State of the North

[Heyjoe4]

Most analysts picking queens to finish in last place. Maybe they missed something. Don't take them for granted..

There are always plenty of surprises in the NFL. Good win today. Jacobs and the OL were remarkable considering the Colts knew the Packers would be running.

And Willis kept his cool and didn't make any mistakes. He played a lot better than I expected. That won't be good enough against tougher opponents, but by then Love will be back. The Titans will be better prepared for the run, so MLF will have throw in something new.

He also fell into that MM mistake of playing not to lose, until he let Willis uncork that 40 yarder to Doubs (and a great catch by Doubs) on 3rd and 5.

 

[DoURant]

I hope the Bears play as bad as those orange helmets look. The orange jersey looks fine, but that helmet is atrocious.

 

[OldSchool101]

Well after speaking out of turn last week and the Bears making a historic comeback (1 ST scored TD; 1 D scored TD + 3 FG’s) I’ll keep my mouth shut about Caleb.

We could use a Bears loss, that changes things nicely in our Division.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Well after speaking out of turn last week and the Bears making a historic comeback (1 ST scored TD; 1 D scored TD + 3 FG’s) I’ll keep my mouth shut about Caleb.

We could use a Bears loss, that changes things nicely in our Division.

You got your wish. The Bears' D is proving itself to be that team's strongest unit. Williams has been underwhelming, but watching him play, I think he'll be fine once he plays more. Maybe not as great as some had hoped - not Joe Burrow good but not Bryce Young or Trevor Lawrence bad either.

The Lions are maybe not as great as everyone was expecting. It's early of course.

What to make of the Queens? The Giants? So what? But they beat SF with big plays and they are certainly better than most thought. Darnold has been great.

So the North is a toss up, and that will likely continue through game 17.

 

[Poppa San]

Darnold has been great.

I kinda recall he was a hot & cold streak type QB. Or not. Maybe he needed a new outlook and some seasoning. Worked for Cousins.

 

[Thirteen Below]

Well after speaking out of turn last week and the Bears making a historic comeback (1 ST scored TD; 1 D scored TD + 3 FG’s) I’ll keep my mouth shut about Caleb.

I dunno; he seems like he'll be safe to talk about for quite a while. He sure didn't have anything to do with the Bears winnning that first game; he might as well have not even been there. He sucked yesterday, too. His day will probably come (to some degree, at least), it's not today. The man has a ways to go before they can go into a game actually counting on him to win it for them.

We could use a Bears loss, that changes things nicely in our Division.

The way they looked these last 2 weeks, I think there'll be a lot of them. That offense that our buddy Caleb has been pimping here for the last few months as one of the most historically dominant teams in the history of the NFL honestly doesn't even look any better than they did last year - maybe not even as good, in fact.

 

[rmontro]

I hope the Bears play as bad as those orange helmets look. The orange jersey looks fine, but that helmet is atrocious.

Looks like a poor man's retro Bengals helmet.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Well after speaking out of turn last week and the Bears making a historic comeback (1 ST scored TD; 1 D scored TD + 3 FG’s) I’ll keep my mouth shut about Caleb.

We could use a Bears loss, that changes things nicely in our Division.

Bears looked like the old Bears last night. Only 2 games in Caleb Williams is looking like Justin Fields (when he was a Bear). It's only 2 games and Keenan Allen was out, but Da Bears can't help but be unBearable to watch.

 

[OldSchool101]

Bears looked like the old Bears last night. Only 2 games in Caleb Williams is looking like Justin Fields (when he was a Bear). It's only 2 games and Keenan Allen was out, but Da Bears can't help but be unBearable to watch.

Yeah. I’ll give them credit that they do scrap on all phases. However the Texans imo are still in that “wild card” strength phase and the game was similar to ours. Houston should’ve put that away earlier very similar to our contest Sunday. I watched it live and So far the Bears look in that 6-11 to
8-9 type team. I think they are minimum the 2025/2026 season from posing any serious problems for our division.

I’m not going to overlook them either because they are just scrappy enough to scrape back once you think you’ve Won

 

[longtimefan]

It's 2 weeks in. teams are still trying to figure it out.

I've always said week 4 gives better indication

 

[Heyjoe4]

I kinda recall he was a hot & cold streak type QB. Or not. Maybe he needed a new outlook and some seasoning. Worked for Cousins.

You're right. Darnold has played the best football of his career the last two games. He is hot and cold which is why he was available in the first place. We'll be able to tell more about the Queens in two weeks.

 

[Heyjoe4]

It's 2 weeks in. teams are still trying to figure it out.

I've always said week 4 gives better indication

Correct. Most teams don't play starters in the PS, so the first month of the real season is shaking off a lot of rust. That's why there have been so many upsets. After 4 or 5 games, it's easier to get a good measure of a team.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I dunno; he seems like he'll be safe to talk about for quite a while. He sure didn't have anything to do with the Bears winnning that first game; he might as well have not even been there. He sucked yesterday, too. His day will probably come (to some degree, at least), it's not today. The man has a ways to go before they can go into a game actually counting on him to win it for them.



The way they looked these last 2 weeks, I think there'll be a lot of them. That offense that our buddy Caleb has been pimping here for the last few months as one of the most historically dominant teams in the history of the NFL honestly doesn't even look any better than they did last year - maybe not even as good, in fact.

The Bears have enough impact players on offense. Their OL looks terrible. Even a first-pick QB is gonna look bad if he's running for his life. The Bears' D is good but that will only take them so far. And as LTF notes, it takes 4 or 5 games to get a good measure on a team.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Looks like a poor man's retro Bengals helmet.

At least the Bengals have an acceptable shade of orange. That orange-splash look for the Bears is awful. Worst shade of orange I've seen, or maybe just too much of it.

 

[OldSchool101]

Correct. Most teams don't play starters in the PS, so the first month of the real season is shaking off a lot of rust. That's why there have been so many upsets. After 4 or 5 games, it's easier to get a good measure of a team.

Our 2023 season might be a fine example of this. The rust comes off more gradual with a 1st year starter and it took us 8 games or so, but a little faster with a veteran QB.

We saw this as GB fans especially. Often starting 1-2 only to still have good season.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Our 2023 season might be a fine example of this. The rust comes off more gradual with a 1st year starter and it took us 8 games or so, but a little faster with a veteran QB.

We saw this as GB fans especially. Often starting 1-2 only to still have good season.

My memory is that the Packers, in most seasons, started fast only to fade. And four failures in the NFCCG seem to support it.

No matter. It does take a month for a team to round into a team, and this GB team is different from all that came before it. I'm encouraged by the team's performance last year and want to see more.

 

[Pugger]

Bears looked like the old Bears last night. Only 2 games in Caleb Williams is looking like Justin Fields (when he was a Bear). It's only 2 games and Keenan Allen was out, but Da Bears can't help but be unBearable to watch.

Caleb was under siege all night long. That OL is terrible.

 

[Pugger]

At least the Bengals have an acceptable shade of orange. That orange-splash look for the Bears is awful. Worst shade of orange I've seen, or maybe just too much of it.

I am no fan of orange. It looks like garbage on athletic uniforms and the only item in my wardrobe with orange in it is a Halloween top with a jack-o-lantern on the front.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I am no fan of orange. It looks like garbage on athletic uniforms and the only item in my wardrobe with orange in it is a Halloween top with a jack-o-lantern on the front.

Yeah the only exception I made was when I was still working. An orange tie with a black or blue suit looks very sharp. Thats it.

 

[tynimiller]

You're right. Darnold has played the best football of his career the last two games. He is hot and cold which is why he was available in the first place. We'll be able to tell more about the Queens in two weeks.

I would beg to differ personally. When Darnold was signed by Vikings I was mildly worried as when he's clicked he is a decent QB in the NFL...

2019 there were games where this bloke was puttin gup excellent numbers...grab his four best games from that year (his best year of his career) you get this line:

81 completions on 121 Attempts / 1,176 yards / 14.5 YPC / 9 TDs / 2 INTs

THAT said, HE IS playing way way above his normal tendency.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Caleb was under siege all night long. That OL is terrible.

Yes and no. Part of the problem was his indecisiveness, which I guess for a rookie is normal. I think ultimately that was one of the big knocks on Justin Fields. I guess we will see how Williams looks later in the season.

 

[tynimiller]

Yes and no. Part of the problem was his indecisiveness, which I guess for a rookie is normal. I think ultimately that was one of the big knocks on Justin Fields. I guess we will see how Williams looks later in the season.

Yup.

As I've said his skillset is NFL worthy....it is all can the maturation at the this level/speed happen and can he be mature in his head. Those are his main obstacles...then just the organization in general which has done nothing but illustrate they cannot employ good QBs.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I kinda recall he was a hot & cold streak type QB. Or not. Maybe he needed a new outlook and some seasoning. Worked for Cousins.

I hope I am wrong, but I think the signing was a good one for the Vikings. Darnold only cost them $10M, with a $5M cap hit. He has never started on a team with a quality offense. He spent 3 dreadful seasons with the Jets and 2 with the Panthers. Last season he was new to the 49'ers system and started 1 game, the 49ers last game against the Rams when they sat all their starters.

Darnold is only 27, might have been the team that finally resurrects his career.

 

[Heyjoe4]

I would beg to differ personally. When Darnold was signed by Vikings I was mildly worried as when he's clicked he is a decent QB in the NFL...

2019 there were games where this bloke was puttin gup excellent numbers...grab his four best games from that year (his best year of his career) you get this line:

81 completions on 121 Attempts / 1,176 yards / 14.5 YPC / 9 TDs / 2 INTs

THAT said, HE IS playing way way above his normal tendency.

Poor choice of words by me. He's playing as well as he has when he played at the top of his game. How long that lasts, not really sure. There are a lot of surprising 2-0 teams and a lot of surprising 0-2 teams. As usual, the NFL is unpredictable. But this is an unusual start even by that standard.

 

[gopkrs]

I thought Darnold was not in a good situation in the NFL until he got to SF. When Purdy went down; Darnold looked really good. It was only a short time and early in the year. Preseason? Maybe he just needed to be on a decent team. Just like with any QB almost; pressure is the best thing. It isn't looking like we can take minihaha lightly.