Around the NFC North - Week 8

Things are tightening up in the NFC North, so we've got you covered again on the matchups everyone else in the division will face.

Around the NFC North Week 8

Things got a little tighter in the NFC North last weekend, as the Minnesota Vikings finally lost (a 21-10 defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles), while both the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions won. The Packers have an interesting game against the Atlanta Falcons which we’ll be talking about Thursday and Friday here at CHTV, but now more than ever Packers fans need to keep an eye on the opposition in the division.

Detroit Lions at Houston Texans

The NFL is a funny thing. You can be on a three-game win streak and still end up the underdog, just like the Detroit Lions.

Then again, when every one of those three wins were come from behind affairs, Vegas doesn’t give you the benefit of the doubt. Same thing when you keep struggling on the road (the Lions are 1-3 so far away from home).

The Lions defense continues to be shaky, though they have done a fair job of buckling down near the end of games. They face Houston tire fire – I mean quarterback – Brock Osweiler, who has looked like a $72 million boondoggle right about now with a 58.2 percent completion percentage and an 8:8 touchdown:interception ratio. If the Lions defense was more consistent, we’d feel better about them facing Osweiler but they aren’t and he is coming off an embarrassing effort against his old Denver Broncos teammates.

Texans fans aren’t feeling good about it though.

As poor as Osweiler has played, Matt Stafford has done well. Over the past three games he has thrown eight touchdowns and he only has one pick all season long. It seems as though he and Golden Tate are finally on the same page while Marvin Jones has been very consistent so far this season.

One might think the Texans defense is a challenge for the Lions, but the last month has shown that not to be the case, as Houston has been outscored 101-75 during that stretch. We’re not used to the Texans allowing that many points, and it’s fair to say the only reason they are leading the AFC South is because the AFC South is terrible. They’ve allowed 37 more points scored on them then the offense has scored.

Prediction: Texans 24, Lions 21 - This is a tough one to read, as both teams have been really bad at times this season. I wonder if the beating the Texans took at the hands of the Broncos will spur them on and the home crowd get Osweiler going. This mess could go either way, but I guess I don’t buy the Lions yet.

Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears

Any Packers fan would love to see the Bears come away with this game, but can anyone really feel that is likely to happen?

The Bears get Jay Cutler back and he’s about as enthusiastic as you expect him to be.

"He doesn't have a choice, I guess, at this point," Cutler said. "Brian is out, so I've got to go."

Yay team?

He’s facing an awfully tough defense which gave the Vikings many chances to beat the Eagles last week, almost none of which the offense could capitalize on. We’ll talk about why in a minute, but from a matchup point of view, this is the worst possible time to come back into the lineup for Cutler.

He may not last the first quarter.

Back to the Vikings offense, the offensive line has once again become a huge issue. I’ll be breaking it down for Football Insider on Thursday and examined some of the issues for Pro Football Weekly on Monday, but long story/short: the offensive line is bad.

It’s going to be tough to fix it mid-season, too, as they found out when Jake Long came in and pretty much laid an egg. More blocking tight ends? More use of fullback Zach Line or Matt Asiata?

The Eagles didn’t even half to blitz to get pressure on quarterback Sam Bradford. They just came into the backfield at will.

Luckily the Bears defense isn’t good, ranked 18 against the pass and 20 against the run according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric. They are middle of the road in number of sacks with 15, and that number will go up this week if the last game was any indicator of what to expect from the Vikings line.

That said, this is a really good matchup for the Vikings offense, which should bounce back against a struggling Bears defense.

Prediction: Vikings 31, Bears 13 – This should look a lot like the win over the Texans for the Vikings, as the Bears offense is poor and the defense is lackluster. If there is one X-factor which could easily screw this prediction up, it’s that offensive line. If the Vikings cannot find a way to stop the bleeding—which they could only do near the end of the game last week when the Eagles relaxed a bit—this game and many coming up could go sideways in a hurray.

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Comments (15)

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PortlandMark's picture

October 26, 2016 at 10:24 pm

The Bears pick up some winning mojo from the Cubs and beat the Vikings this weekend.

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Samson's picture

October 26, 2016 at 10:38 pm

The Vikings looked pretty shaky against the Feagles but just like the Bears solved a few problems for the Pack, the Vikings will eat up the Bears. --- Both the Lions & Texans deserve to have losing records. -- Both are really boring teams.

If Ryan to Julio clicks on Sunday, the Pack may be in trouble.

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 27, 2016 at 06:50 am

Is there a much worse QB signing then Brock Osweiler?

I brought it up in the off season but if teams are desperate enough to give a contract like the Texans did to Brock, then there will be a team willing to give up a 1st round draft pick for Brett Hundley (assuming he continues his upward trajectory).

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rdent's picture

October 27, 2016 at 10:36 am

Upward trajectory? When was the last time Hundley took a snap in a game?

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

October 27, 2016 at 02:14 am

Off topic, but congratulations to Davante Adams for being named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for week 7!

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 27, 2016 at 06:41 am

Adams is just the Packers 2nd WR to win the award in the last 15 years. Considering all the WR's the Packers have had in the last 15 years, its a bit surprising.
Greg Jennings was the other.

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NickPerry's picture

October 27, 2016 at 07:10 am

It is surprising, especially with the games Nelson and Cobb has had over the years and Jennings before he left. I wonder how much of that was because they had "Aaron Rodgers" throwing the Football to them, in other words they SHOULD have great games? No Matter congrats to Adams, he deserved the award this past week!

Be nice if just once Cutler played well. The Bears are at home, it's a division game, and the Bears CAN pressure the CB. If the Bears can put a pounding on Bradford he just might continue to be the QB we've watched for the last "Several Years", not the last "Few Games".

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Razer's picture

October 27, 2016 at 07:30 am

I agree Nick. I am hoping that the Bears play an inspired game. The Vikings and Lions are the danger in this division so taking down the Vikes is good medicine.

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dobber's picture

October 27, 2016 at 08:16 am

As someone who lives in the Detroit media market, I think the Lions are turning out to be what I thought they would be: a team that's going to end up diversifying its offense (at least in terms of targets...the run game has not been much) enough to score points to be in most of its games. The question is whether or not they'll play enough defense to win more than 6 games. I thought they could be an 8-8 team if things broke right for them.

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Bohj's picture

October 27, 2016 at 08:50 am

NP,
I think Bradford gets a bad rap for the wrong reasons. He's not the best QB anyone has ever seen, but he does take care of the football and seems to make the right reads. The only reason he doesn't have the stats at this point in his career is because he blew out his acl. And then when he came back, he blew his other acl. And by the time he was healthy enough to play and earn experience.... He was traded to a Chip Kelly spread offense which had no business operating with a pocket passer. We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss his ability. He's done a lot with a little on this Viking offense. Zero Oline, taking hits like crazy, and no AP. It's not his ability that will limit him, it's the other pieces around him.

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EdsLaces's picture

October 27, 2016 at 07:59 am

Sooooo....CJ Spiller is available.

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 27, 2016 at 08:13 am

In all honesty. He would be a perfect fit to run the offense the Packers just ran against the Bears.
I get that they have Montgomery to use that way, but Spiller would allow them to stay in that offense all game if they wanted. It would help keep Montgomery fresh.

That being said, I would be surprised if they went after him.

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dobber's picture

October 27, 2016 at 08:18 am

Admittedly, the Seattle run game hasn't been up to it's 'beast-mode' standards this season, but the fact that they cut him loose when they're relying on Christine Michael and a bunch of nobody's (and injuries) and he couldn't provide enough value to stick and contribute there is telling.

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RCPackerFan's picture

October 27, 2016 at 08:43 am

I honestly don't think Spiller is a fit for their offense. What Seattle's team was built on was smash mouth football. Great defense, strong running game. Spiller just didn't fit in their offense.

Spiller is a different type of RB. He is a perfect fit for the offense the Packers ran against the Bears. A single RB in the spread. Allowing him to use his speed and receiving ability.
If the Packers chose to run their offense this way the rest of the year, Spiller could be a really good player to pair with Montgomery.

This all being said, I still don't see the Packers going after him.

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Handsback's picture

October 27, 2016 at 09:11 am

I'm having trouble picturing Davis running out of the Packer's backfield with much success. The reason for that is he's a one cut and go RB. Perfect for the Packers, yet he doesn't seem to know where the holes are/will be in the cutback lanes. That being said...neither does Starks, at least the Starks from the past two years. So if he's as effective as Starks, is that good enough? Would a rookie be better? Will Monty be better than both?

What I do know is that Green Bay vs. Atlanta will be one hell of a game. Or it should be if Rodgers shows up.

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