This Bears team has been rather disappointing to both their fans and fans of the high scoring teams Mike Martz's offenses typically produce. The thought was Martz was finally getting the QB he's always dreamed of in Jay Cutler. Well he did, but it's more of a nightmare than anything else. The failures of the Bears fall squarely on their offense and nowhere else. A positive note is the "rebirth" of Matt Forte as a Marshall Faulk-like back. He had a terrible year last season and seems to fit into the passing game quite nicely. Peppers was a nice addition to a defense that needed a little jolt to their front line.
Vikings- D
The truth is the Vikings coaching staff has managed to completely destroy a very good team by being impatient. Look, we are all sick of the Favre thing, every week since the end of last season it seems as if he is in the news for something. Minnesota has made Favre bigger than the team, plain and simple. Instead of building around their young talent they decided to throw all of their chips on the table and gamble on Favre. Well guess what, they went bust!!!! HUGE mistake bringing Favre back so late, and to even go further down the rabbit hole, they brought in Randy Moss (to appease Favre) who never wanted to be there from the start. Coach Brad Childress needs to go along with any one else who helped make these decisions and build with youth not age!
Lions- B-
How can I give a team with a bad record such a good grade? Easy. This is not a bad team, they are young and EXTREMELY talented in many key positions. They just havent been able to put it altogether yet. The defense does look like Swiss cheese at times, but maybe with some smart acquisitions and a good draft this can be fixed. Suh is a monster in the middle, and has proven to be a game changer. Megatron is uncoverable! End of story! If Stafford can work through his injury issues, this team can make some steps to becoming a playoff team in the next few seasons.
Packers- B+
Now before you go saying this is way too high of a grade, just stop and think for a minute about what this team has gone thru this season. Injury upon injury, and yet this team still brings it every Sunday. They may not be the dominating team everyone thought they would be, but they are grinding out W's, and winning ugly is a sign of a good team, and thats what they are.
Chicago Bears (4-3). The Bears are 3-2 in games decided by 7 or less, so they are deserving of their 4-3 record, and they'll probably hover around .500 the rest of the way. If the Bears are going to make a run at a playoff spot, it's going to have to be their defense that carries them there because the offense has looked ineffective. In a division that was expected to be decided between the Vikings and Packers, the Bears are certainly the dark horse. Grade: B
ReplyDeleteMinnesota Vikings (2-5). After last losing to the Saints in the NFC Championship game last year, the Vikings appeared ready to get back to their first Super Bowl since Bud Grant coached them in the 70s. However, Brett Favre has played poorly and the short-lived Randy Moss experiment produced less than desirable results. Grade: D
Detroit Lions (2-5). The Lions are improving and seem to be in every game. They're certainly not a playoff team, but they are vastly improved from the team that lost every game a few years ago. Matthew Stafford looks like the real deal at quarterback, and Ndamukong Suh has been excellent on the defensive line. Grade: C+
Green Bay Packers (5-3). The Packers are starting to get healthy and that does not bode well for the rest of the NFC North. With games against 2 of the conference's bigger disappointments, Dallas and Minnesota, coming up, they could be 7-3 heading into a Thanksgiving weekend showdown in Atlanta. Grade: B+