8 divisions in 8 days: nfc north

Ever so slowly I am on to the NFC North. I am pretty good at being unbiased when it comes to these things. As a Bears fan and a hatred for the other NFL North teams, I will try and remain impartial.

Chicago Bears: 11-6

The only coaching change for the NFC North division winner is the OC. Press Taylor was promoted from the Pass Game Coordinator. The OC in Chicago is more for game planning since Ben Johnson calls the play.

With the sudden retirement of Center Drew Dalman, the Bears were in need of a replacement. They pulled off a trade for Garrett Bradbury from the Patriots. a downgrade for sure but Bradbury will be bookended by good players. They made quite a bit of free agent moves to shore up the lines on both sides of the ball. But defensively especially, I don’t think that they did enough. Signing Devin Bush to replace Tremaine Edmunds was a good move. Edmunds had slowed down a bit last year and the LB corps needed some more speed. And getting Safety Coby Bryant from the defending SB Champions was a big move. Safety play was weak last year.

Safety was a weak spot for Chicago last year so having Dillon Thieneman fall to them at pick number 25 was such a huge get. In the second round, with the Bears in sudden need of a Center had Logan Jones fall into their lap. The 5th pick in the third round didn’t make sense in my eyes. In need of another Edge rusher, they went with a TE. And I know that 13 personnel sets are in vogue right now but an Edge rusher went with the very next pick. I liked the next pick of Zavion Thomas who could be this years Luther Burden. They had a really good draft even if I’m critical of the TE pick.

A good off-season for the Bears except for that glaring issue along the defensive front. They are hoping that some of the guys that were brought in the last couple of years progress forward. Not something that I am comfortable with.

Grade: B

Detroit Lions: 9-8

Detroit hired former Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing as their new OC just one year after hiring John Morton for the position. Anyone filling in for Ben Johnson was going to be a downgrade but Morton couldn’t make it passed one season. Not sure hiring a former AZ Cardinal anything is a smart idea. But they did rush for over 2,400 yards and 18 TD’s in ‘24.

They signed quite a few players to help on the O-Line which is always a need in the NFL. It’s paramount to be able to keep, not only your QB clean, but to provide running lanes for your RB’s. And when you have a player as dynamic as Jahmyr Gibbs, you sign all of the big bodies you can. They also signed Pacheco to be the David Montgomery of the offense this year. They signed Jack Campbell to an extension which you have to do when you have stud players like that. And they signed a lot more depth for their secondary.

For the first round of the draft, they had to get another OT after choosing to let Decker go. Enter Blake Miller from Clemson. Again, you have to give the offense time to make plays. I did not like the second round pick of Derrick Moore the Edge from Michigan. Zion Young was the very next pick and in my opinion a much better player. Time will tell. Overall, I didn’t think they had a great draft.

This team took a step back after Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn left for Head Coaching positions. Can Petzing get this offense to look more like the one that Johnson had? I also think that they needed to do more to address the defensive front four. Hutchinson is great but is he all they have?

Grade: C

Green Bay Packers: 9-7-1

Another NFC North team, another Coordinator change. This time on the defensive end with the hiring of Jonathan Gannon. I really like this move for Green Bay. His work as a defensive coordinator is what earned him the head coaching position with Arizona to begin with.

Green Bay was not that active in free agency. They lost Romeo Doubs so the signing of Skyy Moore was a nice depth move. He’s also a very nice returner that can switch the field at any time. Re-signed their Center Sean Rhyan to a deal. Signing Javon Hargrave may be the steal of their free agency. They traded for Zaire Franklin which is peculiar because he is closer to the end than the beginning. He also struggled last year as opposed to the pretty dominant three year run he had prior. We will also see what happens with Josh Jacobs and his legal struggles. I’m surprised that GB didn’t sign another RB yet just in case.

The Packers didn’t have a lot of picks either. Only six and none in the first round. Their first three picks were used on CB Brandon Cisse, DT Chris McClellan and Edge Rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton. All three of these guys are depth pieces as the Packers didn’t need a lot from the prior season. Time will tell whether or not they need to address the running back situation.

An uneventful off-season for GB. Again, they didn’t need a lot and what they did do was necessary. The new DC could pay dividends also.

Grade: A

Minnesota Vikings: 9-8

‍Wow! A team from the North that didn’t have any coaching changes. But boy did they make changes elsewhere! It had to have sucked to watch the QB that you let walk in favor of the unproven rookie second year player, go on to a new team and win the SuperBowl.

What does the team with JJ McCarthy do in the off-season? Well, they re-sign Carson Wentz AND bring in Kyler Murray. It’ll be interesting who will take the majority of first team reps when training camp gets underway soon. The rest of their free agent moves were just for re-signing players or restructuring contracts like Aaron Jones.

I also found it odd that a team that already had a good defense, chose defensive players with their first three picks. Now they did have a need at DT and Caleb Banks makes sense in the first round. Then they drafted a LB in the second round but he is a depth piece because they didn’t have a need there. Then in the third round, having already drafted a new starting NT, they drafted another one in Dominique Orange. Why not take a flyer on a young QB? Especially since the man that drafted McCarthy in the first place is no longer employed. I don’t get it. There is a reason why AZ let Kyler go in the first place. Although, we will see if Kevin O’Connell can work magic with Kyler to get him back to being a viable starter. I did like the third round pick of Safety Jakobe Thomas out of Miami. He has the chance to be a starter sooner rather than later.

I did like their draft but I felt like they could have used some of those picks elsewhere. Instead of Golday in the second, they could have went with TE Eli Stowers to run some 12 personnel sets with Hockenson. Instead of Orange in the third round, two WR’s went right after that pick that they had a need for. This is a team that was poised to take the next step and are now going the other direction.

Grade: C