Latest Nfc North Stories
Posted: Nov 8th 2009 5:30PM ET by Matt Snyder (RSS feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, Packers, Vikings, NFC North

Though most had the
Minnesota Vikings as the favorites to win the NFC North heading into the season, nearly everyone agreed that either the
Chicago Bears or
Green Bay Packers -- or both -- would at least pose a challenge to the Vikes' second straight division crown. Instead, we're taking this division race off life support and putting it to rest after Week 9. The 2009 NFC North champions will be the
Vikings. They can now focus on securing home-field advantage in the playoffs.
The reason for the above sentiment is that both the
Bears and
Packers were abysmal, in different circumstances, Sunday afternoon. The Pack went into Tampa Bay and lost to the formerly winless
Buccaneers, while the Bears were absolutely manhandled for the majority of the afternoon by a fickle Arizona squad.
Posted: Nov 2nd 2009 1:00PM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed under: Packers, NFC North, NFL Coaching
Editor's Note: Bruce Ciskie, a lifelong Packers fan, opines about the state of his beloved team.High expectations greeted the
Green Bay Packers in August, as the team arrived at training camp. Practices -- held across the street from Lambeau Field -- were very physical, as the
Packers tried to show they wouldn't be bullied around like they were far too often in 2008.
That 6-10 season, we all were told, was a memory. It was a fluke. It wasn't how things would be conducted in Green Bay. Bad tackling, soft defense, poor special teams play, and stupid penalties were going to be a thing of the past.
Or not.
Posted: Nov 1st 2009 5:00PM ET by Matt Snyder (RSS feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, NFC North

It would be easy to look at the 30-6 final score in the
Bears' victory over the hapless
Cleveland Browns and think everything went well for the home team. It would be easy to see
Matt Forte's 90 yards and two touchdowns rushing and think the running game is back. Let's not do things the easy way and fool ourselves into thinking there wasn't something problematic on display Sunday in the Windy City, because the offensive line is flat-out horrible.
The pass protection was porous.
Jay Cutler was sacked four times. He was hurried all day and had to scramble five additional times. The
Browns entered the game with just 12 sacks in seven games.
Posted: Nov 1st 2009 11:40AM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed under: Packers, Vikings, NFC North, NFL Fans, NFL Quarterbacks

Outside of Sunday being a day many Packer fans have dreaded for months, it's just another football Sunday in Green Bay.
The hype surrounding this regular-season battle of NFC North rivals surpasses anything most fans will see in their lifetimes. The reality is that football fans in Wisconsin are stuck in the middle of the tension that developed between
Brett Favre and the
Packers. It was this way in August of 2008, when the whole thing blew up, and it isn't going to change for some time.
Posted: Oct 25th 2009 8:40PM ET by Matt Snyder (RSS feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, Bengals, AFC North, NFC North
Bengals 45,
Bears 10. It was 45-3 before the Bears finally got into the end zone, but the game had long been over at that point. It was one of those games that makes you wonder -- were the Bengals that good or the Bears that bad? As is usually the case when you ask that question, it was a combination of both. You have to give the Bengals credit, especially
Carson Palmer for his precision passing. Well, really, the entire team deserves loads of credit.
Still, this game was more about how pathetic the Bears played. For a team with Super Bowl aspirations, that was a simply despicable attempt at playing football on nearly every front. More games like that, and the playoffs won't even be a possibility come late November.
Posted: Oct 25th 2009 12:15PM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed under: Vikings, NFC North, NFL Injuries

Not much has gone wrong for the
Minnesota Vikings in their 6-0 start.
Brett Favre has been playing superbly, Adrian Peterson is still a stud,
Sidney Rice has become one, and the defense continues to impress.
However, if there's a hole on this
Vikings team right about now, it's been their pass defense. They were largely shredded by
Aaron Rodgers earlier in October, then were absolutely torched by
Joe Flacco and the
Ravens last weekend. As the Vikings set off on a two-game road swing starting Sunday, there is bad news on the injury front.
Posted: Oct 22nd 2009 1:03PM ET by Matt Snyder (RSS feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, Bengals, AFC North, NFC North
Cedric Benson's time in Chicago was a tumultuous one. He was drafted by the
Bears in the first round -- the fourth overall pick -- of the 2005 draft and proceeded to hold out for 36 days. After arriving, he constantly complained about being mistreated by teammates. That may have been true, as the incumbent starting running back,
Thomas Jones, was well-liked by teammates. Maybe it was because Jones worked hard, cared about the team and didn't have a sense of entitlement -- all opposite traits displayed by Benson in Chicago.
Now, Benson is becoming the player many thought he could coming out of college, due to -- in my opinion -- having received a wake-up call when the Bears cut him. Although, if you hear it from him, that isn't the case at all. In fact, he claims the
Bears attempted to blackball him from the NFL.
Posted: Oct 21st 2009 10:30PM ET by JJ Cooper (RSS feed)
Filed under: Steelers, Vikings, NFC North, NFL Injuries

Whether you win or lose against the
Ravens, they are physical enough that you suffer for a couple of weeks afterward.
The
Vikings got the win on Sunday, but they also got the bruises that come with it.
The biggest problem for the Vikings is cornerback
Antoine Winfield's
foot injury. When Winfield left the game on Sunday the Ravens' pass offense suddenly became a world-beater as backup
Karl Paymah quickly proved he's not really ready for a starting job. The Vikings are not ruling out Winfield playing on Sunday, but everyone else is.
Posted: Oct 20th 2009 9:52PM ET by Matt Snyder (RSS feed)
Filed under: Chicago Bears, NFC North

After paying a hefty price, in terms of draft picks and
Kyle Orton, to acquire quarterback
Jay Cutler this past offseason, the
Chicago Bears have now likely ponied up a hefty monetary price as well. Exact terms of the deal have not been disclosed just yet, but the
Bears have announced, via press release, they have come to terms on a two-year contract extension with their quarterback. He's now locked up in Chicago through the 2013 season.