Bearstalk

I'm looking at what our division rivals have done in the draft and let's open the floor for comments. I'll start with the team I hate the most. Packers: 1st: Kenny Clark DT. I felt they had better options available the way the DTs fell in the draft. This was a head-scratcher for me but that's ok. He won't be a bad player for them I just felt there were others with more upside available. 2nd: Jason Spriggs OT. Good pick for them 3rd: Kyler Fackrell OLB. It will be tough for me to watch the hometown kid wearing a Packer's jersey twice a season. He's not elite at anything but is a good jack-of-all-trades type. I really thought they'd push …

Keeping up with our division rivals here is who they drafted, and my opinions on that. Detroit 1/20 C Ragnow good player, moves well, not that strong (yet) and this seemed early for him to come off the board 2/11 RB Kerryon Johnson he's a good RB but not special in any area, he will definitely help give them a solid running game 3/18 S Tracy Walker NFLDraftScout had him listed as a 5th Rd prospect. NFL.com has his graded as a career backup potential, again Rd 5-6 4/14 DE Da'shawn Hand ranked as 2/3rd Rd seems to be good value here in the 4th but for his athletic talent he underperformed in college 5/16 G Tyrell Crosby a…

I love what every team in our division did this year in the draft. If Harvin can keep his head on right plus Loadholt, the Vikings had a good draft. The Lions went out at got Stafford + the best TE in the draft + who I thought was the best FS. The Bears got Cutler + Moore in the 4th. The Packers got Raji and Matthews, both who can contribute right away in their new 3-4. IMO, our division as a whole had the best draft. Thoughts?

In terms of improving the team since last season, have the Bears not had the best offseason of any team in the division? GB has actually lost a lot of their depth and some key vets (Williams, Hawk, House, etc). So even though they re-signed Cobb and some others, at this point they are slightly worse than last year. Detroit has taken a massive step backwards losing Suh and Fairley and only gaining Ngata (who is older). Minnesota had a slight upgrade going from Jennings to Wallace, but the biggest swing will be in regards to what happens with AP. With their other roster losses (Felton), they probably are even at this point. With every team expected to improve th…

Huge game for draft position. A loss keeps a top 10 pick in play, a win and we are looking at a pick around 15. After losses to MIN and GB, a loss to DET at home would have to be the final swing of the hammer on the nail in the coffin for Nagy and Pace. So we have a few things to be hopeful for in a loss. A win won't even feel like a win at this point. Unfortunately, these are the games the Bears win. So I expect a win, 20-16 in an ugly one.

Tavaris Jackson is absolutely terrible. Based on how great Minnys run game looks, he is gonna cost them big this year.

Right now we sit a game back of the Packers and a half-game behind the Lions. Detroit has yet to play a divisional game, so we will see how they compare to the rest of the division starting this week. The Lions also play the Vikings and us in their next 5 games, so those games will be very important in terms of playoff chances. There are 4 non-division teams vying for a playoff spot (SEA, LAR, CAR, and PHI) as well. Packers (4-1) next 5: vs DET, vs OAK, @KC, @LAC, vs CAR Projected record after 10 games: 7-3, This is dependent on how long Adams is out. If they fall flat against DET, then have to play OAK who has a solid running game, they could easily lose 3 here. T…

Desmond Bishop went down holding his knee and couldn't put any weight on it. McCarthy said postgame that they'll be "lucky" if it's nothing serious. (Bishop led the Pack in tackles last year)

Without considering the draft picks, which right now seem to favor the Bears, it seems like every other NFC North team got worse this offseason. GB lost 2 guys on their O-Line, plus Quay Walker, Rashan Gary, and Wicks and Doubs at WR. At some point in the last few years both Doubs and Wicks were anointed as WR1s. GB's big add, Javon Hargrave who was subpar last year in a MIN defense that was really good. They traded for Zaire Franklin, who is a less dynamic Quay Walker. They also lost Malik Willis who was arguably the best QB2 in the NFL. So to me, they will take a step back. They also lost their DC. DET lost Monty, Decker, Glasgow, Reader, and Raymond and only added Cade…

With the win over the Saints it all boils down to two. The last two games we win then we are in if we get two losses by the Vikings. We play the Packers at home and the Texans on the road. The Vikings play the Cardinals on the road, and the Falcons & Giants at home. Also we can get in as a wild card if we win our last two games and get the Cowboys and Falcons to lose two games and the Eagles and Redskins to lose one of their remain games. The Cowboys play The Giants, the Ravens & the Eagles. The Falcons play Tampa Bay, the Vikings & the Rams The Redskins play the Bengals, the Eagles and the 49ers. The Eagles play the Browns the…

I would love to see GB end up with 9 or 10 wins and miss the playoffs. That would be worth part of my misery for this season. Looking at the Division and Wild Card, Detroit has the toughest remaining schedule, but gets GB at home in Week 17 to more than likely decide the Division. For the Wild Card, the Giants are pretty locked in at WC1 and it looks like WC2 will come down to WAS, TB, and the 2nd best team in the North (probably the loser of Week 17 GB/DET). We still have a hand in impacting the playoffs as we play WAS and MIN to end the season. I would still gladly take 2 losses and hope JAX decides to win 1 for their new coach who play TEN and IND to close o…

Harvin takes it to the house on opening kick for the Vikes.

NFC North Skill Groups (1QB, 2RB, 2TE, 3WR): CHI - Williams / Swift, Herbert / Kmet, Everett / Moore, Allen, Odunze DET - Goff / Gibbs, Montgomery / LaPorta, Wright / St. Brown, Williams, Raymond MIN - McCarthy / Jones, Chandler / Hockenson, Oliver / Jefferson, Addison, Powell GB - Love / Jacobs, Lloyd / Musgrave, Kraft / Watson, Dobbs, Reed - Rookies in Red - Meh players in Blue The Bears have the best WR Corps, Everett is the best TE2 of the bunch, making the TE Room competitive with DET and MIN. DET has the best RB Room but CHI and GB are close behind. Adding Odunze really puts the Bears offense over the top. Roschon would be ahead of Chandler on…

The division is easily the best division in football, and the last 2 months of the season are going to be a bloodbath. The Bears have 6 division games left, GB and DET both have 5, and MIN has 4. Those games will ultimately decide the division and even some WC spots as we knock each other down in the conference standings. I am hoping the Bears can at least split with each team and go 3-3 in the division games. That would give the Bears a good shot at 10-7 and a WC spot. CHI - Team still improving, on a 3-game win streak, last 4-game win streak was in 2018. 3 winnable games coming up, need to take care of business. DET - Hutchinson out for the year who was playing…

Since Matt Nagy took over in 2018, this is the combined regular-season records of the NFC North with the Division record in parentheses: 1. CHI 24-13 (10-3) 2. GB 23-12-1 (9-4-1) 3. MIN 19-16-1 (5-7-1) 4. DET 10-25-1 (2-12) I was actually pretty shocked to see that the Bears had the best record (most wins) and the best record in the division. I was also shocked to see Minnesota near .500 and with a losing record in the division. It just doesn't feel that way.

Pro Football Weekly was rating the best divisions and the North had a slight edge over the NFC East. Hey its a slow topic time of the year. I agree with them, I think the Packers are the best team in football and Detroit and The Bears will have above 9 win seasons, so that should put them over the hump.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfcnorth/0-6-49...valuations.html Chicago Bears (9-7) The Bears took early control of the NFC North but missed a chance to create a deep cushion after giving up leads against Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta. And yet even with those missed opportunities and a 1-3 stretch in late November, the Bears could have earned a wild-card berth had they won their season finale at Houston. That failure should jump-start a number of self-scouting exercises, especially to figure out why their defense slipped in nearly every area two years after leading the team to the Super Bowl. Grade: B- Biggest surprise: There was a general consensus that Matt Fo…

NFC Offensive Line Rankings I was wondering if you all agreed with this ranking of the NFC Offensive Lines. If their speculation is right and we are 14th out of 16, we are in deep doo doo. I think we will be much better. I have no doubt that if needed Angelo will check out players cut during preseason do to a "youth movement" or "Salary Cap Problems" and beef up the OL with some veterans. However, I am hoping that Williams will be the answer at LT and with Tait moving to RT, we will be no less than #6 or #7 in the ranking by the end of the season.

It's getting to be that time again. We are closing in on the 4th quarter of the season. The Bears are currently 3rd in the NFC North at 8-6. With 2 games remaining, lets take a look at the playoff picture, the way things currently stand today. I'll be updating this as the weeks go by. *Updated as of 12/29/12* 1- Atlanta Falcons (13-2): vs NO, @ CAR, vs NYG, @ DET, vs TB 2- Green Bay Packers (11-4): vs MIN, vs DET, @ CHI, vs TEN, @ MIN 3- San Francisco 49'ers (10-4-1): @ STL, vs MIA, @ NE, @ SEA, vs ARZ 4- Washington Redskins (9-6): vs NYG, vs BAL, @ CLE, @ PHI, vs DAL 5- Seattle Seahawks (10-5): @ CHI, vs ARZ, @ BUF, vs SF, vs STL 6- Min…

Assume Bears, Seahawks (vs STL), Panthers (at ATL), and Saints (vs TB) win. That leaves 2 games to deciding the seeding for the NFC. SEA and CAR would finish 1-2. PHI at DAL SF at ARZ If SF and PHI win (favorites): NO at PHI and SF at CHI 4 If ARZ and DAL win (home teams/underdogs): SF at CHI 3 and NO at DAL If SF and DAL win: NO at CHI 3 and SF at DAL If ARZ and PHI win: SF at PHI and NO at CHI 4 So to me, the best matchup is NO in Chicago, and that would only happen in the last 2 scenarios. If all favorites win, we get SF. A crazy scenario is if SEA somehow loses (possible but unlikely), they could drop all the way to th…