The headliner in the NFC North has been what it has been the last couple of years. An Aaron Rodgers drama filled storyline, will he or won’t he return to the Green Bay Packers drama fest. It seems that the saga is over, with the Packers and the New York Jets trying to finalize a deal that would send Rodgers the Jets way. Assuming that happens, where do the Packers sit in the division? By the looks of it, and by the looks of how things have been going already in the offseason, the Packers seem pretty comfortable with being dead last in the division. The moves they have made in free agency have been minimal. They have lost their MVP and Leader and are passing the torch to Jordan Love. Can Love follow in the footsteps of Favre and Rodgers? Green Bay seems confident in the young QB and their young Wide Receiver core that no longer includes Allen Lazard or Randall Cobb.

Early Prediction: Green Bay Packers will have a rough season in 2023 and end up 4th in their division.

The Minnesota Vikings have been busy during the offseason and in free agency. They have lost some talent on the defensive side of the ball though. Their veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson signed a 2 year deal with the Steelers. Dalvin Tomlinson their defensive tackle, signed a big contract with the Cleveland Browns. Eric Kendricks was also lost in the off season signing a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Chargers. On the offensive side of the ball, they released veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen, which at this point in his career, is on the downside of it, shouldn’t be a huge loss for the Vikings.

For all the losses in free agency, they managed to sign replacements for most everyone they lost. Starting at the cornerback spot, they signed the highly sought-after Byron Murphy Jr. who played with the Cardinals last year. The Vikings also brought over a defensive end from the Saints, signing Marcus Davenport to 1 year $13,000,000 deal. They also added Dean Lowry, another defensive lineman to a 2-year deal for $8,500,000, coming over from the division rival Packers. The Minnesota Vikings didn’t seem to get worse, but didn’t seem to get much better either, thus far.

Early Prediction: The Minnesota Vikings will end up in 3rd place next season, they won’t win the close games like they did last season.

The Chicago Bears have been putting in work this off season. From a team looking up from the bottom last year, it doesn’t seem like they will be doing so next. The Bears started off with a bang by trading away their 1st overall pick in the 2023 draft to the Carolina Panthers for additional picks and coveted Wide Receiver, D.J. Moore. With that, the Bears go from one of the worst Wide Receiver cores in the league to one of the best. They followed that up by signing a pair of line backers that Chicago desperately needed. The Bears signed Tremaine Edmunds from the Bills, and T.J. Edwards away from the Eagles. Chicago also signed two running backs after losing David Montgomery. Both Travis Homer and Donta Foreman with both contribute to the Bears rushing attack next season. Another sneaky good move was snatching up defensive tackle Andrew Billings, who will be another starter for them on defensive side of the ball. P.J. Walker was signed from Carolina to be the backup for Justin Fields, which makes a lot of sense, with Walker having the same type of athleticism as Fields.

Chicago didn’t have any real notable departures after getting rid of some key contributor’s defensively mid-season.

Early Prediction: Chicago Bears on paper, look like a team on the rebound, and if Justin Fields improves on his passing game, they will tough to beat this coming season. They finish 2nd in the division.

The Detroit Lions finished last year with an 8-1 record, with their last game of the season being at Green Bay, with the Packers having to win and get in. Well, the Packers lost, lost to the Detroit Lions, and now these two teams, seem to be going in opposite directions entirely.

Early into the offseason, the lions look to be improving on the deficiencies they had last year, starting with the secondary. They added 3 new key additions including CB Cam Sutton coming over from the steelers, CB Emmanuel Moseley coming over from the 49ers, and topped it off with snagging safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson from the eagles. On paper this Lions secondary just improved immensely. These 3 signings will be even more significant if the young defensive line can improve their pressures and sack totals next year, as they should. Losing RB Jamaal Williams is a big punch in the gut for this Lions team, from a leadership standpoint, however signing David Montgomery makes that gut punch a little less painful. The Lions also managed to bring back offensive lineman Graham Glasgow which to the depth they need.

As for the departures from the Lions, Jamaal Williams will be significant, however everyone else not so significant, but some will be missed. Safety Deshaun Elliot played well, but he got replaced, and LB Chris Board was a great special team’s guy, but didn’t contribute much to the defense. WR D.J. Chark, if the Lions don’t re-sign him, could be a pretty big blow if Jameson Williams doesn’t come into form this coming year. Mike Hughes was a solid CB for the Lions, who probably isn’t coming back, even though he is still on the market.

Early Prediction: The Detroit Lions will finish 1st in the division, and win a playoff game, for the first-time decades. Dan Campbell has those boys playing hard.