Bears
Mitchell Trubisky is an enigma. Is he good? Is he great? Is he terrible? Maybe none of the above is the correct answer. 3,233 yards and 23 touchdowns is not a bad stat line. 66 percent completion percentage is a tad concerning but I just have never put much stock into it. At the same time those stat lines ignore that Trubisky struggled in big moments last year. At the same time that is contradicted by the fact I think he played his best football at the end of the wild card game against the Eagles. Trubisky’s legs are truly special though he put up 421 yards on the ground. He’s one of the top 3 rushing QB’s in the league in my opinion. Can that take the Bears deep into the playoffs? Who knows. The verdict, I need another year to see if I buy into the Trubisky experience or not.
The Bears certainly have some good talent at wide receiver though. It’s not the deepest group but they have a lot of speed. Allen Robinson proved himself to be a great outside receiving threat last year. He doesn’t have the stat line of a true top 10 wide out but with improvement from Trubisky I believe he could be. Taylor Gabriel was inconsistent last year but provides a quality target. Cordarrelle Patterson provides real excitement for me. Nagy is going to know how to use him to create space. Anthony Miller was good in the Red zone last year but still has a lot of room to grow before he meets his true potential. Overall, in a division full of stacked WR rooms the Bears have the second best in the division. If Miller takes the next step they could boast the best. Trey Burton continues to be one of the most under-appreciated tight ends in the national football league and will take yet another step forward this year.
The Bears are stacked at running back. Or what I should say is the Bears have the potential to be stacked at running back. Tarik Cohen is the proven commodity. The back with 1,100 + total yards in 2018. He will continue to play well in 2019. Mike Davis has a lot of hype around him but I’m not really buying it after watching some game pass on him. He looks most likely to be a Jordan Howard replacement. Maybe I missed it but I don’t think his receiving skills are that great. David Montgomery is who gets my blood pumping though. I think he’ll have a major impact in 2019 and could emerge out of the season as the number one back. There are a ton of big ifs though with this backfield. If everything goes right it could be one of the most dynamic in the league but a ton has to go right.
The Bears defense returns most of it’s starters. Yet there are two key pieces missing. One defensive leader Adrian Amos has joined the Packers, replaced by former Packer Haha Clinton Dix. The other defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Fangio was credited with a ton of the Bears success last year. I believe without him, even with the talent on the team including Kahlil Mack, the team is going to take a step back. They won’t fall off the face of the earth by any means but I thought this was the best defense in the league last year. I don’t see them repeating. Even though I am very excited to see Chuck Pagano back and coaching as there defensive coordinator.
The Bears have a ton to prove in 2019 after a super disappointing end in 2018. Kicker is still a major question mark though. Plus this team doesn’t seem like it’s moved on from the loss. I think the Bears start slow this year. They heat up in October though. The NFC is going to be a lot tougher this year. They’ve got a tough schedule down the stretch and I think the Vikings bounce back in a big way this year and beat them twice. Maybe I’m sleeping on the Bears but I just see them taking a slight step back this year.
Record prediction: 10-6
Vikings
Kirk Cousins year one didn’t work out for the Vikings. That said, Kirk Cousins actually had a career year last year. The numbers he put up are insanely good. 4,298 yards 30 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions with a 70 percent completion rate. You cannot pin all the blame for last years campaign on Cousins. You just can’t. You have to realize he did that behind one of the worst offensive lines in the leauge and it didn’t get much better in the off season. Garrett Bradbury is unproven but if he can be better than Pat Elflien that is a massive step forward for the offensive line. I think Kirk Cousins year two under the tutelage of Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak is going to be potentially explosive. I tend to think year two of Cousins is going to work out much better than year one and that may just steer the Vikes back into the playoffs.
Part of my confidence in Cousins comes because he has two top 15 receivers going into year two and the chemistry is going to be even better. Adam Thielen is a borderline top five wide out in my humble opinion. Meanwhile Stefon Diggs provides a laser quick massive outside target who can stretch the field really well. The issue is there isn’t much depth outside of those two. If Diggs and Thielen stay healthy though they are the best wide out group in this division hands down. Not to mention the fact the Vikings tight end spot is still a strength. Kyle Rudolph may be on the move yes but that is only because uber talented rookie Irv Smith Jr. might unseat him as the number one tight end in the Vikings system. Laqoun Treadwell is a bust but shows flashes at points and Jordan Taylor has a lot of connective tissue with Kubiak coming over from Denver.
Running back depth is certainly a concern. Dalvin Cook has not shown he can stay healthy and even when he is showed he has weeks where he disappears from the game plan. Behind him is Lions bust Ameer Abdullah. Who knows maybe Abdullah flourishes in a secondary roll on a new team but I doubt it. The running game worries me from a talent perspective. Kubiak’s system can compensate for that tough. This could be one of the most different looking offenses in the NFL.
The Vikings defense remains stacked. Everson Griffin, Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, Xavier Rhodes, Harrison Smith, and Trae Waynes all return. This should be one of the most talented defenses in the league. At least on paper. The problem is last year they were not. It’s that simple, Cousins gets a ton of the blame for this team last year but you also have to put some of it on Mike Zimmer. His pride and joy his defense looked flat for a majority of the year. With a QB stat line that Cousins had a good defense should be able to take you to the playoffs and simply put it didn’t.
This year simply put is pressure packed for the Vikings. Zimmer needs to be on a hot seat. Either it’s the playoffs or this team needs a new head coach because they have the talent on the roster to dare I say it be a Super Bowl team. You can blame Kirk Cousins all you want for last year. Simply put though this team should have made the playoffs. The coach should have got them there. Zimmer is to talented to be let off the hook for the failure of last year. He won’t let the playoffs slip away two years in a row.
Record Prediction: 12-4
Packers
A lot can be blamed on former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. Last years lack of success shouldn’t all fall on his shoulders though. Aaron Rodgers did not have his best year. Yes he did extremely well at limiting turnovers but only threw 25 touchdowns in total. He forced things sometimes and in some scenarios almost gave up. Rodgers is still obviously one of the best QB’s in the league but he needs to have a much better year in 2019 if the Packers hope to go back to the playoffs.
This off season I was critical of the Packers for not adding more weapons around Rodgers. I still stand by that. I think they could have gone out and grabbed another established wide out to make this offense truly pop. That being said, looking at this roster on July 6th I don’t hate the wide out group. Obviously, Devante Adams has emerged as one of the top wide outs in the league and has tremendous fantasy value, as there’s nothing proven outside of him. Yet he still has room to grow to be a true top tier wide receiver in my opinion. Not saying he’s bad but he’s not at the level of an Odell Beckham or Deandre Hopkins yet in my humble opinion. Geronimo Allison’s promising season last year was derailed by injuries. One can only hope he stays healthy this year and becomes the true number 2 wide out Rodgers needs. Marquez Valdes Scantling is the WR outside of Adams that excites me the most though. He showed flashes at the end of last year and collected nearly 600 yards in a limited role in the passing game. This off season Rodgers has heaped praise on the young wide out leading me to believe he will have a break out year. I still don’t understand the Jimmy Graham hype but Rodgers seems to believe he’ll be a big part of the offense in the 2019 season. Depth wise J’Mon Moore is someone I could see stepping up into a tertiary role with the Packers this season. The core in general lacks depth though outside of Adams, Allison, and MVS.
For the Packers running game to have Success this year they need Aaron Jones to run, run a lot, and stay healthy. Jones has averaged 5.5 yards per carry his first two years in the league. He is a special runner and McCarthy just couldn’t use him correctly. Hopefully Matt Lafluers system show cases Jones talents more. There isn’t much depth behind him, outside of Jamaal Williams, who is good but isn’t the special kind of back Jones is. I could see Jones reaching 1.7k rushing if he get’s enough touches this year.
The Packers defense should be much better this year. After adding players like Adrian Amos and Za’Darius Smith this team should finally have something it’s lacked for years, a consistent pass rush. The defensive line is a weakness in my opinion. I’m not high on Mike Daniel or Dean Lowry and frankly don’t get the hype around Kenny Clark. I think they do a good job stopping the run but have a hard time getting to the passer. That should be overcome though with the addition of Smith at linebacker. Preston Smith might have a break out year off the edge. I love the linebacking core but I love the secondary even more. Adrian Amos is a beast and a massive upgrade on Ha Ha Clinton Dix. Jaire Alexander should take another huge step forward in 2019 and rookie Darnell Savage and Rashan Gary are both supposed to be instant impact players. I believe in Mike Pettine as a DC and I think he proves his worth this year. Don’t be shocked if by November we view the Pack as a top ten defense.
I think the Packers are due for a bounce-back year. While I think inside of the division they’ll be very evenly matched they’ll beat up on the AFC West and NFC East teams on their schedule. Rodgers bounces back and the Packers are squarely in the hunt for the wild card in 2019.
Record Prediction: 11-5
Lions
Matthew Stafford had a down year in 2018. A less than four thousand yard passer with only 21 touchdowns, the QB was just not his usual self. Blame it on a rotating cast of offensive coaches last year or blame it on the fact Stafford is just a borderline top ten QB is going to have off years 2018 was not a good year for Stafford. Darell Bevell takes over the offense in 2019. Will that help Stafford improve? Who knows. I’d also like to use this QB section to talk about the fact that Matt Patricia is most definitely on the hot seat in 2019. Year one was a disaster for the former Patriots defensive coordinator. The team reportedly quit on him, it could be a quick experiment for Patricia if he does not improve this team in 2019.
The wide receiving core remains a strength of this team. Kenny Golloday emerged as a true number one wide out last year and though it was riddled with injuries Marvin Jones Jr. had a good year for the Lions. Detroit went out and added two great pass catching tight ends to the equation for the 2019 season. Jesse James is talented, and T.J. Hockenson is supposedly the most talented TE out of a TE heavy draft. Outside of the players mentioned above though after the loss of Golden Tate to trade in 2018 the wide out group is extremely thin.
Kerryon Johnson, when healthy last year, was the most talented player on the Lions offensive roster. He doesn’t get the love or coverage Saqoun gets but he can have just as much of an impact. It will be his show this year. LeGarrette Blount has moved on. Luckily the talented, gritty running presence of CJ Anderson will also be felt in the Lions backfield this year. The running game has always been an obstacle for the Lions but I believe this year behind a rapidly improving offensive line they could for the first time in a long time have a 1,000 yard rusher.
The Lions defensive line is uber talented especially with the addition of Damon “snacks” Harrison and top free agent Trey Flowers. The linebacking core is filled with potential. My favorite guy being Devon Kennard. The secondary is a bit of an issue at CB. Outside of Darius Slay the Lions have close to nothing. The loss of Glover Quinn also hurts big time at safety.
Though I like this Lions roster and they did make a lot of moves in free agency I just don’t buy it I’m sorry. I buy in every year and every year they let me down. This year I’m buying out. This offense could crash and burn after one injury. The luck just isn’t here for the Lions and I think Matt Patricias luck after this year may be out as well. I don’t see the coach surviving the record I have them at.
Record Prediction: 4-12