Packers picked 2nd in division by most forecasters

Packerfanforever

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An interesting read I seen on packernews.com


Summer is barely a week old, so that can only mean NFL predictions for the 2007 season are out in full force.

How do the national magazines see the Packers finishing? Four of the five publications surveyed predicted a second-place finish for the Packers in the NFC North, with one picking the Packers third in the division. All five magazines said the Chicago Bears would win the division. Here's a summary of what the five publications are saying about the Packers:

Athlon Sports: Second place in the NFC North and no playoff berth. (Last season, Athlon predicted the Packers to finish last in their division -- they wound up second at 8-8). Said the magazine: "Packer fans are familiar with forest green and Forrest Gregg, but the 2007 Packers might have more in common with another Forrest – Gump. Like his box of chocolates, you don’t really know what to expect."

Street & Smith’s: Second in the NFC North. Said the magazine: "There are some subtle signs pointing to a playoff renewal for ageless Brett Favre and Green Bay."

Sporting News: Second with an 8-8 record. Here’s a switch: the Sporting News believes the Packers' weak link could be the defense. Said the magazine: "Brett Favre has the offensive supporting cast to make one more playoff push, but the defense – despite some young stars – might not have enough to get the team above .500."

Lindy’s: Third in the NFC North behind the Bears and the – gasp! – Lions. Said the magazine: "There's reason to question whether the Packers will have any more offensive punch than they did struggling through last season."

Pro Football Weekly: Second in the division with a 7-9 record. Said the magazine: "The window is open for Green Bay. However, the front office did little to improve an offense lacking game-breakers and a team that had to rally furiously to finish 8-8."
 

vechenzo

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These magazines and a lot of people, sadly judge next season solely on the last season, without looking much into whats happened in the offseason or they look at last season in general... i.e.. they see the bears were in the superbowl and the packers didnt make the playoffs, what they dont look at is the bears' unpredictable quarterback play barely got them there and they probably wont carry the same luck. Whereas the packers may have finished 8-8 but they ended on a 4 game winning streak, not only did they win 4 games, but they played extremely well. These picks are nothing more than a one dimensional look, rather generic actually, at the overall scheme of things. To get a more accurate prediction they will need to break it down a bit more.
 

DoddPower

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I think those are pretty accurate statements, especially to someone who doesn't stay totally updated on Packer news. I think it would take some MAJOR improvement for us to win our division . . . but it COULD happen. Who knows, with the loss of Tank and hopefully a few other things, maybe that invincible Bears defense won't be able to carry them as well this year??


I think if we added one, maybe even two more KEY players, we have a shot. But it won't be easy . . . far from it.
 

nathaniel

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The Lions do look like they've added some offensive pieces. Kitna has guaranteed that the Lions will win 10 games. I don't see the Lions winning 10 games, but if things click early for them on offense, they could start creeping up. I keep going over the Packers' schedule trying to make a prediction as far as our record for 2007, and I'm having a hard time. Last year it was easier to gauge(i said we'd be 7-9, and we were 8-8), because the room for improvement was obvious. This year is a little harder. 2nd in the division is more than doable, but other than that, it's hard to see where the improvement will come from. I'm not at all saying we won't be better. I'm just saying that we all KNEW our defense would be much better last year than in 2005. We knew 4-12 wasn't going to happen two years in a row. 2nd in the division is a safe bet for people who don't want to bet against Favre, and for people who aren't sure about any improvement over last year.
 

JbShell

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I wouldnt underestimate the lionms either. They may have a whole lot of offense this year.
Key for the Pack is being able to score enough points to let a young and fast defense pin its ears back and go after it. If D goes into a mode where they are behind i dont know what the complection will b
 

warhawk

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I think we have a couple of things working over the Bears.

First is history. For whatever reason and regardless of how much stake you put in history being the SB runnerup does not bode well for teams. They just don't climb the mountain and attain what they had done previously very often.

Secondly, I think we have a group of guys that believe in one another and will do what it takes for the team. Some might consider this a croc but I don't. Every team will go thru the season and at some point will hit a rough patch. It happened to Indy last year. Hell, for a while there they didn't look like they would even make the playoffs.

We will hit a rough patch at some point. Maybe even right out of the blocks with the schedule being what it is. The Bears will hit a rough spot as well. With all of the in-fighting and crap going on over there it will be interesting to see how they fare when times get tough.

They say maybe we were lucky to get to 8-8 but I really don't buy that. I felt we lost a few we should have won but remember no games that we were on the lucky end of a victory. I think we earned our wins. If anything it should not have come down to winning the last four. We gave away our share earlier.

Chicago on the other hand may want to hold their breath on this subject though because I watched a few games they pulled right out of their butts. It's years like this, after making it to the SB, that teams like this find themselves on the other end of the stick in those games.

I don't buy Detroit passing us either. These guys fall in love with draft picks and how well teams appeared to do in the draft and go overboard on what that means the next year. The six to eight young guys we had out there last year that should contribute at a higher level this season will offset anything Detroit has done.

I see the Pack taking the North in a dogfight. When it really gets down to it BF will lead the Pack there vs. Rex who does not have that ability to pull the team up like Favre.

Rex is out there to not screw it up and lose the game and BF is a fearless leader. Big difference.
 

MassPackersFan

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I think those are pretty accurate statements, especially to someone who doesn't stay totally updated on Packer news. I think it would take some MAJOR improvement for us to win our division . . . but it COULD happen. Who knows, with the loss of Tank and hopefully a few other things, maybe that invincible Bears defense won't be able to carry them as well this year??


I think if we added one, maybe even two more KEY players, we have a shot. But it won't be easy . . . far from it.

Yeah, Tank, and they just extended Vasher's contract, so a lot of Bears fans think Tillman is gone. Supposedly it was one or the other, for money reasons? I don't know.
Then you have Briggs being generally pissed off all the time.
 

cheesey

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Well......just like us, they are guessing. No one knows for certain how it will all end.
I of course have high hopes for the Pack!
 

tromadz

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the bears situation is funny cuz Tillman > Vasher

no tank

no DC (well they got a new one)

Briggs situation

grossman


they will very possibly suck as a team this year.
 

cheesey

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the bears situation is funny cuz Tillman > Vasher

no tank

no DC (well they got a new one)

Briggs situation

grossman


they will very possibly suck as a team this year.
I wouldn't be too broken up if they do suck! :thumbsup:
 

bozz_2006

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DoddPower said:
I think those are pretty accurate statements, especially to someone who doesn't stay totally updated on Packer news. I think it would take some MAJOR improvement for us to win our division . . . but it COULD happen. Who knows, with the loss of Tank and hopefully a few other things, maybe that invincible Bears defense won't be able to carry them as well this year??


I think if we added one, maybe even two more KEY players, we have a shot. But it won't be easy . . . far from it.

Yeah, Tank, and they just extended Vasher's contract, so a lot of Bears fans think Tillman is gone. Supposedly it was one or the other, for money reasons? I don't know.
Then you have Briggs being generally pissed off all the time.

For some reason, a Lance Briggs who is generally pissed off scares me. If he stays with the Bears, he will REALLY have something to prove this season. he could A) have a career year to help him solidify a fat paycheck next season, or he could B) play tentatively so as to not get hurt and/or **** the Bears over. I'm hoping for scenario B
 

warhawk

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I really do not blame Briggs for being pissed in this position. He certainly has had more than one good season at a low pay grade to ask for more now.

This is not like the J. Walker deal when he was paid big bucks on the front end when did not produce but wanted his contract redone after one good season.

For what Briggs has done he has been the bargain of the century for the Bears. He looks over and see's Barnett's deal redone. I bet that stuck in his craw.
 

bozz_2006

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i never really thought too much about it before the whole Briggs thing went down, but a player who expects to be a free agent really could get ****** by being tagged as the franchise player.
 
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First is history. For whatever reason and regardless of how much stake you put in history being the SB runnerup does not bode well for teams. They just don't climb the mountain and attain what they had done previously very often.

Great point you bring up warhawk, 5 of the last 6 Supberbowl runner-ups haven't even made the playoffs the next year.

The Bears certainly have had developments that don't bode well for them. They are weak at the DT spot (the only DT with experience is a DT from San Fran that lost his starting job last year), there are questions at LB, and a report of other players wanting out.

I think the Packers will need to get off to a good start early. If we can do that, I think the improvement in the latter half of the season will be enough to allow us to contend with the Bears for the Division crown.
 

nathaniel

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all about da packers said:
First is history. For whatever reason and regardless of how much stake you put in history being the SB runnerup does not bode well for teams. They just don't climb the mountain and attain what they had done previously very often.

Great point you bring up warhawk, 5 of the last 6 Supberbowl runner-ups haven't even made the playoffs the next year.

The Bears certainly have had developments that don't bode well for them. They are weak at the DT spot (the only DT with experience is a DT from San Fran that lost his starting job last year), there are questions at LB, and a report of other players wanting out.

I think the Packers will need to get off to a good start early. If we can do that, I think the improvement in the latter half of the season will be enough to allow us to contend with the Bears for the Division crown.

An early good start is definitely necessary. No more of these 1-4 starts. But playing Phila and San Diego early makes me a little nervous. At least we finally have the Eagles in Lambeau.
 

Greg C.

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Predicting Bears first, Pack second is the safe and reasonable thing to do. I think it is worth noting that NONE of these people has picked the Vikings to finish higher than third.

I think the Bears will still be solid on defense because they have good depth. The wild card for them is Rex Grossman. Last year they made it all the way to the Super Bowl with this inexperienced QB playing atrociously at times. If Grossman improves, as he should, that should cancel out whatever losses they may have on defense, and the Bears will be a major force once again. But if Grossman does not improve, things will get ugly in Chicago. There will be backbiting, finger-pointing, etc. I think it's more likely that Grossman will improve, but I hope I'm wrong about that.
 

nathaniel

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Greg C. said:
Predicting Bears first, Pack second is the safe and reasonable thing to do. I think it is worth noting that NONE of these people has picked the Vikings to finish higher than third.

I think the Bears will still be solid on defense because they have good depth. The wild card for them is Rex Grossman. Last year they made it all the way to the Super Bowl with this inexperienced QB playing atrociously at times. If Grossman improves, as he should, that should cancel out whatever losses they may have on defense, and the Bears will be a major force once again. But if Grossman does not improve, things will get ugly in Chicago. There will be backbiting, finger-pointing, etc. I think it's more likely that Grossman will improve, but I hope I'm wrong about that.

I just read in Street & Smith's Football Preview that an anonymous division rival said GB's front line on defense is as good as Chicago's. That kind of surprised me. I do believe that our defense is one that could definitely dominate, but it was just weird to me that someone would compare the two like that.

Oh yeah...I just looked through Street & Smith's Football Preview from last year...I forgot who they picked to go to the Super Bowl...Carolina and Denver! Ha! They didn't even make the playoffs!
 

retiredgrampa

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I know all players would love to have a big contract but I don't fully understand how they can be too pi$$ed at being tagged and being FORCED to play for "only" $7mil or so a year. So next year he gets tagged again and is FORCED to play for "only" $8mil. Yeah, that's tough! And, I believe, both are fully guaranteed. No, what these guys want is 6 yrs at $70mil with only $20mil guaranteed. Somehow they feel safer even though most of the money may never be seen. Cry me a river.
 

Packnic

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Bears are in turmoil right now.

coming off a Super Bowl loss, never a good thing for the coming season.

I honestly am not that scared of the bears this year.... With our front line, and cornerbacks...ol Rexy will have a hard time completing a pass this year against us. i mean they lost a very good running back and went to the one back thing this year.... they still have rex grossman, and they still dont have a reciever worth a plug nickel... haha plug nickel.

Minnesota is gonna have a weak offense, and the same defense... i mean its not crazy to say we win the North this year.

its not often i get to say this but.... Detroit may be the hardest obstacle this year for us.
 

digsthepack

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I think we will be in a fight for the division with Chicago. And, I hate to say it, Grossman will become the player he always should have been (barring all those injuries) this season.
 

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