The black and blue division I grew up watching has morphed into an aerial show featuring gunslingers Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, as well as hopefuls Jay Cutler and Matthew Stafford. These teams should be able to put some points on the board in 2010, with two Super Bowl contenders and two up-and-coming teams looking to improve upon dismal 2009 seasons.

Two bloggers helped us out with some comments. Their comments follow ours:

Andy Tellijohn, Zoneblitz.com

Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears

I’ve been a lifelong Vikings fan. The 1998, 2000 and 2009 seasons raised and then dashed my hopes of seeing an eventual Super Bowl champion from my hometown. The team has the talent necessary to make another run in 2010. But so far it just feels like the team doesn’t have the same mojo it had in 2009.

Everything went right last year. This year Sidney Rice is out for half the season. The offensive line didn’t get a chance to play together in the preseason. And the Vikes are counting on a couple of last year’s injured, Cedric Griffin and EJ Henderson, coming back and playing well.

Meanwhile the Green Bay Packers looked like they were on fire in the preseason. Not that those games mean a ton, but the offense looks like it will score a lot of points. Rodgers has plenty of weapons. Jermichael Finley looks like a stud.

If the defense can perform at an average level Green Bay could win 12 to 13 games and compete for the Super Bowl.

That would leave Chicago and Detroit fighting for third place. I like a lot of what the Lions have done in the couple years since giving Matt Millen the heave-ho. The defense is still suspect. But the additions of guys like Nate Burleson and Jahvid Best not only give them some offensive firepower but they should allow the Lions to better utilize the talents of Calvin Johnson, one of the league’s best receivers when healthy and perhaps Millen’s only real draft success.

I’m not convinced with the Bears yet. The offensive line has a great coach in Mike Tice but not a ton of talent. The receivers are unproven. And Jay Cutler hasn’t looked like he’s going to be worth the price the Bears paid for him. It’s no lock, but I’ll go out on a limb and say the Lions sneak past the Bears for third place.

A win out of the gates today would help them achieve that goal.

To see what a couple bloggers have to say, click past the jump:

Monty McMahon, Green Bay Packers
www.totalpackers.com

Green Bay
Minnesota
Chicago
Detroit

The NFC North looks to be a formidable division this season. The Green Bay Packers may turn out to be the class of the NFC. The Packers offense looks unstoppable with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receivers Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, tight end Jermichael Finley and running back Ryan Grant.

If the defense can slow down big-time passing attacks – something they had problems with in 2009 – this could be a special season for the Packers. The Minnesota Vikings will still remain a force to be reckoned with now that Brett Favre has returned to the fold, but receiver Sidney Rice will miss the first half of the season with a hip injury and the Vikings will be forced to rely more heavily on running back Adrian Peterson, who has a tendency to fumble. Those changes on offense and a defense that’s beginning to get old will knock Minnesota down a peg.

Both the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears will field better teams than last season, but that won’t mean much with the Packers and Vikings in the division. The Bears improved their defense significantly by signing Julius Peppers and quarterback Jay Cutler should put up big numbers in new coordinator Mike Martz’s offense, especially if the Bears’ young receivers continue to improve. The problem for the Bears is a leaky offensive line and an aging defense.

Those holes will prevent them from finishing any higher than third in the North. Similarly, the Lions solidified one of their biggest weaknesses, the defensive line, in the offseason by adding Kyle Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams and Ndamukong Suh. The Lions offense could be exciting with the continued maturation of quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Calvin Johnson, but that won’t be enough to get them out of the basement.

Joshua Peng, Detroit Lions
www.roarofthelions.com

Green Bay
Minnesota
Detroit
Chicago

Green Bay is my choice  hands down.  Their defense is solid, and Aaron Rodgers and their offense are off the charts. Rodgers will burn you if you blitz, and carve you up if you give him any amount of time.  His mobility, pocket awareness, and sense of the field help negate some of his offensive line weaknesses.  The Packers will put up a lot of points and as long as their defense holds up they are one of the top teams in the NFC.

Minnesota with Brett Favre returning is supposed to be the chic pick in national circles.  I don’t buy it.  Minnesota’s running game is scary good – as it has been for the past few years.  However, I get the feeling that their passing game just isn’t going to click like it did last season.  With such a disjointed, uncommitted offseason I just don’t get that vibe that Brett Favre is in sync with his receivers – or that Minnesota even has an idea as to who their top receivers are, and what each is good at.

Throw in a secondary that is starting Safeties at Cornerback due to injuries – which allows teams to simply pass over heads of the “Williams Wall” and you negate the biggest strength of that defense.  Tire them out with screens and play action passing, then strike deep into the weak secondary and grind out the win once you wear down the defensive line.  On offense, stack up the line against AP with run blitzes and make Favre try to “make something happen” – which will result in much more of his typical INT’s versus the disciplined game he played last season.  That being said, they could still surprise the Packers and are at least a strong wildcard candidate – especially since they have 4 games against Detroit/Chicago.

Chicago and Detroit will be duking it out to see who ends up in last place in the division.  They are two teams passing each other right now – one falling apart, one pulling itself back together.  Detroit is in year two of a building plan.  To say “rebuilding” would imply there was something there to start with.  There are only 13 players of 53 left on the Lions from the 0-16 season at last count.

The Lions were essentially an expansion team heading into last season.  Now, after two years and good use of their high draft picks, the Lions are a team on the rise.  But they aren’t there yet.  On offense,  the Lions’ line gets Stephen Peterman back at RG and added Rob Sims at LG.  This leaves only RT as a marginal weakness unless Gosder Cherilus makes some strides with his consistency.  They have Matthew Stafford, Jahvid Best, Calvin Johnson, Jahvid Best, Tony Sheffler, Brandon Pettigrew, Nate Burleson… In other words, their offense is looking good and will have serious potential to score points.

The main reason the Lions will be pretty lucky to see 6 wins is the defense.  There is only so much that can be done in two offseasons, and Martin Mayhew has pushed it to the max.  Their Defensive line is young overall and has scary good potential – especially with DT’s Ndamukong Suh, Sammie Hill and Corey Williams.   KVB and Avril are good enough to take advantage fo the pressure.   Unfortunately, behind them Detroit’s back 7 is about like Minnesota’s – minus the linebackers.  With their young MLB DeAndre Levy sidelined by injury, their top LB is an aging Julian Peterson.  Their only great player in the secondary is Louis Delmas – he is also the only guy returning from last year.  Teams will pass early and often against the Lions who will win some shootouts, but often fall short.

Da Bears are in a state of uncontrolled confusion.  Mike Martz was a great coach and coordinator once upon a time.  However, as of late he has been the “OC of last resort” – being brought in when a coach is desperate to save his job and hopes the complicated system gives him instant offense.  Lovie Smith is also still operating under the influence – that is, under the influence that he still has a top 5 defense.  That hasn’t been the case since Ron Rivera left.

The Martz style of offense means a high risk/high reward system that works best when paired with an aggressive defense.  Here is the second problem – Rod Marinelli is not an aggressive defensive coordinator.  If he is twice as aggressive as what he ran in Detroit, then what fans saw in the preseason isn’t a vanilla defense – it IS his defense.  Marinelli sat in zone cover two all the way to 0-16 without risking anything – just kept playing his game and thinking it would work next time.

Sharpen that shovel, ready that pick, and pound that rock.  This brings up the problem of adjustments – both Marinelli and Martz have a similar problem.  Martz doesn’t adjust for talent (his or the other team’s) and Marinelli doesn’t adjust for opponents – his scheme is flexible enough to get it done against anything. (In theory only) During the 0-16 season we saw the Lions get burned for a long run (2 for TD’s) on the exact same play.  EXACT.  SAME. PLAY.

Three weeks in a row by three different teams – multiple times each game.  By the third week even my then-7 year old daughter was saying “Dad!  The bad guys are going to win!!  Tell them to stop!” when they lined up in that formation.  In other words, while Chicago has a spattering of talent I just don’t trust the coaching side at all.  Combined with an aging defense, Chicago fans could be in for a long season.  At least they’ll see some offense.  Just remember though, Jon Kitna threw for 4000 yards under Martz and the Lions STILL didn’t have a winning record.  Chicago fans, in honor of your coaches you have my pity.

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