Who wins the Division Title

[tarkenton10]

I have read so much about the Vikings being better and I think the team has vastly improved their talent on D so my question is this - I have come from a big Viking fans site and they are thinking we are going to win this division and I think so too. BUT WHAT DO YOU GUYS REALLY THINK ABOUT THE DIVISION? If you look at all the teams it should come down to two teams again, us and you guys. The Lions embarrassed themselves last week, I know it isn't the regular season and I am sure the Lions will make a better showing when the games start counting but I don't see them competing this year. The Bears have a great D but Grossman is gone and they weren't that good on O to begin with. That leaves the Vikes and the Pack. I think you guys got a great new D coordinator and that could be the wild card. You guys really haven't gotten any better talent wise so your D coordinator is your only improvement. While we have been infused with talent on the defensive side of the ball that is only on paper and we have to wait to see if they can gel as a unit. I think the vikes go 10-6 and win the division and GB goes 9-7 or 8-8 and fights for a wild card. What do you guys think?

 

[PWT36]

Tarkenton10--Your assessment was fairly good except for the last part of your posting. With healthy Packer team, they beat The Viking twice last year. Infusing a lot of free agents, as you said, on paper looks good ,but like the Washington Redskins found out a few years ago, it does not alway blend together. Don't you and your fellow Viking fans count out Farve and the Packers before the real games start. The Packers might just surprise you. It is The Packers finishing in first place for the 4th time in a row in the NFC North. until the Vikings prove they can put a whole good season together with out Moss.

 

[King Wayne]

sharper=infused with talent. haha (you will curse the GM for this blunder). You picked up a liability. Minns WRs suck (No more triple coverage), their line isnt great, their best rb cant stay healthy, LBs???, two undersized cbs. And you think a 34 yeor 320lb lineman is going to change things from last year? Probably not.
Packers have improved at safety and LB and hopefully Bates decides to play to his players strengths. The vikings always fall flat on their faces and I blame tice, who is still there.
The packers never live up to potential (I blame slowik and rossley).
Its a tossup....
remember.. the viking were one of the few teams with a worse d than the packers last year.

note. I know you picked up harris too, but he is completely unproven.

 

[Zero2Cool]

Packers

 

[TOPackerFan]

I think the wildcard is the loss of Birk. He is probably the Queens' best lineman and he will be missed more than people think. I see it as a one game difference with the Pack going 10-6 or 11-5 and the Queens going 9-7 or 10-6.

Neither the Lions nor the Bears have anyone at QB so I'm not too worried about them, at least for another year or so.

 

[Robin Yount]

Tarkenton,

Honestly it could go either way between our two teams. I agree with you that your D has to gel, but I have never been a fan of the generality made by some packer fans that because the Redskins failed with a large FA class so will the Vikes. Your D stunk last year and if you finish 5-8 spots higher in the D rankings it will help your team and make our rivalry even closer. Don't expect a top 10 D though.

Just don't take the homerism of posters like King Wayne too seriously. Remember you are at a hardcore Packer web site. :wink:

 

[Robin Yount]

ToPack,

Not to make Tarkenton's argument for him, but remember Birk missed most of last year for the Vikes and returned only to get his *** kicked by Grady in the 2nd loss. I think Birk's loss will not have a devasting impact on the Queens as much as people think.

Tice's Brilliance and their lack of RB consistency is a Powerful Gift for the Pack.

 

[TOPackerFan]

Birk didn't miss most of the year last year, he missed a couple of games. He's gone for the season this year so I think there will be a bigger impact than most say.

The Pack and the Vikes are in similar situations. The O for each team will be worse (I don't care what the "experts" say, losing Randy Moss will hurt) and each team's D will be better. The real question is by how much will each team's O drop off - not much IMO as each should still be a top 10 O, and by how much will each team's D improve - I think these two Ds will be pretty close in the final standings. Since we beat them by 2 games last year, I'm saying we take the division again, though maybe only by a game this time.

 

[HatestheEagles084]

in my honest unbiased opinion...its the vikings division to lose--whether or not that means they will win the division in '05 remains to be seen, considering the vikings did in fact LOSE the division late in the season the last two years...the packers still contend tor a wild card in a very...lackluster NFC

 

[Robin Yount]

ToPack,

Birk started 11 games for the Queens. However you look at it that is a decent chunk of games missed. I do agree with you that the Vikes are definitely better with him than without him.

 

[PackerChick]

I have read so much about the Vikings being better and I think the team has vastly improved their talent on D so my question is this - I have come from a big Viking fans site and they are thinking we are going to win this division and I think so too. BUT WHAT DO YOU GUYS REALLY THINK ABOUT THE DIVISION? If you look at all the teams it should come down to two teams again, us and you guys. The Lions embarrassed themselves last week, I know it isn't the regular season and I am sure the Lions will make a better showing when the games start counting but I don't see them competing this year. The Bears have a great D but Grossman is gone and they weren't that good on O to begin with. That leaves the Vikes and the Pack. I think you guys got a great new D coordinator and that could be the wild card. You guys really haven't gotten any better talent wise so your D coordinator is your only improvement. While we have been infused with talent on the defensive side of the ball that is only on paper and we have to wait to see if they can gel as a unit. I think the vikes go 10-6 and win the division and GB goes 9-7 or 8-8 and fights for a wild card. What do you guys think?

Guess I could agree with you. :-?

 

[calicheesehead]

We'll see. The Vikes O has gotten a bit worse yet their D has seen improvement. Our O maybe the same, if the OL gels, otherwise the loss of Birk, your RB's and Moss, I think the Vikes O took more of a hit than ours. Our D isn't any worse than last year, and hopefully better, we'll see. The Bears will be in the basement again and Lions looked absolutely horrific last week but will manage to be better than the Bears. It will be another battle between GB and MIN. GB will squeak by after another late season collapse by MIN. Who knows, we'll all just have to wait and see.

 

[PackerTraxx]

Packers.

 

[Obi1]

I suspect thae Vikings will finish 7 games behind the division winning Packers.

 

[all about da packers]

Wow Obi1, thats a heck of a claim. I hope you are right though! :twisted:

 

[Bruce]

in my honest unbiased opinion...its the vikings division to lose--whether or not that means they will win the division in '05 remains to be seen, considering the vikings did in fact LOSE the division late in the season the last two years...the packers still contend tor a wild card in a very...lackluster NFC

The Packers have won 3 straight division titles. They are the only team to ever win a North Division title.

One NEVER concedes the title. If a team wants to try and take it a way they will have to earn it.

The Packers are top dog in this division and remain so until someone proves different -- That is my honest unbiased opinion...PERIOD!

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[ORRELSE]

I think the Vikings will take it handily. That being said--I agree with a previous poster about Sharper. He'll be replaced at some point in the season. Our defense here in GB got better just by him leaving.
This Packer team is a mystery to me, we could finish 10-6 or 6-10, I'm stumped. I think the defense will be better and the offense will struggle a bit. They'll still score some points but it won't be as good as last year.
I hate Minnesota but Culpepper is just too good.

 

[Philtration]

We'll see. The Vikes O has gotten a bit worse yet their D has seen improvement. Our O maybe the same, if the OL gels, otherwise the loss of Birk, your RB's and Moss, I think the Vikes O took more of a hit than ours. Our D isn't any worse than last year, and hopefully better, we'll see. The Bears will be in the basement again and Lions looked absolutely horrific last week but will manage to be better than the Bears. It will be another battle between GB and MIN. GB will squeak by after another late season collapse by MIN. Who knows, we'll all just have to wait and see.

I don't see the Lions being better than the Bears. The Bears have a great defense and a very good running game and that means holding on to the ball. The Lions have a week defense and Harrington has never matured into the QB that they had hoped for. You can have 15 great receivers but it won't matter if they are watching the other teams offense from the sidelines all of the time.

 

[ORRELSE]

The Lions have a week defense and Harrington has never matured into the QB that they had hoped for. You can have 15 great receivers but it won't matter if they are watching the other teams offense from the sidelines all of the time.

I don't buy that. Case in point the 2004 Packers and Vikings. Good offenses, BAD defenses. Harrington will have a QUICK hook this year now that Garcia is there. Garcia can definitely get that offense to click. They have some downright serious weapons, and its not all receivers. The Jones kid at RB is going to be a beast.

I'm sorry but I see the Packers and the Bears fighting for last, and I give the edge to the Pack to finish 3rd because we can surely outscore the Bears offense if we don't give the ball away.

 

[arrowgargantuan]

Garcia isn't scaring anybody..he would be lethal if receivers could field ground balls though. Jones is a champ though.

 

[Philtration]

The Lions have a week defense and Harrington has never matured into the QB that they had hoped for. You can have 15 great receivers but it won't matter if they are watching the other teams offense from the sidelines all of the time.

I don't buy that. Case in point the 2004 Packers and Vikings. Good offenses, BAD defenses. Harrington will have a QUICK hook this year now that Garcia is there. Garcia can definitely get that offense to click. They have some downright serious weapons, and its not all receivers. The Jones kid at RB is going to be a beast.

I'm sorry but I see the Packers and the Bears fighting for last, and I give the edge to the Pack to finish 3rd because we can surely outscore the Bears offense if we don't give the ball away.

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[Roadrunner]

I think tark's assessment is pretty fair; the top team will finish 10-6, the second 9-7. Which is the Packers and which is the Vikings is a toss-up. On both teams a lot depends upon which offensive and/or defensive lines gel--and that can only come with consistently playing together, and can only be well assessed after a few games. The Vikings have a habit of falling apart as the season draws to a close and it remains to be seen if they can overcome that.

 

[GakkofNorway]

lol, with the opponents the Vikings are playing against this year they could quickly end up with a 7 - 9 season, especially with Tice as headcoach!

 

[tarkenton10]

I see you guys are very similar to our site. Most people have a good insight to their team and their biggest rival for the North title. And some, who's opinion are very clouded by their allegiance to their team. I think again this year the biggest question mark on both teams is how will the defenses respond to our new assests that were brought in this offseason. How will our new players gel on D and how will your D respond to your new D coordinator. How fast can your D pick up his system. I think once again our offenses are very similar and will score points. I like your Offense a little better but I think our D will be a little better than yours. Should be a very exciting your in the NFC North. Good luck Fudgepackers!! Had to get that one in because of all the queeny references!! Good posts everyone, thanks for the insight!!

 

[tarkenton10]

And you guy sare very accurate about Tice, he is a major liability. He needs to coach better or this will be his final year. One more late season collapse and he is out on his keester!!!