Three teams had a big advantage last year, having the Lions in their division. The Lions, to give them a little credit, actually had some close inter-divisional games. Against the Vikings in particular, where they lost the two matchups by a total of only 6 points (two of those points were on the infamous Orlovsky safety… d’oh!)


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The Bears look to have made the biggest single step forward with the trade that has seen Jay Cutler arrive in Chi-town. Cutler would represent an upgrade to most teams, but is a massive step up for the Bears. Instead of just setting the expectation for their QB just to not lose the game, they have one that can win them. They still need some upgrades at certain positions, but if they had one main area to be addressed… it was QB, and they’ve sorted that.

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The Vikings are – apparently – looking at Brett Favre, but I refuse to talk about him any more than that. With him in or out, the situation at QB is still not really very good. Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels won’t put the safeties on their back feet too much. “All Day” Adrian Peterson is a star at running back, but the receving core looks weak.

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Lions aside, the Packers were the disappointment of last season. They were strongly placed for a good run, and Aaron Rodgers played some great games in the first half, including a memorable debut that included a Lambeau Leap. But after going into the bye-week at 4-3, November and December just fell apart and they finished a very disappointing 6-10.
However, apart from the blowout against the Saints, they lost five games by 4 points or less and another two in OT. This was a team an inch from being 10-6 or better.
The Pack have made a lot of coaching changes on defence and are also moving to a 3-4 scheme, so it might take them a few weeks to settle down. How quickly they adapt will be important, especially as they face the Bears in week one.

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The Lions.. **sigh**. What can we say about the Lions? Just that personally, I don’t think they were 0-16 bad last season, and they’ll be better next. I see them at 5-11 with a couple of the victories coming in division. Stafford probably won’t start initially, but we’re sure to see him at some point. It’ll be interesting to see if Foote makes a difference on the D. He’s gone from top to bottom, and there’s a story there that’s worth following.

This is a really tough division to call, and there is little to chose between the top 3. Each month I’ll probably swap with each other, but for now I’m giving the Bears the narrow edge over the Packers and the Vikings.

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