I am a week late on this so its going to be Quarter Three +1. Here are the NFC North standings after 13 games on the board.
Vikings 11-2
Packers 9-4
Bears 5-8
Lions 2-11
My second quarter forecast for Green Bay is off, they have been resurgent since the Tampa loss. It looks like Rodgers and crew have been able to pull off what Favre and Co did in 1993. Let’s hope this continues. Despite the AZ loss, the Vikings have continued to roll. Here are the remaining games..
Vikings – @CAR, @CHI, NYG
Packers – @PITT, SEA, @AZ
Bears – @BAL, MIN, @DET
Lions – AZ, @SF, CHI
The Vikings just need one win here (or one GB loss) to clinch the division. And, unless there’s bad weather in Charlotte this week, I see them doing just that on Sunday. BUT if somehow they stumble, then they would have to either win in the cold in Chicago or at home against the Giants. This game would be meaningless for the Giants unless the Cowboys continue to struggle thus opening up the last wild card spot. (If Green Bay stumbles which means the Vikings win anyway)
So, in essence, the Packers only chance is to win out with the Vikings (and Cowboys) losing out. Which means this Sunday’s games are key. If the last game @AZ is meaningless for the Cardinals then Green Bay’s toughest remaning game is the Steelers. Do they have any life left? Will Poulamulu play? Chances of all this happening and Green Bay miraculously winning the division? Like 100-1. If the Vikings manage to lose to Carolina and the Packers win against Pitt…..Then things get real interesting.
Predictions:
Vikings 13-3 (@CHI)
Packers 11-5 (@AZ, meaningless game for both teams but then Green Bay goes back to AZ for Wild Card!)
Bears 6-10
Lions 2-14
Published on December 16, 2009 9:50 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, NFC North, Predictions Tags: carolina, division, NFC North, rodgers, third quarter, wild card
So all NFC North teams have now played 8 games, so as they move into the second half of the season let’s take a look at the next 4 games for each team. My projections for the second quarter games didn’t go so well for the Packers or Bears.
Midseason Standings
Vikings 7-1
Packers 4-4
Bears 4-5
Lions 1-7
Next Four Games
Vikings – DET, SEA, CHI, @AZ
Packers – DAL, SF, @DET, BAL
Bears – @SF (L), PHI, @MN, STL
Lions – @MN, CLE, GB, @CIN
Reality has set in for the Packers and Bears. The Packers have a terrible combination. While Rodgers is talented, he lacks the ability to read defenses quickly. So combine that with the fact that the O-line can’t block anyone longer than 4 seconds. And the Bears defense has slipped with age and injuries, plus Cutler is a joke. It will be interesting to see if either team can finish strong. I’m guessing they’ll need to have a 9-7 or better record to have any chance at playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Vikings have sort of sat back and watched their competition implode over the bye week. And now they’re entering a cake portion of the season. This team can still fall hard though. Maybe I’m purposely putting the blinders on but I just can’t see them maintaining the rest of the year.
Projected Standings After Q3
Vikings – 10-2
Packers – 6-6
Bears – 5-7
Lions – 2-10
Published on November 13, 2009 8:25 pm.
Filed under: 2009 Season, NFC North, Predictions Tags: NFC North, q2, second quarter
With Minneapolis hosting a pretty solid weekend plus of sports – Twins playoff run, Vikings/Packers, Badgers/Gophers – I thought I’d post this…Probably the best celebration speech of a stadium closing I’ve seen. Kent Hrbek = Boozer.
Since I’ve already blabbed about the Vikings/Packers game, I’ll quickly review the other NFC North matchup then take a look ahead to the next quarter of the season.
Bears 48 Lions 24
The Lions started this game well and it was close at the half. But the Bears were just too strong and eventually pulled away. The injury to Stafford also doesn’t help…and btw, this was the first time I watched him play a bit. He has potential and a good arm. The Bears are playing all around good offense right now, but their D looks weaker than usual. They have beaten last year’s champs (Steelers) but I’m not sure they can maintain this level of play the rest of the season.
First Quarter Review
So after four games the NFC North looks like this…
Vikings 4-0 – They have played a very deliberate game so far this season. And after their big win on Monday, now they seem to be firing on all cylinders. One thing I worry about is there pass coverage…if the Packers were able to get average pass protection it seemed that they had lots of wide open receivers.
Bears 3-1 – Cutler has played pretty good the past three games, this might be the first place team after the second quarter of the season is over.
Packers 2-2 – Not real consistent on defense or offense. Some big time mistakes at the worst times has cost this team at least one loss. They are the youngest team in the league again, how much longer does this last?
Lions 1-3 – Showing some promise with the new coach and without dumb ass GM.
Looking Ahead
Here are the next games for the top three teams in the North.
Vikings – (@STL, BLT, @PITT, @GB) This is probably the toughest part of the Vikings schedule, if they can come out of this 3-1 or even 2-2 they should make the playoffs. But thats a hard three game stretch against some notoriously tough football teams. The Ravens and Steelers both can stop the run and bring pressure, this will be the real test for Favre this year. Throw in some inclement weather and the Vikings could really slip in this games.
Bears – (@ATL, @CIN, CLE, AZ) Here’s another stretch of games that will show what the Bears are made of…Will Cutler be exposed here? Probably in at least two of these games. If they are able to win two of these games they will be looking good.
Packers – (DET, @CLE, MN, @TB) For the Packers to make a run, they have to win all four of these games. Except for the Vikings game, they should win them all by a wide margin. But that game at Tampa scares me for some reason.
Projected Standings after Q2
Bears 5-3
Vikings 5-3
Packers 5-3
Lions 2-6
Published on October 7, 2009 10:25 am.
Filed under: 2009 Season, Bears, Game Summary, NFC North, Predictions, Videos, lions Tags: Bears, cutler, first quarter, kent hrbek, minneapolis, NFC North, packers, second quarter, vikings, youth
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