Week 1 Shakes Up the NFC North Picture
The first week of the NFL season doesn’t tell you how successful the rest of the games will be for teams. We saw in two games – specifically the Bills/Ravens and the Bears/Vikings that the first half and he second half can have drastically different results.
Week 1 shook up the NFC North picture, with early results shifting momentum across the division. Here’s how each team looked and what it means going forward.
The first two nights had some excitement as the Eagles and Cowboys had a closer game than most thought, and the Chargers took down the Chiefs in Brazil. Floating in the middle of the NFL madness was Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers facing Justin Fields and the Jets. Quarterbacks are facing their former teams, where they spent a brief period.
The NFC North Shifted, if Only for a Week
The NFL hyped this up as a heated revenge game for both teams. It was a good game, but it didn’t quite live up to the captivation of some of the other games.
For the NFC North, the NFL was nice enough to have two division games right off the bat in their prime slots. The Packers and Lions faced off after 3 PM on Sunday, and the Vikings and Bears battled it out on Monday Night Football to give the fans a great way to start the season.
Let’s take a look at how the weekend worked out and a way-too-early look at where it puts the teams in our division.
Packers vs Lions
This game had plenty of hype based on last year’s standings, with both teams making the playoffs along with the Vikings. The Lions were coming off a great year, despite an ending marred by injuries that they eventually couldn’t overcome. The Packers were 3rd in the division in one of the toughest in the league.
The Lions had beaten the Packers at home the last few years, and they had shed their reputation as the basement dwellers of the NFC North. The NFL took the game to the next level when the Packers traded for the Cowboys’ generational player, Micah Parsons, adding significant hype to the game. Needless to say, this game was pretty much an absolute dud to watch. Not because both teams were bad, but the Lions seemed to revert to the shell of themselves.
Jordan Love had hardly any trouble making plays as Josh Jacobs seemed to run undaunted, except for some great short-yardage stops by the Lions’ front seven. After Frank Ragnow suddenly retired after the NFL Draft had already happened, and Kevin Zeitler went to the Titans, I knew that the team was going to struggle in the middle.
It showed on Sunday as they couldn’t get a good running game going with one of the best running back combos in the NFL and constant pressure up the middle. Jared Goff looked pedestrian with limited time in the pocket. Their defense seemed to match it as they didn’t stop much, and Aiden Hutchinson was a complete non-factor with zero stats.
The Packers looked really good and showed why most pundits have them winning the division. The offense has been together for a few years, with just a few additions and turnover on the offensive line. No one really blew up; rather, everyone was efficient. Jacobs had moderate numbers, as did the entire receiving core, with Jayden Reed having the most catches at 3 and Romeo Doubs having the most yards at 68. Not exactly Fantasy Football premium stats.
Parsons had some impact on the game, but not as much as the announcers were indicating, as they salivated over everything he did. He had one tackle and one sack, but he did cause some pressure on Goff. However, he wasn’t taking the game over as much as they made it sound. Packers’ fans should be happy they got him, and he will only become more of a force as the season goes on.
I just feel that as the weeks progress, the win over the Lions won’t be as shiny as it was now. I think the Lions will be taking a step back this year with the players and coordinators they lost, but I’m not counting them out in week one.
Bears vs Vikings
Vikings fans were more than hyped to see this game, as they and Bears fans had to wait the longest to see them play. Confidence was high for most of the Purple Faithful with the upgrades made on both sides of the trenches, adding Jordan Mason to the backfield, and bringing home Adam Thielen.
The Bears made some similar moves to their lines to improve things up front, but most felt that they had too many new things to work out. A new head coach, Ben Johnson, and a new philosophy to learn on the offensive side, along with reports that Caleb Williams was struggling to learn it all. Since 2015, the Vikings have an 8-3 record after years of Soldier Field being a house of horrors with flukey losses even when Minnesota was the better team.
While that concern still floated in fans’ minds, many had discounted it due to the recent success. It quickly became something to worry about early on.
The new sod on the field quickly became the main character early in the afternoon. KFAN’s Chris Hawkey took a video of the grounds crew trying to tighten up the seams of the newly placed turf that had to be replaced due to several concerts held there.
You could visibly see the seams in his video and during the broadcast, and you have to wonder if Blake Cashman and Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright’s tweaks were due to the field conditions. The video quickly went viral as NFL fans from all over decried the field conditions, with some stating the game should be moved. The turf wasn’t great, but since it wasn’t wet, it wasn’t as big a factor as most were concerned with.
The Bears looked very good in the first half of the game, with Caleb Williams making plays with his arm and feet. While a few throws were questionable in the decision-making process, they produced positive results. Williams effortlessly weaved away from Vikings defenders when he had to make it up on the run, and what everyone was told was going to be this dominant defense looked just plain bad.
The Bears’ defense was matching the offense in intensity and production, basically shutting down the Vikings’ offense. J.J. McCarthy looked like a first-time quarterback in every phase of the game and was being suffocated by not just the opposing team but the fans’ voices as well. It didn’t help that Justin Jefferson had some drops, as did Thielen, on a key third down.
Add in that the running game couldn’t get going, and Justin Skule was struggling at the left tackle position, filling in for Christian Darrisaw. As I felt the Vikings might drop this game, a thought kept stirring in the back of my mind: we’re still in this. They were never down by more than 11 points, despite everything going against them. The defense started getting better momentum and was keeping the game within striking distance.
All the offense had to do was settle down and get a few positive plays to keep things interesting. McCarthy hit Jalen Nailor with a bullet pass to set up Will Reichard for a Soldier Field record-tying 59-yard field goal that was also Reichard’s personal best just before halftime. It was a tiny spark. In the 3rd quarter, McCarthy did the worst thing he could do by throwing a pick-six, and most of the hope had started to leave once again. Then something extraordinary happened.
In the 4th quarter, things finally slowed down for everyone. Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones started running for significant yardage, passes were being caught, the blocking improved, and McCarthy started slinging the rock. In that quarter, he achieved a feat no one had accomplished in their premiere game by scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Two passes went to Jefferson and Jones, and one was on the ground, with a stellar open field block by TJ Hockenson on an RPO.
Add in a two-point conversion pass to Thielen, and the Vikings came out of Chicago with a victory. In the 4th quarter, the defense also started containing and catching Williams, and D’Andre Swift was getting stopped on most runs. Everything came together.
In the end, this is what most of us expect to see from the Vikings and McCarthy this year: growing pains. As long as the Vikings take more steps forward than back, the fans will enjoy this season.
Based solely on this first week (which doesn’t mean much at this point), here’s where the teams in the North stand in my opinion of how they performed:
- Packers
- Vikings
- Bears
- Lions
The Packers had a big division victory, but now have to prove they are for real with more quality wins. The Vikings, and McCarthy specifically, need to keep growing and avoid starting poorly, which could lead to regression each week.
The Bears are already prompting fans to wonder if they will soon fire their head coach and draft another quarterback. The Lions must battle back to prove they’re more than the “same old Lions,” as they still have the talent to win the division. It’s obviously super early, so no one should be locked into any of these scenarios.
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