Packers NFCN favorites?!

dannobanano

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Oh, I can hear the howling in the Twin Cities already!! csr(rofl(

Packers favored to win NFCN

when it comes to the NFC North, it looks like it will be between two teams to win the division title. BetDSI released its division odds for the 2018 season and the Green Bay Packers are listed as the favorites to win the NFC North. However, the Minnesota Vikings are listed a close second followed by the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. Here's a look at the NFC North odds.
NFC North Odds for 2018-2019
1. Green Bay Packers: +115
2. Minnesota Vikings: +135
3. Detroit Lions: +600
4. Chicago Bears: +700
 
Having Rodgers tilts the scales. I'm not saying it's right or wrong but just like Favre, Rodgers garners a lot of attention and they know, just having him on the field equals a certain amount of wins
 
Rodgers makes the Packers 1 or 2 games better than Detroit and Minnesota, and about 4 or 5 games better than the Bears.
Now, assuming that, and the Bears are a 5-11 team, the Packers would grade out at 9 or 10 wins, and the Vikings and Bears would be 8 to 9 wins.
 
TW, if Packers win division I think they will need 11 wins at a minimum. Vikings will win 10 or more.
 
TW, if Packers win division I think they will need 11 wins at a minimum. Vikings will win 10 or more.

You could very well be right CB. Right now I'm not putting much stock in what the Vikings will do. I think they're going to find that things aren't as settled at QB as they would like to believe. That's going to be their Achilles heel.
 
Haven't paid attention to any of these things in years. GB was a SB favorite prior to last year by several outlets... didn't happen. Too many variables involved to pick these things in May.
 
It so hard to say in the NFL. You think you have a pretty good handle on who is going to be good and then a team has a few injuries and the off-season losses and changes mess with chemistry and the next thing you know a few games are lost that you didn't plan on and a 10-12 win team becomes a 7-9 win team. (The opposite is of course true as well.)

I still think the Vikings are the team to beat in the division. They could falter. My concern with the Packers is whether there is enough there on offense around AR to win more than 10 games. They still don't have a #2 and #4 WR identified and the right side of the OL is all question marks. Those 2 things alone could prevent them from being anything more than average on that side of the ball.

On defense they don't have a consistent pass rush or coverage. I am kind of coming around to the thinking that coverage may have been the bigger problem. So many teams are using more quick rhythm passes that you have to be able to cover for 2-2.5 seconds or your pass rush won't mean squat. Hopefully a new scheme and defensive game plan along with this draft and the addition of a veteran FA will take care of that. Still, on third and long the Packers could not get off the damn field last year and pass rush becomes an equal part of the equation on those downs. Not sure we can say they will be better in those situations.

I'm kind of thinking the 9-10 win mark is where we end up and I don't think that will win the division. Now, if Clark and one or two of the rookie WRs make the step up, and the right side of the line comes together then the offense might be a top 5-7 unit. And if the defense can shore up their coverage and pass rush with the rookies at CB, Mo at DE, and a better, sounder scheme then that group can be closer to the middle of the pack. If both of those things happen and we stay mostly injury free at key positions then 11-13 wins looks more possible. Now the division is in play.
 
The vikings have a recent history of choking off the 1st place schedule. Last year they took advantage of a rooking QB in Chicago and ARodgers injury to load up their defensive stats. They enjoyed very good health on the defensive side of the ball. They also enjoyed a career year from a journeyman QB. Look for them to come back to .500 again like their historical pattern predicts.

2012 10-6* 2nd
2013 5-10-1 4th
2014 7-9 3rd
2015 11-5* 1st
2016 8-8 3rd
2017 13-3* 1st
 
It so hard to say in the NFL. You think you have a pretty good handle on who is going to be good and then a team has a few injuries and the off-season losses and changes mess with chemistry and the next thing you know a few games are lost that you didn't plan on and a 10-12 win team becomes a 7-9 win team. (The opposite is of course true as well.)

I still think the Vikings are the team to beat in the division. They could falter. My concern with the Packers is whether there is enough there on offense around AR to win more than 10 games. They still don't have a #2 and #4 WR identified and the right side of the OL is all question marks. Those 2 things alone could prevent them from being anything more than average on that side of the ball.

On defense they don't have a consistent pass rush or coverage. I am kind of coming around to the thinking that coverage may have been the bigger problem. So many teams are using more quick rhythm passes that you have to be able to cover for 2-2.5 seconds or your pass rush won't mean squat. Hopefully a new scheme and defensive game plan along with this draft and the addition of a veteran FA will take care of that. Still, on third and long the Packers could not get off the damn field last year and pass rush becomes an equal part of the equation on those downs. Not sure we can say they will be better in those situations.

I'm kind of thinking the 9-10 win mark is where we end up and I don't think that will win the division. Now, if Clark and one or two of the rookie WRs make the step up, and the right side of the line comes together then the offense might be a top 5-7 unit. And if the defense can shore up their coverage and pass rush with the rookies at CB, Mo at DE, and a better, sounder scheme then that group can be closer to the middle of the pack. If both of those things happen and we stay mostly injury free at key positions then 11-13 wins looks more possible. Now the division is in play.

I agree with the overall premise of this post, and would certainly have grave concerns if we had all these question marks/unknowns, and were 3 weeks into training camp.

Even Graham's impact is a question mark at this point in the process.

At some point we fans will begin to hear nuggets/catch glimpse's of what MM meant by a revamped offense, as well as what Mike Pettine has in store for the defense.

We will begin to see how they will intend to use the new additions (Wilkerson, Graham, Williams), and we will see if any of the more prominent draft choices (Alexander, Jackson, Burks, Moore) are NFL ready or not.

As the OP for this thread I had no intention of saying the Packers were deserving, at this point in time, of being labeled the favorites to win the division.

I just thought it was humorous that Vegas would diss the division defending champs, Vikings, and install Green Bay as slight favorites to win the division in spite of the Vikes signing Cousins and Green Bay with so many question marks.
 
Wise guys don't like Cousins and don't trust MN's staying power. Still the most talented team in the division.
 
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