By Dalton Del Don
1. Minnesota Vikings
Not a big fan of going with the popular and chic pick, but the Vikings are set up to win the North this season. Losing Bryant McKinnie for the first four games won’t help, but it’s still a strong offensive line. The team’s two biggest strengths – running the ball and stopping the run – aren’t really all that important to winning football games, despite what the media would lead you to believe. Still, with the addition of Jared Allen, Minnesota’s pass defense figures to improve. On offense, Adrian Peterson can walk on water and then afterward turn that into wine, but it all comes down to Tarvaris Jackson. Turnovers have been a big problem with Jackson, but he’s probably the fastest QB in the league and did improve to 7.1 YPA over the second half last year and also looked good this preseason before suffering an injury. The addition of Bernard Berrian combined with the emerging Sidney Rice should help make the offense less one-dimensional.
2. Green Bay Packers
The Packers will definitely contend for the division, but their secondary is aging, and the team is extremely weak in the middle upfront. The offensive line does open gaping holes for Ryan Grant, and the wide receiving corps is a huge strength. Still, the team’s success will obviously come down to how Aaron Rodgers plays. He was impressive during his one relief appearance against the Cowboys last year, but that was one half of football against a team that didn’t prepare for him. Rodgers looked terrific one game this preseason, then horrible the next. He’s also rather injury-prone. His teammates around him are good enough to keep Green Bay in contention, but Rodgers will need to step up. There probably isn’t a worse QB2 situation in football.
3. Detroit Lions
While the rest of the division went 1-3 this preseason, the Lions were undefeated. Of course, that means little, but the subtraction of Mike Martz should lead to fewer sacks and turnovers. The offensive line is a weakness, but Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams make the team difficult to defend. Johnson might be the most physically gifted athlete in the league and is a top-10 commodity in the NFL. If he outproduced Randy Moss, it should come as no surprise. Detroit’s defense doesn’t look good on paper, but they did revamp the secondary with players familiar with coach Rod Marinelli’s Tampa 2 scheme. It often takes time for a unit to adjust to such a system, so there could be improvement during year three of the regime.
4. Chicago Bears
In today’s game, it’s simply too hard to keep a dominant defensive unit for longer than three years. The defense is likely to bounce back some this season, but they really need to stay healthy for it to happen. The offensive line is a problem, and drafting Chris Williams, who was completely crossed off some teams’ boards because of a chronic back issue, doesn’t appear to be the answer since the back problem is already a serious issue. Matt Forte can only improve the running back position, but the team’s receiving corps is a joke. So is the quarterback. The Bears are one of the leading candidates to have the worst offense in the NFL in 2008.
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