Breaking Down the NFC North, 2024

[milani]

This game coming up is huge. It could either put the Packers tied for 1st place at 3-1 or tied for 4th Place at
2-2 depending on Detroit or Chicago. Either way even finishing at .500 after losing our QB for multiple contests isn’t bad.

The only thing I’m mildly concerned about is how Jordan will play after missing several weeks, plus playing with a knee brace. It could take him a few weeks to get his mojo back.

Our Defense will get a very tough test. The Vikings have been firing on all cylinders. Luckily we play at home, which helps.

Vikings are playing tremendous football right now. They beat 2 of the league's best in their place. Their defense is as tough as the Zimmer days. Jones and Darnold fit in perfectly. Their receiving corps had it so easy Sunday they even had to time to drop some balls with no one near them. And Hockenson is not yet back from injury. We shall have our hands full, Love or no Love.

 

[Sanguine camper]

The Vikings are living off the blitz on defense. It can cover up a lot of warts in the secondary but opens up a team to big plays. Blitzing tends to work well against young qb's and not so much against veterans. Love only has 21 starts under his belt so you can bet he's going to get blitzed repeatedly next Sunday in the hope he makes mistakes. I hope both Wicks and Reed are ready for big games if they are the recipients of a lot if quick hitting slants.

 

[OldSchool101]

The Vikings are living off the blitz on defense. It can cover up a lot of warts in the secondary but opens up a team to big plays. Blitzing tends to work well against young qb's and not so much against veterans. Love only has 21 starts under his belt so you can bet he's going to get blitzed repeatedly next Sunday in the hope he makes mistakes. I hope both Wicks and Reed are ready for big games if they are the recipients of a lot if quick hitting slants.

That’s what I’d recipe. Underneath Crossers, Slants, quick hits to a Chip blocking TE’s. Get the RB involved in the short Passing game. Get the ball out quick. Don’t let the Vikings dictate Squat early on.

 

[rmontro]

Vikings are playing tremendous football right now. They beat 2 of the league's best in their place. Their defense is as tough as the Zimmer days. Jones and Darnold fit in perfectly. Their receiving corps had it so easy Sunday they even had to time to drop some balls with no one near them. And Hockenson is not yet back from injury. We shall have our hands full, Love or no Love.

The Vikings so far are doing the opposite of what they usually do. They lost the offseason (predicted to finish fourth), but are winning the season (so far). I'm not willing to call of the season and hand them the Lombardi trophy, however.

 

[lambeaulambo]

NFC North looking to be the toughest division right now. Giving our lilac loving purple counterparts AJ33 a large part of it. If they stay healthy they could make some noise, or they could go on a Bear like 9 game losing streak. lol

 

[OldSchool101]

One thing I’ve noticed about the Vikes. They’ve not been dominant as far as total O production. They’ve even won games that their O was slightly inferior in statistical battles (yards, 1st downs) It wasn’t through help of Turnovers either.
The difference in 2024 is MN executed at a high level in the Redzone. Their opponents Redzone were average to below average.

The Packers need to be more efficient in the Redzone. We also can’t be sloppy with penalties, we need to clean that up next Sunday.

 

[milani]

One thing I’ve noticed about the Vikes. They’ve not been dominant as far as total O production. They’ve even won games that their O was slightly inferior in statistical battles (yards, 1st downs) It wasn’t through help of Turnovers either.
The difference in 2024 is MN executed at a high level in the Redzone. Their opponents Redzone were average to below average.

The Packers need to be more efficient in the Redzone. We also can’t be sloppy with penalties, we need to clean that up next Sunday.

It was stop Dalvin Cook for several years and before that Adrian Peterson. Now they can hit Jefferson on a corner route and they have AJ.

 

[tynimiller]

The Vikings are living off the blitz on defense. It can cover up a lot of warts in the secondary but opens up a team to big plays. Blitzing tends to work well against young qb's and not so much against veterans. Love only has 21 starts under his belt so you can bet he's going to get blitzed repeatedly next Sunday in the hope he makes mistakes. I hope both Wicks and Reed are ready for big games if they are the recipients of a lot if quick hitting slants.

I predict MLF is also on top of quick hitters is going to flip the script some and run a lot with Love back and do so with a lot of misdirect and toss wides to catch them blitzing past it.

 

[milani]

I predict MLF is also on top of quick hitters is going to flip the script some and run a lot with Love back and do so with a lot of misdirect and toss wides to catch them blitzing past it.

Didn't the Vikings blitz a lot in 2023 as well? A lot more than when Zimmer was there?

 

[tynimiller]

Didn't the Vikings blitz a lot in 2023 as well? A lot more than when Zimmer was there?

Vikings blitz a lot. No clue if more then vs now but both blitz a lot.

 

[milani]

Vikings blitz a lot. No clue if more then vs now but both blitz a lot.

Looks like in 2022 the Vikings blitzed only about 19% of the time. In 2023 that jumped to 48%. You would think they would like to blitz Willis a lot if he starts.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Nah the Defense is lights out too 5.
The the unfortunate reality is that Ryan Poles our GM has some kind of man crush ******* for Matt Eberflus.
Anybody that carries a 14 Game Losing St. through two seasons probably should get fired.
Now the guy in Detroit basically did the same thing and now he has that **** rated, but in year three he started out by beating Kansas City on the road……… we just looked like a bunch of monkeys trying to hump a football at Indianapolis on the road with a quarterback who is awful against the team who’s giving up over 250 yards on the ground and we threw the ball 52 times!!!
It’s an absolute failure of coaching and leadership.
For Christsakes we had first and goal from the 4 to take the lead and lost 11 yards on fourth down.
In another situation, fourth and three, Indianapolis is going to punt, but our guy jumps off sides, gives them a first down, and then they marched down and score the game-winning touchdown.
I’d fire our OC and ,I’m 100% serious, I’d hire TD Barret or some other top 10 madden player in the world and have them design our offense because I think they understand angles and concepts better than the real life effing!! coaches for the Bears.
I mean Indy gives up 260+ yards on the ground and you run it 20 times and throw for 52?!?!?!?
There’s about to be a riot at Halas Hall.

Well said. They need to clean house at HC and OC. Too bad because they have talent.

Salt in the wound is the play of Justin Fields and Jayden Daniels. Williams is doing well in spite of the coaching.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Vikings blitz a lot. No clue if more then vs now but both blitz a lot.

I wonder if Sundays game will be moved to a national broadcast.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Well said. They need to clean house at HC and OC. Too bad because they have talent.

Salt in the wound is the play of Justin Fields and Jayden Daniels. Williams is doing well in spite of the coaching.

I’m happy Justin is doing well in Pittsburgh but moving on from him was the right decision he’s not worth $50 million a year and Caleb now has as many 300 yard games as he does.
I think Justin can be a very successful quarterback in this league. It was just bad timing with us, but then again every quarterback for the last 40 effing! years has had bad timing with us so……

 

[rmontro]

I’m happy Justin is doing well in Pittsburgh but moving on from him was the right decision he’s not worth $50 million a year and Caleb now has as many 300 yard games as he does.

There's more to life than 300 yard games. Usually the losing team racks up passing yards as they try to pass to catch up. The losing team often has more passing yards than the winner. Conversely, the team that's ahead often runs a lot in the second half or last quarter to burn the clock.