The NFC North division is clearly going be an adventure this season after what we’ve seen in the first two weeks. The Vikings have rolled over cupcake opponents but may have a weakness to their game. The Bears and Packers switched roles in week two as the Pack chucked up a rare non-division loss at home and the Bears found a way to play comeback spoilers against the defending champs. Detroit also did some spoiling of their own-they blew a half time lead at home in a division game.
Here are the North notes for week two and a preview of the weekend ahead…
Minnesota Vikings (2-0)
The Vikings sit atop the division after two weeks with a ho-hum victory over the punchless Lions. The Vikes struggled to move the ball early, gaining just 37 yards and losing a fumble in their first four drives before finally scoring on a late 76 yard TD drive to close the half trailing 10-7. Much like last week in Cleveland Minny dominated the second half, outscoring the Lions 20-3 on their way to a convincing 27-13 win. Minnesota has now outscored it’s opponents 41-3 in the second half on the season. Herein lies where the Vikings may be vulnerable as the schedule gets tougher.
Cleveland and Detroit are young teams with new coaching staffs going through a lot of turnover. Minnesota has played to deficits to both teams heading into halftime, only to emerge with dominate second half performances that led to big victories. The problem is it seems like neither Detroit nor Cleveland were able to make adjustments on offense or defense while Minnesota, the more veteran staffed and coached team, made the necessary changes to take over these ball games. What happens when Minnesota starts to play teams like Green Bay, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chicago? How will they adjust to teams that actually make the proper adjustments to them? Will they be able to mail-in a first half performance and dominate the second half as they have so far?
I can only answer the last question as there is no way they can continue to play from behind after two quarters and win consistently. Brett Favre had another game-manager type day, passing for just 155 and a score (no INT’s). He still has not been tested, but expect Mike Singletary and the 49ers to do just that this week in Minnesota’s home opener. The Vikings will be a big favorite, but they can’t afford to sleep on new look San Francisco. Iron Mike has the ’9ers 2-0 and you can bet he’ll focus on containing Peterson and forcing Favre to beat them. The Vikes should have enough to win, but don’t be surprised if they get caught looking ahead to Favre’s first rematch with Green Bay in week four.
Chicago Bears (1-1)
Jeff Reed ate free on Sunday night in Chicago, that’s for sure. The Pittsburgh kicker missed two field goal attempts from inside 42 yards in the fourth quarter Sunday, opening the door for Jay Cutler’s first game winning drive as a Chicago Bear.
Cutler did a 180 from his week one performance, throwing for 236 yards and two scores and driving far enough into Steeler territory to set up Robby Gould’s 45-yard game winner. The defense was up and down, allowing two long scoring drives and lucking out on Reed’s two missed field goals, but also picking off a pass for their first turnover. Hunter Hillenmeyer filled in just fine for Brian Urlacher at MLB and the D-line kept the pressure up on Big Ben just as they terrorized Aaron Rodgers in week one. Johnny Knox led the Bears receivers with 70 yards on six grabs as he looks to be solidifying a spot in the offense for the long haul. While the pass game flourished, the run game was no where to be found yet again as the team rushed for 43 total yards, 29 coming from Matt Forte on just 13 carries.
This coming week at Seattle will be a great opportunity for the Bears to open up their running game. The Seahawks just gave up nearly 300 rushing yards to the 49ers, 200+ that went to Frank Gore. Ron Turner needs to use this game to give balance to his offensive attack and boost the confidence of sophomore Matt Forte.
The Bears cannot afford to have their 2008 offensive leader become an after thought for opposing coaches. Turner needs to use this week and next (vs DET) to establish that this team has a formidable rushing attack so Cutler isn’t overwhelmed every Sunday. The Seahawks will also be vulnerable on offense with QB Matt Hasslebeck likely to miss time (broken rib), so look for Lovie to push his defense a little more to see what he really has out of this group.
Green Bay Packers (1-1)
The Packers came into their week two matchup still high on their comeback win over Chicago in week one. At least they must have been high to let the woeful Bengals come into Lambeau and steal a win from them, stunning the Pack 31-24. The Pack reached the endzone twice in the first frame but were outscored 24-10 in the final three, their only other TD coming on a Charles Woodsen interception return to the house in the second quarter. Ryan Grant lost a fumble on the Packer’s first possession of the second half at the Bengal 35 yard line and the offense never seemed to recover, ending the game with three punts, one made field goal and one missed.
The defense was just as puzzling as the offense, creating two more turnovers but allowing three scores through the air and 151 yards rushing to a team that scored just seven points with 86 yards on the ground in week one. The QB pressure could have been a bit better (4 hits, 2 sacks) but the real issue was leaving wide open gaps for Ced Benson and Co. to run through. That needs to change as the Pack will face top running backs Steven Jackson (STL) and Adrian Peterson (MIN) the next two weeks.
Green Bay’s biggest problem was protecting the quarterback. Just as in week one, the O-line allowed too many free shots at Rodgers as he was hit 10 times with six sacks. The line needs to protect him and give him the time necessary to find his talented receivers or the team will find itself in many situations like last week. St. Louis isn’t much of an opponent, so the coaching staff would do well to try as many things as possible to get the line fixed. The Vikings will not be so lenient on them in two weeks.
Detroit Lions (0-2)
Another week, another loss for Detroit. This time they actually held a lead for about 33 minutes before Minnesota realized they were playing a real game and tamed the young Lions. There were some positives in week two, as Detroit was dead even with the powerful Vikes in total yards (265), time of possession (30:25) and actually out rushed the mighty AP’s 129-112 (albeit on nine more carries).
The Lions still need to learn how to manage the game while down, as they relinquished the lead early in the third quarter and never threatened to reclaim it. That will be learned in time, but the coaches need to get better about making adjustments in game. The defense pressured Favre well early, but when Minnesota went with the run they struggled to handle the more balanced attack. They allowed just three of 11 third down conversions, but were susceptible to the big play as they gave up 13 first downs through the air, five pass plays of 10+ yards and a 27 yard TD run to Peterson.
Detroit had the right philosophy early and held the lead, but in the end it was turnovers that did them in. They lost that battle 3-1 and it probably weighed more heavily on their loss than any other aspect of their game. If they take better care of the ball, the Lions will find themselves in winnable situations more and more as the season progresses. Washington comes to Motown this weekend fresh off a big scare at home when they barely edged the terrible Stl. Rams, 9-7.
Detroit could have it’s first win in 20 tries (yes, that stat is real) if they take care of the football and make better in-game adjustments. The schedules doesn’t do them any favors after this week with games @CHI, vsPIT and @GB before a week six bye. This is Detroit’s best shot to avoid comparisons to a certain 26-loss TB Bucs team. Here’s wishing you well Detroit, spare us all the highlights of those dreadful orange and white debacles they called jerseys.
