Tracking the NFC North

[adambr2]

Takes some of the sting out of yesterday.

Only 1 back. Vikings have the tougher remaining schedule too.

Plus the division loss was huge , would give us the edge in tiebreakers if we can win the Lambeau rematch and don't drop any more division games than the Vikings do over the rest of the way.

The Vikings are definitely better than what they showed tonight, but they're definitely worse than what people thought when they were 5-0. There's no reason we can't win this division .

 

[bigbubbatd]

Look what happens when they don't win the turnover battle. This offense was dependent on that and special teams. None of that tonight and they get dominated by a bad team

 

[C-Lee]

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[Carl]

That Viking offense is bad. Very bad.

 

[Packerlifer]

http://www.espn.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/75981/vikings-defensive-dominance-goes-missing-in-loss-to-bears

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[Deleted member 6794]

The Vikings offense is absolutely terrible. Even before yesterday's game the unit was ranked 31st in yards and 27th in points per drive despite having the best average starting field position of all teams in the league.

Decent teams will beat them as long as they don't turn the ball over against their elite defense.

 

[PackAttack12]

The Vikings offense is absolutely terrible. Even before yesterday's game the unit was ranked 31st in yards and 27th in points per drive despite having the best average starting field position of all teams in the league.

Decent teams will beat them as long as they don't turn the ball over against their elite defense.

That is bad.

We need to make sure to take care of business in our division games specifically.

 

[bigbubbatd]

The Vikings offense is absolutely terrible. Even before yesterday's game the unit was ranked 31st in yards and 27th in points per drive despite having the best average starting field position of all teams in the league.

Decent teams will beat them as long as they don't turn the ball over against their elite defense.

Defense didn't look elite last night either which was odd

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

If nothing else, this week of Football should have given the Packers and their fans quite a bit of hope. Despite a lot of injuries on both sides of the ball, the Packers offense played better then they have in awhile and the team as a whole was in a very good position to win a road game against a pretty decent team. Couple that with the Vikings looking pretty pedestrian against the Bears in their second straight loss and you have a wide open North Division for the Packers to legitimately have a chance of winning.

Time to get healthy, find a running game, clean up some things on Defense and use this week as momentum going forward.

 

[longtimefan]

People forget , when pack played them, our offense stunk with a huge pile.

I believe our offense has turned the corner. . Our defense (well the pass def) does stink. . We can beat them. .

The vikings arent as good as they were made out to be. .

 

[thisisnate]

Broncos won the Superbowl last year with a limited offense and dominant defense. Vikes are still good enough to beat anybody, they just won't make it look pretty.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Broncos won the Superbowl last year with a limited offense and dominant defense. Vikes are still good enough to beat anybody, they just won't make it look pretty.

There's no doubt the Vikings are capable of beating anybody but opponents have to make mistakes for that to happen.

 

[XPack]

Rivals, they may be...but give them due credit. They are without Teddy and Peterson. It's akin to us playing without Rodgers and Nelson. Either way what they can or cannot do doesn't really matter.

We have a winnable schedule on our own. And yeah with Wilson misfiring, Seahawks game is up for grabs too. The last 3 games, esp vs Vikings is a must win imo.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Rivals, they may be...but give them due credit. They are without Teddy and Peterson. It's akin to us playing without Rodgers and Nelson. Either way what they can or cannot do doesn't really matter.

We have a winnable schedule on our own. And yeah with Wilson misfiring, Seahawks game is up for grabs too. The last 3 games, esp vs Vikings is a must win imo.

No so sure I would liken losing Teddy to losing AR. Peterson and Jordy, maybe, since neither one seems to be back to their once great level of play.

 

[XPack]

No so sure I would liken losing Teddy to losing AR.

If you look at it from "Teams without a QB" angle, we may be in the same boat.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

If you look at it from "Teams without a QB" angle, we may be in the same boat.

While it cost them a first round to do it, I thought (up until 2 weeks ago) losing Teddy and acquiring Bradford might have been a blessing in disguise for the Vikings. Right now, it appears the Vikings could use Teddy's mobility and Bradford is a sitting duck behind a banged up O-Line.

There is little doubt in my mind that the Packers would be very hard pressed to have similar results in trying to replace an injured Aaron Rodgers.

 

[bigbubbatd]

Rivals, they may be...but give them due credit. They are without Teddy and Peterson. It's akin to us playing without Rodgers and Nelson. Either way what they can or cannot do doesn't really matter.

We have a winnable schedule on our own. And yeah with Wilson misfiring, Seahawks game is up for grabs too. The last 3 games, esp vs Vikings is a must win imo.

Teddy and Rodgers may be the worst comparison ever especially when they replaced teddy with a guy who has been as good as teddy ever has. It would be like replacing Rodgers with whatever qb you put right about his level. Peterson hurt but he has been by below average the previous 10 games or so. Simply put they don't have much talent on offense

 

[El Guapo]

To be fair, one of the Vikings biggest problems the past 4-5 seasons has been their O-line. I praised Spielman's offseason moves to shore that up, especially with the Alex Boone signing. However, their average O-line was decimated by retirement and injuries much like our defensive backfield. Exacerbating the problem is that Norv hasn't figured out how to compensate for the lack of running game and keep defenses from aggressive pass rushes. Like it or not, Mike McCarthy and Rodgers have done much better at it....maybe just from having to do it in 2011 and other lean years, but they are better at it.

The Vikings defense seemed to lose all it's air on two plays: the first Jordan Howard run and the missed INT by Xavier Rhodes. After that the Bears just continued to move the ball at will. Let's also not avoid giving credit to Cutler. While he had some inaccurate throws in the beginning and miscommunication, it was probably the best game that I've seen him play. The ball had more zip and was on target in tight quarters. It was like he was wearing his old Denver jersey for one day.

 

[bigbubbatd]

What positions on their offense are above average? None of the oline. Diggs is not a wr1, thielen is not a w2 and none of their other wrs should see the field. They have a wr2 and wr3 and after that a bunch of scrubs. QB play continues to be below average. Rbs are well below average even with McKinnon. TE is the only place they are maybe above average.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Treadwell has to be a disappointment so far for the Vikings. He has played just 12 snaps in three games while having sat out three and has yet to catch a pass. I thought we gave Janis a lot of grief...at least he was only a 7th rounder!

 

[Robert Mason]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...chiefs-eagles-among-playoffbound-bubble-teams

Green Bay Packers (4-3)


No Eddie Lacy, no James Starks, no Randall Cobb and no Ty Montgomery ... so of course, Aaron Rodgers has his breakout game of the season Sunday. Despite the Week 8 loss to Atlanta, this game may have been just what the sluggish Packers needed to jump-start things. Rodgers threw four touchdown passes and Davante Adams (12 receptions) showed strong signs of maturing into the receiver the Packers have been hoping he'd be. If Adams develops, perhaps the Packers can use Cobb and Montgomery as dynamic slot players or out of the backfield for the remainder of the season.

While there are certainly no moral victories in the NFL, the Packers got a lot out of this loss -- and they are showing hints of being similar to what they were in 2010, when they had to fight through regular-season injuries and qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team, then ran the table to the Super Bowltitle. Green Bay still needs to find a reliable running back, but this team could get hot at just the right time and be a tough out for anyone in the playoffs.

 

[Robert Mason]

No so sure I would liken losing Teddy to losing AR. Peterson and Jordy, maybe, since neither one seems to be back to their once great level of play.

Of course you can't compare Teddy to AR. Teddy is still an unknown quantity. Maybe be he was just hyped like Ponder.

 

[Robert Mason]

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[PikeBadger]

Treadwell has to be a disappointment so far for the Vikings. He has played just 12 snaps in three games while having sat out three and has yet to catch a pass. I thought we gave Janis a lot of grief...at least he was only a 7th rounder!

Yeah, and Janis has more production at WR than Patterson and Treadwell combined so that's a 7th round pick producing more than two 1's and the 2,4 &7 the Vikings used on those two WR's.

 

[Raptorman]

To be fair, one of the Vikings biggest problems the past 4-5 seasons has been their O-line. I praised Spielman's offseason moves to shore that up, especially with the Alex Boone signing. However, their average O-line was decimated by retirement and injuries much like our defensive backfield. Exacerbating the problem is that Norv hasn't figured out how to compensate for the lack of running game and keep defenses from aggressive pass rushes. Like it or not, Mike McCarthy and Rodgers have done much better at it....maybe just from having to do it in 2011 and other lean years, but they are better at it.

The Vikings defense seemed to lose all it's air on two plays: the first Jordan Howard run and the missed INT by Xavier Rhodes. After that the Bears just continued to move the ball at will. Let's also not avoid giving credit to Cutler. While he had some inaccurate throws in the beginning and miscommunication, it was probably the best game that I've seen him play. The ball had more zip and was on target in tight quarters. It was like he was wearing his old Denver jersey for one day.

Vikings O-line is a mess. Last night they had their 2nd string LT playing RT. A third string LT that wasn't even on the team 3 weeks starting. Bradford didn't have time to even look over the field after the ball was put into play. The O-line can't seem to get a push off to even do a decent block for the runner. Of course it didn't help that Asiata kept running into the back of his own players instead of hitting whatever little hole there was.

Cutler seemed to play what looked like one of his best games in years. Of course I biased in that manner. Having 2 starting DB's out didn't help much either.

All I know is that if the O-line play doesn't improve, Bradford will be on IR before we play the Packers again.