NFC North Predictions

[Calebs Revenge]

Oh I’m just busting your chops! Hope we repeat 2010 NFC game! Literally

It was one of the best and worst days of my life because my entire family and friends were watching that game together and I proposed to my wife at the end of that game and it would've been really nice to say that the Bears are going to the Super Bowl and what not but Instead I got to use the line even though the Bears aren't going to the Super Bowl it's still the best day of my life because you said yes, !!!!!
So we can redo the 2010 game again, but can we win on like a fourth down conversion with two minutes to go?

 

[rmontro]

So we can redo the 2010 game again, but can we win on like a fourth down conversion with two minutes to go?

Absolutely not. That's leaving a lot of time on the clock though.

By the way, I plan to see the Packers/Bears game at Lambeau in December.

 

[milani]

If J.J.is the real deal....and your guy gets better....AND our guy gets better.....
The next 5-8 years are going to be AMAZING!!!!
Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are like next to nothing.....that all four of us will have a great quarterback.....
So I guess Caleb is going to have to take that mantle and just hold onto it for the next 20 years hahahhahahahahhahaha!!!!!!

You just gave Papa Bear another reason to stay up past his heavenly bedtime.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Oh I’m just busting your chops! Hope we repeat 2010 NFC game! Literally

Yes now that's a part of history that I like. The only change is that the NFCCG with the Bears is played at Lambeau.

 

[Heyjoe4]

And you know I love you old-school!!!!
I'm celebrating tonight because my new job is going awesome and........
me and the wife got a SWEET deal on an 85 inch TV!!!!
I mean this thing is ridiculous. It's as big as my wall and I'm just foaming at the mouth to watch the first Bears-Packers game on this bad boy at my house!!!!!
No more getting kicked out of bars for this guy .Hahhahahahahahahahahaha
it's unreal and it was the sale of the freaking century so I'm just super stoked right now!!!!!
Life is great and I hope.....life for all you boys is great too..... except in the upcoming season ha ha ha ha!!!
CHEERS BOYS!!!!!
Here's to the 2025 2026 NFC North champs whoever they may be!!!!!!!!

We have an 85" TV as well and it is like being in your own movie theater. And those sets are a lot more reasonable in price than 5 years ago.

Looks like the NFC North is once again going to be the toughest conference in the NFL.

 

[OldSchool101]

On paper Detroit did not improve over last years Roster imo. The key was they went younger at OG and DL. Tyliek is a heck of a football player, but it would be a stretch to say he’s a 1 to 1 replacement over a DL in Z Smith.

They went for an upgrade in WR depth with Isaac Teslaa. We shall see if he’s Electric! He mostly plays stout against lesser competition but only rarely showed flashes once playing NFL bound DB’s. My personal opinion is we got better value with Savion IF we use him properly. Both Teslaa and Savion are Uber athletic, high ceiling athletes. Both played QB in HS, both are fast and big bodies. As far as Roster upgrades Williams and Teslas cancel each other out.

Past Z’adarius, Detroit mainly lost some solid D depth pieces LB Niemann , LB reeves maybin, CB melifonwu..DL Jonah Williams..CB Vildor all gone. These were maybe not high level starters, but that group had a wealth of experience with an average age of 29yrs old area.

 

[Heyjoe4]

On paper Detroit did not improve over last years Roster. The key was they went younger at OG and DL. Tyliek is a heck of a football player, but it would be a stretch to say he’s a 1 to 1 replacement over Z Smith.

Thanks for that update. I don't keep up with offseason changes for other teams. And I didn't know Z was gone. Do you know where he landed? It must be getting close for him to hang it up.

The Lions will have Hutchinson back, and probably most of the defensive players who were injured for the playoffs. Regardless, the Lions are just gonna be a tough out.

 

[Half Empty]

Thanks for that update. I don't keep up with offseason changes for other teams. And I didn't know Z was gone. Do you know where he landed? It must be getting close for him to hang it up.

The Lions will have Hutchinson back, and probably most of the defensive players who were injured for the playoffs. Regardless, the Lions are just gonna be a tough out.

Pretty good article overall

 

[Magooch]

Seems the most relevant place to drop this:

Book: Caleb Williams sought way around going to Chicago Bears

Quarterback Caleb Williams was so concerned about being picked by the Chicago Bears in 2024 that he and his family weighed circumventing the entire NFL draft, consulting with lawyers to figure out a way around the league's collective bargaining agreement while considering signing with the United Football League, details from a forthcoming book reveal.

"Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die," Carl Williams, Caleb's father, told Seth Wickersham, author of "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," in the months before the 2024 draft.

[Caleb] met with Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. The two hit it off, and Caleb Williams began to dream of what it would be like to play for Minnesota.

"I need to go to the Vikings," he told his father.

"Let's do it," his father replied. But both Caleb and Carl knew that a trade to a divisional rival was extremely unlikely.

Bears GM Ryan Poles stood firm, telling Williams, "We're drafting you no matter what."

That left one option: To publicly attack the Bears and the city of Chicago, hoping that it would make the situation untenable...but Caleb was concerned that if they did try and the Bears refused to trade him, it would make a tough situation worse. In the end, Caleb Williams told Wickersham, "I wasn't ready to nuke the city."


After a predraft visit to the Bears facility, Williams believed he could be part of a process to turn the franchise around.

"I can do it for this team," Caleb told his dad. "I'm going to go to the Bears."

The Bears declined to comment.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Pretty good article overall

Great update! Thanks HE!

I wish the Packers had held onto Z. He was a great Packer, fan favorite, and he can still get after the QB. (I don't recall the circumstances behind leaving the Packers.). Clowney is in the last 25% of his career. Looks like Z still has some tread on the tires.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Seems the most relevant place to drop this:

Book: Caleb Williams sought way around going to Chicago Bears

Great bit of history Magooch. Williams Sr wasn't wrong. Chicago was the place QBs (and HCs) went to die. In fairness, they didn't draft great QBs, and non-draft moves didn't work out either. But the Bears have been wired to self destruct for a long time - going back to Cutler sitting out the last half in the 2011 NFCCG.

Caleb Williams looks like the real deal. And the Bears made great offseason changes to, among other things, beef up the OL. Still amazes me that Williams was sacked 68 times last year without a major injury.

 

[OldSchool101]

Thanks for that update. I don't keep up with offseason changes for other teams. And I didn't know Z was gone. Do you know where he landed? It must be getting close for him to hang it up.

The Lions will have Hutchinson back, and probably most of the defensive players who were injured for the playoffs. Regardless, the Lions are just gonna be a tough out.

That’s a good point on Hutchinson. He’s a beast. Probably good we face Detroit early on. Also, the Lions Defense just keeps churning good depth players.
I do still think it will be difficult for Detroit to repeat last years Level. I predict they lose twice as many games across the first 12 weeks (4+) than they did all last season (2)
At Packers
Vs Bears
At Ravens
Vs Browns
At Cincinatti
At K.C.
Vs Tampa
Vs Minnesota
At Washington
At Philly
Vs Giants
Vs Packers

 

[Heyjoe4]

That’s a good point on Hutchinson. He’s a beast. Probably good we face Detroit early on. That Lions Defense just keeps churning good depth players.
I do still think it will be difficult for Detroit to repeat last years Level. I predict they lose twice as many games across the first 12 weeks (4+) than they did all last season (2)
At Packers
Vs Bears
At Ravens
Vs Browns
At Cincinatti
At K.C.
Vs Tampa
Vs Minnesota
At Washington
At Philly
Vs Giants
Vs Packers

Hutchinson is a step above. His peers are Garrett, Hendrickson, Crosby, and Watt. These guys are from another universe.

The Lions will be hard pressed to repeat a 15-2 regular season. 4 losses is more realistic, and they have nowhere to go but up as far as playoff performance. Dan Campbell won't let that **** happen again.

I think the same is true for Philly. It's always hard to repeat as the defending champion, as everyone truly wants to beat you. That said, Philly looks right now like the team to beat in the NFC. They lost a few players to FA, but also added some players to the mix. They have better balance than Detroit imo.

 

[milani]

Great bit of history Magooch. Williams Sr wasn't wrong. Chicago was the place QBs (and HCs) went to die. In fairness, they didn't draft great QBs, and non-draft moves didn't work out either. But the Bears have been wired to self destruct for a long time - going back to Cutler sitting out the last half in the 2011 NFCCG.

Caleb Williams looks like the real deal. And the Bears made great offseason changes to, among other things, beef up the OL. Still amazes me that Williams was sacked 68 times last year without a major injury.

If he were older he would not hold up. Could you picture Rodgers getting sacked that many times after 30?

 

[Heyjoe4]

If he were older he would not hold up. Could you picture Rodgers getting sacked that many times after 30?

I was thinking the same. Williams has a pretty solid build. Even so, 68 sacks is unreal and going uninjured is even more unreal. Even Rodgers in his prime may have had a hard time keeping that number below 40. Rodgers really was brilliant in his prime at getting out of trouble and making something out of nothing. And he didn't look that evasive. Fooled a lot of defenders and threw a lot of TDs.

But after 30? Maybe after 35, definitely not now. His achilles was torn because he couldn't escape a defender's grasp. I hope the Steelers' OL helps him, but all QBs get hit eventually.

Anyway, back to Williams. He should have a good year. Poles did a very good job beefing up their OL.

 

[Pkrjones]

Great bit of history Magooch. Williams Sr wasn't wrong. Chicago was the place QBs (and HCs) went to die. In fairness, they didn't draft great QBs, and non-draft moves didn't work out either...

Caleb Williams looks like the real deal. And the Bears made great offseason changes to, among other things, beef up the OL. Still amazes me that Williams was sacked 68 times last year without a major injury.

Per recent article Caleb was never taught (in '24 by coaching staff) HOW to watch & analyze film. Just put in the room & shown how to turn it on. In this day/age HOW can any offensive coach NOT sit with a player, watch & rewind a play, & show a young QB WHAT he is seeing & how it affects the play? No wonder he was constantly under pressure & didn't know where to throw it, or reduce his sacks.
Just knowing a few pre-snap keys will help him immensely & I'm certain Johnson will drill that in.

 

[gopkrs]

Hard to believe. They didn't have a QB coach for a rookie?

 

[Voyageur]

Looking at the schedule the Packers have this year, it's a doozey. If they can win 11 games, I'd be happy. Could they win more? It depends on the health of several players. Love, Jenkins, Wallace, and Jacobs, on offense. On defense, McKinney needs to be out there for 17 games, and Gary needs to step up with a lot of pressure. Healthy LBs is a necessity too. We need Walker out there in the middle, even though I think Cooper might be nearly as good. The problem is, we don't know if Eric Wilson is good enough to beat Cooper out for a spot. I don't have a lot of faith in Hopper early on, but maybe, later in the season. Hard to tell.

We still lack the kind of depth in a lot of key positions that we need. It's not easy to build it up with free agency like it is in this day and age. You need to get lucky with a couple of low rent FAs, and lower in the draft, to make it click.

I'm looking past the hype on Elgersma at this point. I don't know what he's actually going to bring to the table when they reach camp. He might be a big surprise. If he could push Malik Willis for the #2 job, Willis could make a real valuable trade asset to fill a need before the season started, or even be a good pick to add in the 2026 draft.

Tough schedule, 11 wins, and making it to at least the 2nd round, and maybe beyond that. Probably getting in as a wild card because I don't think Detroit has dropped off the face of the earth.

 

[milani]

Looking at the schedule the Packers have this year, it's a doozey. If they can win 11 games, I'd be happy. Could they win more? It depends on the health of several players. Love, Jenkins, Wallace, and Jacobs, on offense. On defense, McKinney needs to be out there for 17 games, and Gary needs to step up with a lot of pressure. Healthy LBs is a necessity too. We need Walker out there in the middle, even though I think Cooper might be nearly as good. The problem is, we don't know if Eric Wilson is good enough to beat Cooper out for a spot. I don't have a lot of faith in Hopper early on, but maybe, later in the season. Hard to tell.

We still lack the kind of depth in a lot of key positions that we need. It's not easy to build it up with free agency like it is in this day and age. You need to get lucky with a couple of low rent FAs, and lower in the draft, to make it click.

I'm looking past the hype on Elgersma at this point. I don't know what he's actually going to bring to the table when they reach camp. He might be a big surprise. If he could push Malik Willis for the #2 job, Willis could make a real valuable trade asset to fill a need before the season started, or even be a good pick to add in the 2026 draft.

Tough schedule, 11 wins, and making it to at least the 2nd round, and maybe beyond that. Probably getting in as a wild card because I don't think Detroit has dropped off the face of the earth.

It is a rather horrific schedule logistically. Bye in Week 5. 2 short weeks with the Thursday nighters. Could have used the bye later going that Thanksgiving tussle. We play the Eagles on MNF then head to NY the following Sunday. Eagles have a bye before playing us. Were it not for these logistics I could see 11 wins. Now I think we lose a couple more because of it. And I see us really getting banged up playing 13 weeks in row as the stretch happens. All 53 will get to play and then some.

 

[Voyageur]

It is a rather horrific schedule logistically. Bye in Week 5. 2 short weeks with the Thursday nighters. Could have used the bye later going that Thanksgiving tussle. We play the Eagles on MNF then head to NY the following Sunday. Eagles have a bye before playing us. Were it not for these logistics I could see 11 wins. Now I think we lose a couple more because of it. And I see us really getting banged up playing 13 weeks in row as the stretch happens. All 53 will get to play and then some.

I totally agree. It's going to be tough and 11 might be a bridge too far. One thing is certain. They're going to be earning their wins this year because of the horrific dates on the schedule. It would be difficult making it worse for a team if you really tried.