Bears

Chicago fans are buzzing with the acquisition of Jay Cutler from Denver. Every aspect of his time in the city so far has been judged and scrutinized from his late night habits to his 90 yard plus drives in exhibition games. I know that the preseason is all we have to go by this early in the season, but one needs to remember what he is playing against. We all know that the guy can obviously play and that Josh McDaniels let go of a quarterback that was being compared to John Elway in Denver.

The conflict that arose between the two is suspicious, especially when coupled with the new developments about Brandon Marshall. Who is at fault is likely a mixture of both parties, but it must be noted that playing for a guy who did not see you as a long term solution for a team would be difficult to handle gracefully. Especially since must of the media and your fans just saw you carry a team to the brink of the playoffs with one of the worst defenses in the league. Anyway, how well Cutler gels with new teammates will be a work in progress this season, but with someone of his talent on the field at quarterback the offense will always have a realistic possibility to produce against any team.

A bigger question might be how well Cutler will respond to being second fiddle to Matt Forte and a more conservative play calling scheme then what he is used too. The run is usually a qbs best friend but without the game continuously in his hand Cutler might try to force the issue more when given the opportunity to air it out. Also, Greg Olsen and Devin Hester, along with the rest of the Bears pass catchers, will be asked to do more than ever before. Hester especially will not just be able to run streaks and reverses but must be counted on to consistently get open....and if it isn't him then who knows if any wide reciever will emerge. A positive thing going for him is that with Cutler, unlike Kyle Orton for instance, the cushion recievers like Hester will have to create can be smaller and he can compensate for them being tightly covered with his arm strength.

The Bears as a whole are extremely interesting for the reason that each side of the ball seems to be going in different directions. The defense continues to get older and slower since their Super Bowl run in '06 but still have the big names and a good deal of talent. While the defense is declining the offense has gotten a young spark with young position players at tight end, wide out, running back, and quarterback. This unit will likely continue to get better and better in the years to come and they may have a team with reversed fortunes compared to the last few years where the defense has covered for the offense for much of the season. If the units can meet at a time when both are doing well then this team could realistically be a Super Bowl contender soon.....but probably not for a year or two. This season just feels like a year to early for the Bear faithful.

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