The first week of the preseason is behind us, but there's still a ways to go before the Packers (and their divisional foes) have their rosters set for opening day. Let's take a look around the NFC North at some of the recent news for each team.

Chicago Bears

The Bears played the Carolina Panthers in week one of the preseason, losing 23-13. They took a 10-6 lead into the locker room at halftime before being outscored 17-6 after the break.

-The first-team offense didn't show a whole lot of spark, but there was a bright spot in rookie running back David Montgomery, who carried three times for 16 yards and a touchdown and caught an additional three balls for 30 yards. The billing on Montgomery coming out of college was that he could be a versatile playmaker, and it's looking as though the Bears are going to get him involved in the offensive game plan however they can. Between him and Tarik Cohen, the Bears could have a pretty dynamic backfield on their hands.

-The Bears were one of the NFL's least-injured teams in 2018, but they may have suffered a bit of a blow to their offense yesterday in practice. Wide receiver Anthony Miller was carted off the practice field with a foot injury. Any time you see the cart come out, it's not good news, but head coach Matt Nagy seemed to think it wasn't serious. We'll see what the official medical report is later this week. 

-Keeping an eye on the kickers: Elliott Fry was the better player in the Bears' first preseason game, hitting a 43-yard field goal, while his competition Eddy Pineiro was one for two, missing a 48-yarder but connecting on a 23-yarder. Still too early to say who the Bears will have at the kicker spot come the regular season, but safe to say they're hioping to avoid another double doink situation.

Detroit Lions

The Lions suffered a 31-3 spanking in their preseason opener against the defending champion New England Patriots. 

-The Lions allowed a total of nine sacks in the game, and had just 21 net passing yards (80 yards lost in sacks from the 101 total passing yards by backup quarterbacks Tom Savage and David Fales). It was a brutal offensive showing for the Lions, who didn't get on the board with a field goal until the final minutes of the game. This was an absolute thumping, and while it's good to get your stinkers out of the way in the preseason, even for an early August contest without Matt Stafford this had to have Lions fans concerned about their depth situation.

-Wide receiver Jermaine Kearse broke his leg on the fifth play of the game, and the Lions ultimately placed him on injured reserve Saturday. It's a big blow to the receiver depth on the team, a position that's already not exactly a spot of strength for the Lions.

-Primary backup Tom Savage also suffered a concussion in the first half, his third in four years. Coach Matt Patricia did not have any answers for how long Savage would be sidelined. It is telling, though, that the team signed journeyman backup Josh Johnson yesterday. 

Minnesota Vikings

The Packers' rivals to the west notched a 35-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints in the first week of preseason. 

-An interesting tidbit: Kirk Cousins was the only NFC North starting QB to play at all in the first week of the preseason. He looked sharp in the Vikings' new offensive system, going 4/4 for 65 yards and a touchdown before being promptly pulled. The Vikings looked about as sharp with their first-team offense as one could hope for (if one were a Vikings fan) coming out of the offseason.

-The Vikings also had quite a few role players make a positive impact, including some who could be on the roster bubble. Mike Boone and Ameer Abdullah both broke off long runs. De'Angelo Henderson had a solid outing at tailback. Backup QB Kyle Sloter went 6/7 for 62 yards and a touchdown. Hercules Mata'afa made a striking impression as a disruptive player on defense. 

-The big area of concern for the Vikings coming out of the game was the staggering 13 penalties they committed. The level of concern here will likely be relatively low for the Vikings, as early August football tends to be sloppy. But it is something the team will need to address immediately.

As always in early August, it's far too soon to tell how the division will stack up this season. But everyone (ok, well, maybe everyone except the Lions) in the division has some positives to take away from their first live game action of the year.