still has a shot at that National Championship. Even if OSU runs the table in the Big Ten, the best they can do is a birth in the Rose Bowl. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, if USC loses a game or two, they will meet there. I don’t see USC losing any games, but there is a Pac-10 team that usually gives them a close game or beats them (i.e. Stanford, Oregon State). The Buckeyes do have a chance to turn the season around, but that would mean Todd Boeckman would lose his job as starting quarterback. Terrelle Pryor looked pretty good against USC, but it was a too tough of a test for a true freshman to face. Beanie Wells may have made this game closer, but he wouldn’t have won the game for Ohio State. Wells would have helped them have some ball control and help manage the clock. The score would have been around 27-10, still an embarassment. Ohio State has no shot at making the BCS Championship game, so I do not want to hear about a slim chance, there is no chance.

– The Minnesota Vikings will still make the playoffs. They are 0-2 and it looks like the NFC North will be very solid this year. I know that they lost to the Packers and Colts, two teams that are playoff caliber, but the way they played in those games didn’t look like a playoff team to me. Adrian Peterson should have ran all over Indianapolis, which he did, but never got into the endzone. Tavarius Jackson isn’t a starting quarterback in this league, yet. He may be a starter in the future, but with the kind of talent this team has, minus wide-receivers (they really don’t have any #1 receiver), they need an establish quarterback to spread the defense and let Peterson run amok. The Bears are better (they play them twice), the Lions can score points, something Minnesota has trouble with (they play them twice, the Packers own them (they play them again), and they play the AFC South (which is one of the best divisions in the league). I would suggest that you look at the remaining schedule of the team before you put them in the playoffs, Mike & Mike.

– Denver Broncos is the best team in the AFC. They have looked impressive so far this season, but they played the Raiders and a San Diego team that haven’t found themselves without Shawne Merriman. Eddie Royal has been a huge surprise, Brandon Marshall caught about a million pases this week, and Jay Cutler looks like John Elway. The NFL loves to scheme and take players out of the game, I’m guessing the next few weeks that teams will start pressuring Cutler more and make the young quarterback think faster on his feet. They will have to run the ball more, which may fall into Shanahan’s lap, but this core of Denver running backs aren’t Terrell Davis or Clinton Portis, it’s Selvin Young and a few castoffs from other teams. Denver looks like they will win that division, it looks to be very weak, but they are not the best team in the AFC. They will have to beat New England, Indianapolis, or Pittsburgh to garner that honor.

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