Vikings v Lions Recap

Well that sucked. It is hard to quantify if that was an exciting game to watch (some big plays, momentum swings, overtime, etc.) or one of the ugliest games ever witnessed (7 turnovers, 16 penalties, missed opportunities and critical mistakes). Since we lost, my vote goes to ugly.

Grades...

QB (F) - sorry TJax, but that was ugly. The first drive things looked very good until the INT on 3rd and 2. From that point on I kept wanting Adam Weber to run out onto the field to lead the offense's next drive. More than anything I'm concerned with the lack of mental toughness and ability to make even 1 big play when we really needed it (and there were multiple opportunities). 1 play could have won the game for us.

RB (B+) - I wanted to see a point when as a team we just decided to dominate the line of scrimmage and run, run, run the ball. We obviously didn't but I put that on the coaches. Purple Jesus and MeMo both did a solid job running the ball and were even better after catching the ball. AP's catch and run to the goalline where he broke 4 tackles was very impressive. No TDs and no 100 yd performance keeps this in the B range.

WR (C) - It is hard to fault them for anything as the passing game was handicapped by the QB not the receivers. This is a hard group to grade.

OL (C-) - TJax had a little too much pressure and I never saw a time when we controlled the line of scrimmage. I expected more from this group in Week 2.

Overall Offense (D+) - AP and MeMo looked good but the rest was anywhere from below average to horribly bad. Ford Field is not that tough of a place to play and the Lion's D isn't exactly the steal curtain. If we get knocked off our game plan and appear rattled on Ford Field, how are we going to respond to Lambau, Soldier, Cowboy Stadium or Mile High (in Dec)?

DBs (B-) - gave up a lot of yards but they threw the ball 56 times. 3 picks, some very hard hits and helped keep the Lions to 4/13 on 3rd down. Things could have been much worse, the Lions are going to rack up yards on most defenses they see. On a related note I am impressed with McCauley, that kid will be just fine.

LB (B-) - stuffed the run as expected helping to keep them under 60 yards. My biggest complaint is they had difficulty getting to Kitna on the blitz. With 56 pass attempts and the amount of blitzing we did I would have liked to see Greenway or EJ get a shot or two on Kitna. Not bad day, but not a great day either.

DL (B+) - 3.5 sacks, held Lions to 56 yards rushing and scored. This group has really stepped up to be what we've been asking for since 2006.

Overall Defense (B) - again, lots of yards but they did their part to put us in position to win the game. A defensive score and forcing several turnovers should be enough to beat a team like the Lions.

This was a frustrating game. When you have a chance to win a divisional road game you HAVE to take advantage. Longwell nearly bailed out an abysmal offense, but really the better team won yesterday.

I think the Lions are getting overrated quickly as people so desperately want to anoint this year's surprise team. I am on record to say it will not be the Lions. Don't forget folks they were nearly as bad as the Vikings yesterday. They made a ton of mistakes as well, managed 1 big play in OT to win it while their defense managed to stop what looks like one of the worst offenses in the league. I'm not sold on Detroit.

Fortunately the Vikings get a chance to rebound quickly. The Chiefs are not strong this year and this is another winable game.

Vikings v Lions Kool-Aided Preview (Wk 2)

Has the world gone MADD? Everybody loves the Lions. Through 1 week the Lions have become the trendy pick as the only NFC North team who can give the Bears a run for their money. Take off the Beer Goggle folks (or the Raider Goggles for that matter).



While they may appear sexy with Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson catching passes from the rejuvenated (did I just say that?) Jon Kitna. When you wake up Mon morning this will be your same old Lions team. Look past a few offensive skill position players and this is the same Lions who have lost 10 straight games to the Purple.

Let's take a look at the matchups...

Det OL vs. Min DL - advantage Minnesota (and this isn't very close)

Minnesota should be able to defend the run straight up and on 3rd & longs they'll need to get to Kitna. Stopping the run doesn't concern me at all. If we can get pressure on Kitna this game is over. If he is able to complete a high percentage of short and medium passes, then get time to look deep this could be a different story. My money is on the DL dominating. It was pointed out that the Lions OL "wore down" the Raiders last week. I don't see that being an issue as the Vikings played 8 different guys on the DL including starting the 2nd half with all 4 2nd stringers in there, these guys will remain fresh.

Det RB/TE vs. Min LBs - advantage Minnesota

I expect that Mike Martz will abandon the run early and basically use a short/quick passing game to take it's place. This will inflate the passing yardage but will still result in 3rd and longs for the Lions. That's when the pass rush will take over.

Det QB/WR vs. Min DBs - advantage Detroit (but not by much imo)

I'm not even fully convinced that this is in the Lion's favor and here is why. Our 2006 pass defense was awful! And how did Mr. Kitna do vs. this pass defense last year? 519 yards, 2 TDs and 6 INTs!!#@*! This guy threw 6 interceptions vs. MN last year. If you take away 2 garbage games to end the season last year Kitna finished with 14 TDs and 21 INTs. Those are brutal numbers, but because Roy Williams is really good, Calvin Johnson is very promising and they put up yards on the Raiders all of a sudden the Lions are a sleeper playoff team! SERENITY NOW!!

Det DBs vs. Min QB/WR - advantage Detroit (this is a pillow fight)

Tarvaris and his receiving core does not scare anybody, but this is one of the 3 keys to the game. They need to be just good enough to open up the running game.

Det LBs vs. Min RB/TE - advantage Minnesota (this is where the game will be won)

I'm assuming Chester will be playing so the combo of he and Purple Jesus will need to beat somebody. The Lions will stack the box with 8 or 9 guys. The Vikings will block 7 or8 guys, which means Chester and Purple Jesus have to make 1 guy miss. If they can do this you'll see a couple BIG plays and that will be the difference in the game.

Det DL vs. Min OL - advantage Minnesota

Dominate the line of scrimmage here and this game will not be nearly as close as the score will likely indicate. This really is tied to the LB/RB matchup above. We need to block everybody but they'll stack enough to get a 1 man advantage. The OL needs to make the right calls and block the right guys so we get a 1 on 1 with our RB and their LB/S (or whoever is up to the line). My money is on our OL cause they don't have anybody that scares me.

KEYS to the Game

1. Get to Kitna - especially on 3rd and long. If we put any pressure on him and knock him around a little bit then our DBs will make some plays. I didn't say the might make some plays or they'll have the opportunity to make the plays but the WILL make the plays.
   
2. Passing game has be be just good enough - don't make mistakes is important but I'm more interested in them making just enough big plays to open up the running game a little bit. Last week we had 1 pass greater than 15 yards (excluding the AP TD). Give me just 1 per quarter, that's all I ask.
3. RBs have to make a guy miss - They'll have holes but they will have to make 1 guy miss. I see a few big runs because AP will make a guy miss and Chester will run through guys to turn 4 yard runs into 6 all day long.

Fearless Predictions...

• Jackson has 2 TD passes and rushes for another.
  
• D Line has 3 sacks
• Minnesota wins 31-23

NFC North Offseason Needs

Here is a brief look at what Purple Kool Aid thinks are the primary needs of NFC North teams...

Chicago - This team was in the Manning Bowl so the cupboard is not exactly bare. They don't need much but they still need to improve if they want to get back to the SB and have a shot at winning it. Here are some things they need to figure out...

1. Figure out the QB situation. I know Rex was the guy that got them to XLI, but to call his play erratic is an understatement. Rex was fortunate to have his defense and Hester win games for him, over the long haul he won't be so fortunate. The Bears need him to figure things out and take 2 steps forward or they'll suffer the fate of the recent trend of SB losing teams.
2. Coaching stability - a couple days ago this was a bigger deal, but today they wrapped up Lovie to a contract extension. The departure of Rivera is kind of intersting but it will remain to be seen if that affects the defense.
3. Depth on defense - the loss of Tommie Harris and Mike Brown severely hurt their run defense. This unit was an historic unit for the first half of the year, but did enough to get by as the regular season came to a close.

Detroit - This could be a long list but I'll try to keep it brief. The problem is their weakest link is the one calling the shots in the months of February through July. As a Vikings fan I love Matt Millen but he has yet to show he can help a team to actually improve it's talent level.

1. Find a QB - Kitna was adequate as he tried to lead a losing team to not lose as much, but he clearly is not a viable long term solution. They'll have the opportunity to draft a QB with the #2 pick in the draft but they are projected to take OT Joe Thomas. This is probably a wise move but they have to figure something out for QB. Fortunately Matt Millen is around to solve this mystery.
2. Fix the Defense - While the Lions have struggled in recent years (the Millen Era) at least they used to have a feared defensive front 4. Now there is very little about the Lion's D that frightens anyone except Lion's fans. 30th in the league in points allowed and 28th in yards allowed. Ernie Simms was a nice draft pick last year and is one of the pieces that can help build this unit back to respectability. But that is one piece and Millen needs to find several more to go with him.
3. Offensive Line - We already addressed the QB situation, the WR situation is good and Kevin Jones shouldn't be judged to harshly since has no OLine. Speculation is that the Lions will draft Joe Thomas with the #2 overall pick and that should be a big step in the right direction (I wouldn't rule out a Jarrett or Ted Ginn Jr. pick there though). The trenches need to be addressed if this team wants to take any steps forward.

Green Bay - this team finished hot and now Brett Favre is energized to come back and capture that career INT record (and I think he's somewhere near some career TD record). Really though this team was very young and steadily improved over the course of the 16 games, especially the OLine. Here are the things they need to get back into the playoffs...

1. Wide Receiver - having Donald Driver is always nice but they are missing a big play guy that will open up the shorter routes for Driver and theoretically make thing easier on Favre. Rumors are now surfacing that the Pack might make a move for Randy Moss. While this is intriguing I don't know if it will be as beautiful a marriage as people think. The other wild card is Koren Robinson. Reports are that the Packers are keeping Koren on their roster and plan to utilize his talent when he is eligible to return from his NFL suspension. That is a possible dirty bomb waiting to go off.
2. Running Back - Ahman Green is an unrestricted free agent so ittle explanation is needed here. There is nothing behind Green so sign him and drafting a RB would probably be a great idea. Early Indications are that the Packers will draft Mashawn Lynch RB Cal. Lynch has some baggage but also loads of talent.
3. Quarterback - This is a skill position heavy list of needs, but Favre can't and won't play forever. Is Rogers ready to take over in 2008 or more importantly is he ready to play should Favre have to miss some time due to injury? For a team that could be in the wild card hunt losing a couple games because of an inexperienced backup QB can't happen.

Minnesota - here is a more detailed list of the Viking's needs. 6-10 was a very disappointing finish for a team that started hot and had expectations of playoffs. A team that was the best in the league against the run and was capable of running the ball should be a playoff team. But there were some problems...

1. Wide Receiver - This is slightly more of a pressing need than the Packers have. Green Bay at least has Driver, Minnesota has Troy Williamson? This is an ugly situation that doesn't look solvable in the near future. Free agency is weak but this is a WR heavy draft and that will help but the Vikings need 2 good WRs to contribute NOW. Rumors persist that the Vikings might make a move for Ashley Lelei. This is a step in the right direction but not enough, my dream is that we move up in the draft and land Calvin Johnson, but that won't happen.
2. Right side of OL - Guard and Tackle were atrocious in 2006. Youngsters Ryan Cook and Marcus Johnson will likely battle for RT, but upgrading RG would make the RT hole a bit easier to swallow. Could be a 1st day draft pick or a mid-level free agent signing to "fix" this problem.
3. Defensive End - This might be taken care of by returning Erasmus James from injury, but the pass rush was non-existent in 2006. The DT combo of the Williams brothers was easily the best in the division but the attention they require did nothing to help the outside get to the QB. Most likely scenario I predict is the Vikings use the #7 pick on DE and 2nd round pick on a WR.

Online Petition for Matt Millen

Any quick Google search will bring you to Fire Millen.com, you can buy your FireMatt gear here or you can sign an online petition to fire Millen here and here. From the perspective of a Lion's fan I can understand this desire to fire one of the few general managers in all of sports who is worse than Timberwolves VP of Basketball Kevin McHale. At least McHale has an excuse for being terrible, he cheated, was caught and lost draft picks. Maybe, the best thing that could happen to Millen would be to lose draft picks.

The evidence for Millen Mutiney is mounting. This article outlines it much better than I am able. But here are a few classic quotes from anonymous NFL executives...

"Taking a wide receiver with a top-10 pick three years in a row isn't balanced thinking. It isn't thinking at all."

"Mickey Mouse was a great comedian but you don't make him the head of the Disney Company."

"He's got the worst record in history from a general manager and he'll have that record forever," an AFC executive said this week. "No one else will ever get to have double-digit losses for six straight years. I've been in the league for over 20 years and I've never heard of a team going 23-68 without making a change in management. The only thing he's accomplished since he got to Detroit is surviving. Don't ask me how he's done it."

All of that is petty jealousy and code for this guy is awesome! Sorry Lion's fans, but this is a petition for the Lion's ownership to KEEP Matt Millen on as defacto General Manager. How can we argue with his track record? Really! Over the last 6 seasons (including 2006) the Lions are 7-30 within the NFC North (and NFC Central) .

It is almost a guaranteed 2 victories every season that Matt Millen is GM of the Motor City Kitties! Minnesota fans should be most enamored with Millen as he is 1-13 vs. the Vikings over his tenure including 10 straight losses.

It is a simple equation really. Millen stays = Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago have a much greater shot at making playoffs. Mr. Ford should do the right thing and honor his contract with Millen before caving to media pressure to can him just because the Lions are incapable of fielding a competitive team as long as he is steering the ship.

Post Game

HHH Metrodome East (aka Ford Field) was once again kind to the Vikings. As they continue their quest for the NFC Playoffs, the Vikings improved their HHH-East record to 5-0. Since moving into their shiny, new stadium the Lions have fared quite well at home considering their overall ineptitude in the last 5 seasons.

Since 2002

• Home - 16-23
• Away - 5-33
• Home vs. Chicago - 3-1 (home game pending in 2006, Go Lions!)
• Home vs. Green Bay - 2-3
• Home vs. Minnesota - 0-5

But enough about the HHH-East. I'm going to talk briefly about the Vikes then more extensively about the Lions and their brilliant GM Matt Millen.

Minnesota wins and clings to playoff hopes. It sounded as though we looked better this week but that is so hard to guage when you are playing the worst team in the league. How bad are the Lions? Well Artose Pinner had a total of 9 carries on the season, had been inactive for the past 3 weeks, and enjoyed a 125 yard - 3 TD day agains his former team.

The Defense was stingy and the offense decided to give the opponent a TD yet again. I'm not sure if they are just trying to make things more challenging for the defense or if they feel sorry for the other offense, but it has to stop. Over the last 4 weeks the team has given up 93 total points. 44 of those points (47%) were give up by the offense or special teams.

This defense has been more dominating than we realize and this offense has more holes in their feet than a Cheeshead has in their...you get the illustration.

Enough about the Vikings. Lets talk about the guy I think should be GM of the year. Lets look at Matt Millen's track record...

• 2000 - the Lions make the playoffs (Matt Millen is NOT yet GM)
• 2001 - Millen is hired as GM and team goes 9-7. Enjoy that winning season Lion's fans, MM hasn't had time to destroy your team.
• 2002-present day - Lions have gone 3-13, 5-11, 6-10, 5-11, 2-11.
• 2003-05 - 3 consecutive 1st round draft picks on a WR. 1 has been cut, 1 has been largely ineffective/inactive and the other has turned into one of the best in the NFC.
• Has guided his team to 5 consecutive years of selecting in the top 10 picks of the NFL Draft, 2 of which are no longer with the team.
• here is the grand daddy stat of them all... MM has a .323 win % as GM (.273 if you take away the 9-7 year of which he had little effect on the team).
• Former Lion Joey Harrington throws for 3 TDs vs. old team
• Former Lion Artose Pinner rushes for 3 TDs vs. old team
  

How do you fail that miserably and still keep your job? Trick question, he is the best GM in the NFC Central. Who doesn't love a guaranteed 2 wins ever year. The ONLY reason I would want the Lions to have a new GM is that the Vikings need a WR and the chances of MM taking a WR in the 1st round of the 2007 draft are 110%.

Vikings @ Lions

Vikings must win to keep playoff hopes alive.

Fortunately (and by fortunately I mean UNfortunately) Brad Johnson will be putting his hands under the arse of Birk at noon on Sunday. But I would expect that if he confuses Honolulu Blue for Viking Purple he'll quickly be putting that Reebok hat on his head instead of his helmet and we'll get to watch Jackson for an extended period of time.

The ESPN Insider scouting report says the following...

The Childress philosophy of providing an even keel and consistency, while demanding accountability, has created a locker room atmosphere that is tense and uptight, with his team playing that way.

Give me a break! So asking NFL players to act like adults and responsible citizens off the field and then also having the audacity to ask them to do their job on the field is making them tense? I feel so bad for these guys. I mean nobody likes to go to work everyday in such a stressful work environment. Playing football and collecting weekly paychecks that the average person has to work years for is tough enough. Childress is unreasonable to ask them to not make mistakes and not have sex in stairwells of popular downtown entertainment venues. I mean if he keeps this up free agents will start going to teams where sex boat cruises are acceptable behaviours.

The lockeroom is tense becaue the team is losing and the offense is terrible. Realy that is just terrible reporting by ESPN. If we win, even just last week, this lockeroom is not tense and everybody is happy.

Anyway, I don't know we'll overcome this Nazi coach with unreasonable expectations and the tense atmosphere he has created, but we will. We haven' t lost to Detroit in decades (or at least 4 years).

MN - 30 (1 offensive TD)
Det - 13 (Brad throws an INT for TD)

The Morning After...

Thank God for the defense. After 3 ugly quarters of football in which the Vikings were down 2 TDs to the Lions, I was barely able to see straight due to massive Kool Aid consumption. I woke up 3 days later with a fuzzy memory of the defense leading the way in a 23-0 4th quarter and a Vikings win.

My fact checkers then verified that yes, in deed the Vikings beat the Lions 26-17. The LB corp lead the way with a combined 2 INTs, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery and 2 TDs. Not bad for a supposed weakness on the team. The rest of the defense was not left out of this party as the DBs recored 15 (13 solo) of the team's tackles plus 1 INT and the DL had 4 different players with a sack and Pat Williams' forced fumble.

That puts the Vikes at 3-2 heading into a bye that is NOT needed as everyone on the roster is healthy. But with the offensive stagnating maybe a week off and extra days to gameplan for Seattle is just what we need to continue this playoff push.

My gameballs go to...

• All 3 starting LBs - this group alone was +3 in the turnover margin and gave us 14 points.
• The starting D-line - 4 sacks for this group is encouraging and allowed the LBs to be in coverage more often.
• Chester Taylor - 123 yards with a 4.7 average helped to keep the offense moving.

Grades

Offense (C+) - the rushing game was solid and Brad was efficient, but Detroit had given up 30+ points in each of their last 3 games. For the offense to only put up 1 TD is embarassing. I need further analysis before I determine where I'm going to lay the blame for a lack of production.
QB (B-) - Brad had only 8 incompletions on 34 attempts and did creep over the 200 yard mark. But as stated, leading us to only 1 TD drive is disappointing.
RB (A-) - Chester racked up 123 yards for his biggest output since 2004. We need more games like this for Chester.
WR/TE (C-) - Travis Taylor lead the team in receiving yards but 44 is nothing to call your mom about. Our RBs had 12 receptions which left 14 to be divided amoungst 5 other receivers. Overall this group is performing worse than expected and nobody expected much out of them. The up and coming "go to guy," Troy Williamson had 2 catches for 11 yards.
OL (B) - the group did not give up a sack and opened holes just enough for Chester to accumulate his yards. All in all not a bad day for this group but the stats hide that this was still not a dominating peformance that we expect to see from this group at somepoint.

Defense (A) - as discussed the defense won this game. In fact I would argue that the defense is 5-0 this year. Not much needs to be anylized on this side of the ball. Holding any NFL team to 8 total yards rushing is outstanding!
DL (A) - 4 sacks and a forced fumble as they dominated the line of scrimmage.
LB (A) - 2 INTs, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery and 2 TDs to put us in the lead.
DB (A) - combined for 13 solo tackles and Sharper had the game clinching INT.

Coaching (B) - well prepared and penalties were down. But a lack of creative gameplanning after the 1st drive (or lack of adjustments after initial drive) help to stagnate the offense. But the defensive coaching has been better than we could have hoped for and this unit is quietly one of the best.

3-2, heading into a tough 2 game stretch before a much easier 4 game stretch of SF, GB, Mia, AZ. I think it is realistic to say we'll be 4-2 through those 6 games. But who ever gets anywhere thinking realistic or rationally. Vikes go 6-0 and head into Chicago 9-2 where we get retribution for getting screwed at the dome.

Vikings v Lions Kool-Aided Preview

Week 5

Well, now we will find something out about this Vikings team. Chicago was a game we gave away, Buffalo was a game we didn't show up for and now we get a weak Lion's team at home. Are we going to execute and beat a team we should be at home? Or are we going to remain in this 1 week funk and give the Lions a chance to beat us for the first time in a long time. The Vikings have tames the Lions for the better part of the last decade. We are 14-2 in the last 8 years including winning the last 8 meetings. This is a game the Vikings not only have to win, but have to dominate if they want to be established as a playoff team in 2006.

The Trenches - The Lions are hit and miss along their offensive line. OG-Verba is injured and likely will not be playing but C-Raiola is decent and OG-Woody is pretty solid. But this is a matchup our D-line should win. I think Kevin Williams and Udeze have matchups they should win, while Pat Williams should win his battle on most snaps as well.

The strength of the Lions defense is their D-line. Rogers is one of the better DTs in the league and his matchup with Hicks is a big one. This could turn into a Johnson/Peppers situations if the Vikes don't help Hicks out a little bit. On the left side McKinnie vs. DE-Hall is another matchup that we need to win. There really is no excuse for our O-line to not start producing, this group is counted on to help our run game out and to date they have been disappointing.

The Pretty Boys - If I feel as though our WRs are bad, for this game I like our corp better than the Lion's WRs. After what seems like 8 years of the Lions taking a WR with their top 10 pick, they still do not have a productive group that strikes fear into opposing DBs. Roy Williams is solid, but something called Mike Furrey is no more feared than a Teletubby.

If the Vikings passing game is ever going to get going this is the week it will happen. Detroit is last in the league in pass defense. But it doesn't matter how wide open you are if you drop the ball.

Chester has a chance to be a factor but I think he production is too closely tied to the O-line so he is not a key, but could be a factor.

The Ball Hawks - As discussed Detroit's pass defense is last in the league. This is a key matchup as our WRs HAVE to find a way to be productive this week and attack their weakness. The Lion's LBs are solid and 1st round draft pick Ernie Simms is playing like a ROY candidate.

I like the matchup of our DBs vs the Detroit WRs. Like so many of our games if we can get pressure on Kitna our DBs will have a shot to create some turnovers.

Keys to the Game

1. Turnovers to TDs - The Vikings need to win the turnover battle and we have to make Detroit pay for their mistake by puting 7 points on the board instead of scoring in 3 point increments.
   
2. MN O-line - time for them to step up and earn their paychecks. The Detroit D-line is solid but a group we should beat.
   
3. WRs hang on to the ball - these guys will get open and I am confident Brad will have time, but drops are killing us and they need to stop.
4. Execute - For the first time all year the Vikings will be favored and are the more talented team, they need to execute and beat an inferior team.

Execute and Dominate that is the mantra for Sunday's game! And it would be nice to score a few TDs. I predict we score a TD on our opening drive and never look back.
MN - 27 Det - 13

2006 Detroit Lions - Kool-Aid(ed) Preview

After spending 5 straight 1st round draft picks on offensive skill position players the Lions offense was supposed to be a significant threat. The group of Harrington ('02), Kevin Jones ('04), Charlie Rogers('03), Roy Williams('04) and Mike Williams ('05) was thought to primed and ready for a breakout offensive season. Well Lions GM Matt Millen forgot 2 very important factors.

1. You need an offensive line to block and protect. Without this in place the other pieces are meaningless.
2. Joey Harrington is a bad QB. Putting your eggs in the Harrington basket is a recipe for disaster.

The Lions are finally ready to move in a new direction. Out is Harrington and former Head Coach Stever Mariuchi. In is Jon Kitna and Rod Marinelli? Talk about making the moves necessary to put people in the seats of Ford Field. I don't think you'll be seeing Kitna in "Honolulu Blue" on the cover of Madden anytime soon.

The Lions did not address any of their needs in the offseason after signing Kitna and backup QB Josh McCown (that BASTARD).

Defense ranked 21st in ppg
Offense ranked 28th in ppg

The prospects of 2006 being the first time the Lions make the playoffs since 1999 (or chances of first playoff win since 1992) seem pretty slim.

Realistic Prediction - 4-12
Purple Kool-Aid(ed) Prediction - 2-14 (who cares if they have a high draft pick, Matt McMillen won't do anything with it.)

**To both of my loyal readers I apologize for the harsh language above!

NFC North 2005 Review

5 weeks into the 2005 season the NFC North looked like they belonged in the CFL, not the NFL.

Detroit 2-2
Chicago 1-3
Minnesota 1-3
Green Bay 1-4

Week 6 is when things started to separate.

• Chicago pounced on a wounded (or was it sea sick) Vikings squad 28-3 and went on an 8 game win streak.
• Minnesota was victorious in 7 of their next 8 games to put themselves in the NFC playoff picture.
• Detroit finished 3-9 beating only Arizona, Cleveland and New Orleans to finish 5-11.
• Green Bay continued it's ineptitude finishing 4-12 which was their worst record since they tied that mark in 1991.
  

The Bears were the class of the division. Their defense was drawing comparisons to the '85 Bears and rookie QB Kyle Orton played just well enough to not lose games for them.

Overall the division was weak. Chicago finished 11-5, earned a 1st round bye and a home playoff game which they lost to the Panthers. But the Vikings were mediocre and GB/Det were 2 of the worst in the NFC.