Welcome

Hello readers. My name is Michael and I am a student at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, a location that is the perfect distance away from Chicago, Green Bay, Minneapolis, and Detroit to create a city with an array of fans that support teams in the NFC North. (Although Lions fans have become less and less visible since Jon Kitna's playoff prediction in '07 went by the wayside and their annual slow tumble into the basement of the NFL has gained speed every year since) This gives me the unique and sometimes unfortunate experience of being surrounded by fans of the most interesting division in the NFL this season. With the arrivals of Jay Cutler, Matthew Stafford, and Brett Favre coupled with the emergence last year of Aaron Rogers, each team has story lines abound and how these play out throughout the NFL season should captivate audiences across the Midwest and the country. Here is a quick breakdown of the four teams with more analysis and comments to come.

Green Bay-The good news for Green Bay is that Aaron Rogers has looked every bit as good as last year through the preseason, including a 258 yard, 3 touchdown first half with a quarterback rating of over 155 on friday against the Cardinals. The problem however is even with Rogers putting up seemingly unexpected mega numbers last year, the team that went to the NFC championship game the year before won only 6 games and everyone else within the division seemed to improve. If Ryan Grant stays healthy and that is a big if for a guy who suffered through injuries in college and struggled through parts of last year in his first full year of starting, the offense should give them a chance to win most weeks and keep them competitive within the division.

Don Capers came in to improve the defense and change the scheme from a 4-3 to a 3-4, but can he improve a defense that struggled mightily, especially against quality teams, while teaching a new system simultaneously? If Capers can create matchups and blitz schemes that create pressure on opposing quarterbacks, it should take pressure off of their well above average corners Charles Woodson and Al Harris, creating more turnovers and mistakes by offenses.

Bottomline, the Packers could be a team that clicks early and end up riding their team to a playoff birth, especially if the defense can take advantage of quarterbacks adjusting to new teams in early games versus the Bears and Vikings. Early success for the defense could lead to a improved season on that side of the ball, with early wins dominoing into more excitment and energy similar to 2007. Any team however that loses 7 of their last 9 games from a season prior has to put added pressure on themselves to perform early in the season. The sour taste in the mouths of fans after watching a talented group falter in close games and down the stretch might result in a large amount of complaining to start the 09 season. Especially if early season losses to division rivals start appearing on their record, and Brett Favre shows signs of success in Minnesota. A repeat of '08 might start materializing if early losses ignite talks of coach firings and personell problems, but the hardest thing to find in the NFL is a consistent franchise quarterback and the Packers seem to have that checkmarked making every season promising.

Look for my breakdowns of other NFC North teams and predictions for the season later in the week