BY ADAM GREENE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a fun fact for you. Since the inception of the NFC North in 2002, the Detroit Lions have never once won it. The Green Bay Packers are the undisputed Kings of the North, claiming 10 out of a possible 18 division titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Pack, you might be shocked to learn that the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings are both tied at four apiece and all three of those teams have passed the requisite caps and T-shirts around for the last three seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Lions, you have to go all the way back to the old NFC Central and 1993 for the last time they claimed the division championship. Could this be the year that all changes and they put 27 years of futility in the rearview?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nope. But here\u2019s how I think the NFC North will play out<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GREEN BAY PACKERS (11-5, Division Champion)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aaron Rodgers opined as their season ended in another lackluster performance in the NFC Championship game that his Super Bowl window wasn\u2019t closed. If he\u2019s right, it\u2019s certainly down to just a crack and there\u2019s no reason to waste the opportunity of playing for an actual NFL-caliber playcaller in Matt LaFleur for a second season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What the Pack was able to do in LaFleur\u2019s first season is significantly separate themselves from the rest of the NFC North. I don\u2019t see that changing in 2020, in spite of losses along the offensive line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Green Bay with Rodgers is like the Seattle Seahawks with Russell Wilson. As long as he\u2019s healthy and slinging it, they\u2019re a danger to win them all. Their only stumbling block is outside their division, where they face off against the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans. They\u2019ll claim the division title, but they won\u2019t win 13 games with that slate ahead of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MINNESOTA<\/strong> VIKINGS (9-7)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a fun little stat for you. Those 10 wins the Vikings put up with Kirk Cousins as quarterback was the first double-digit win total of his entire career. He\u2019s gone 9-7 once as a starter with Washington back in 2015 and 8-7-1 twice (which doesn\u2019t seem like it should be possible) with that same Washington team in 2016 and with Minnesota in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now he\u2019s expected to do it again in spite of losing his offensive coordinator, Kevin Stefanski, to Cleveland Browns as their new head coach and with his second best receiver, Stefon Diggs, traded away to the Buffalo Bills. All the while facing the exact same monster schedule the Packers are playing I listed above. I don\u2019t see it happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHICAGO<\/strong> BEARS (8-8)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This projection is all dependent on how quickly Matt Nagy can convince himself to hand the keys to Nick Foles at quarterback. With no preseason games, it\u2019ll have to be done in practice and since they open with two winnable games against the Lions and New York Giants. The last thing you want to do is let Mitchell Trubisky pick up those wins and force you to keep him under center over the next three games, against the Atlanta Falcons, Colts and Bucs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chicago will be significantly more competitive and develop some of the weapons they\u2019ve acquired over the last couple of years on offense, but are a year away from a winning record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DETROIT<\/strong> LIONS (7-9)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Like my Bears prediction, this is contingent on a quarterback, specifically the health of Matthew Stafford. His head coach, Matt Patricia, should be fired before the season is over, but Stafford himself has the talent to keep this team in pretty much every game. He just doesn\u2019t have the help around him, on the field or sidelines, to make wins regularly happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Stafford does go down again, the Lions will compete with the Giants to be the worst team in football, a hard pill to swallow for one of only two NFL franchises in history to go 0-16<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow our BetOnline Twitter account<\/a> for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY ADAM GREENE Here\u2019s a fun fact for you. 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