Daily Norseman
Now that all NFL teams have completed the preseason and made the cutdown to their 53-man rosters, including all the teams in the NFC North, it’s time for my annual forecast of how the Minnesota Vikings’ NFC North opponents will fare this season. It’s been an eventful offseason for the NFC North teams this year and judging by the odds, the NFC North looks to be the most competitive and best division in the league, top to bottom.
Having said that, it’s doubtful there will be three 11+ win teams in the division this season. The entire division faces a much tougher schedule than last season facing the AFC South and an injury-riddled NFC West. This season the NFC North faces the NFC East and AFC North. The AFC North is significantly better than the AFC South last season, and the NFC East is likely to be better than the NFC West was last season, given the injuries the 49ers had, and the Rams had against several NFC North opponents last year. The tougher non-division schedule is likely to bring down the win totals for NFC North teams this season.
That said, let’s take a look in more detail about what’s changed this season among the Vikings’ division rivals and how they may fare in the season ahead. I did a piece at the end of June sizing up the NFC North, detailing some of the issues and changes this offseason- some of which are outdated based on subsequent events- but I’ll start this series with the Chicago Bears and their current situation and prospects.
The Bears have once again gone through a coaching regime change this offseason, replacing head coach and coordinators while opting to keep (and extend) general manager Ryan Poles. It seemed premature for the Bears to give Poles a contract extension through the 2029 season with two-years left on his existing contract, given that the team has gone 15-36 since he was named general manager in 2022, but the Bears apparently wanted to align Poles contract with that of new head coach Ben Johnson, who was the top head coach candidate this offseason after enjoying a few years of success as offensive coordinator with the Lions.
Beyond hiring Ben Johnson as head coach, the Bears also signed former Saints head coach Dennis Allen to be defensive coordinator, and Declan Doyle to be offensive coordinator. Ben Johnson will be the offensive play caller. Johnson is expected to continue the offensive he was successful with in Detroit, while Dennis Allen is expected to run a more aggressive, blitzing defense with more man coverage than his predessor, Matt Eberflus who was both head coach and de facto defensive coordinator last season for the Bears.
The main task for head coach Ben Johnson will be to develop quarterback Caleb Williams, the #1 overall pick in last year’s draft who struggled in his rookie season. Johnson is in the process of adapting Williams to play...
