In recent seasons it feels as though the NFC North has been tipped on its head and had its contents thrown all over the floor.

The division, once thoroughly ruled by the Green Bay Packers, has now been overtaken by the likes of the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, with the only familiar theme within the division being the Detroit Lions' reliable struggles.

In 2019, the NFC North  appears as open as ever with the Bears bringing back the core of it's hellacious defense for another season. The Vikings have a squad in place which they feel can take them a step or two further than their 2017 NFC Championship game appearance. The Packers still have a certain Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, which, for the ‘Cheese head’ army means perpetual relevance. Even the Lions, a franchise which hasn’t experienced a single NFL Playoff victory since 1991, feel that their retooling efforts will bring them right to the cusp of playoff contention.

Stats Insider asks one pertinent question for each team in each division. 

Today, it’s the NFC North’s turn.

UPDATED: Every Division Preview (as they are published)

- Inside the NFC SOUTH: Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Buccaneers
- Inside the NFC EAST: Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Giants
- Inside the NFC WEST: Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals
- Inside the AFC SOUTH: Colts, Texans, Titans, Jaguars

Can the Chicago Bears offense match it's outrageous defense?

What the Bears defense did last season, en route to its first division title in eight years, was truly extraordinary.

This was a defense which had already morphed itself into a top ten unit, and, so, when - on the eve of the 2018 season - they traded for Oakland’s Khalil Mack, it was like adding an extra shot or two to your morning coffee.

Indeed, the Mack addition further transformed the Chicago defense into something resembling living hell for opposition attacks.

The Bears conceded just 283 total points last season, which qualified as the best mark in the league, yet the sheer viciousness of the defense actually lived in its aggression.

With Mack joining the gang, the Bears were able to produce 50 sacks, and a league-high 27 interceptions, while their 36 total turnovers was the highest return since the 15-1 Carolina Panthers took their 39 takeaways all the way to the 2016 Super Bowl.

The Bears defensive potency is matched only by the age profile of its most illustrious members, with all of Mack, Leonard Floyd, Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith and Kyle Fuller all under 28 years of age, and all under team control for at least the next two seasons.

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It’s at this point, however, that we stop gushing about the Bears defense and introduce their offense, backed by the somewhat audible screech of a record player.

We are talking about a very young group led by Mitchell Trubisky at quarterback, who, in his two seasons, has averaged a middling 87.7 QB rating, while facing much criticism regarding the pace of his development.

The Bears turned the ball over on 13.2% of their drives last season, equal worst amongst the 12 teams that qualified for the post-season.

Much of the angst in Chicago pertaining to Trubisky is that the franchise took the former North Carolina Tar Heel with the #2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, when both Patrick Mahomes, who just won the league MVP, and DeShaun Watson, were still on the board at selections #10 and #12 respectively. 

Year three of the Trubisky reign looms as an incredibly critical one for the Bears, as they simply cannot afford to squander the potential Super Bowl opportunity their defense has opened up for them.

To be fair to Trubisky, there’s nothing concrete to suggest we are dealing with a famous NFL bust. He’s undeniably improved incrementally in each of his 27 starts, leaving his very best and lasting impression in the Bears Wild Card game loss to the Phiadelphia Eagles, throwing for 303 yards, a touchdown and zero interceptions.

The performance, despite being in a losing effort, has provided great hope to Chicago, and perhaps planted the seed in head coach Matt Nagy’s mind to rein in much of Trubisky’s thirst for improvisation. The young QB's best performance only included three rushing attempts, as opposed to the 68 he’d flirted with in the regular season.

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If Trubisky can improve further in season three, stay in the pocket a little longer, and limit his turnovers, we are - without question - dealing with a legitimate Super Bowl threat - a title which has alluded the Bears since 1985.

If, however, Trubisky’s progression remains stagnant, Chicago risks frittering away the talents of the NFL's most talented defence.

How long can the Minnesota Vikings' Super Bowl window stay open?

Vikings' GM Rick Spielman has done an excellent job with a Minnesota franchise, which between 2010 and 2013, compiled a largely forgettable 24-39 record, while finishing in last place in the division three out of four seasons. 

Over the past five years, Spielman has re-imagined the Vikings, bringing in former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer as head coach, while breaking the bank for former Washington Redskins quarterback, Kirk Cousins.

Spielman has built a formidable defence in Minnesota, almost exclusively through the NFL Draft, with the likes of Harrison Smith, Everson Griffin, Xavier Rhodes and Anthony Barr all helping the Vikings produce three straight seasons ranked within the league’s top ten for both total points and yards conceded.

All of the positive gains have resulted in the Vikings turning themselves into a legitimate Super Bowl threat, with the team going mighty close in the 2017 season, with their 13-3 record taking them all the way to the NFC Championship, where they were comprehensively beaten by the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The big problem for Spielman, however, as it is for every team on the brink of a title, is that his talented team has become extremely expensive to maintain, which has meant that relatively little has been able to be added to the squad.

By breaking the bank for Cousins in the 2018 off-season, and gifting the former Michigan State star a phenomenally large, three year $84 million contract, the Vikings have left themselves precious little wiggle-room to help bolster an offense which was only able to finish 19^th in the league for points scored last season, and which failed to even make the playoffs.

In addition, Spielman has also been reluctant to add more offensive talent through the NFL Draft, using just two of its last 12 top 150 picks on skill players, with Dalvin Cook (pick #41, 2017) and Alexander Mattison (pick #102, 2019) the only weapons the Vikings have given their QB outside of Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph who were, of course, all in-situ before the Cousins acquisition.

In essence, Spielman has pushed all of his chips on the back of Cousins, which is a peculiar gamble for a GM who has shown so much acumen where building a defense is concerned.

The stark reality is that Cousins has now been in the league for seven seasons and produced a career QB rating of just 95.0. He’s had just one 30 TD season, and been selected for just a single Pro Bowl.

Despite Cousins being an undeniably good quarterback, there is rather little evidence to suggest he’s one deserving of the kind of contract which is absorbing a massive 15.12% of the Vikings total cap.

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If the Vikings are to ever advance to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1976, it’ll be in large part to Cousins having the break-out season Spielman’s incredible gamble has been waiting for.

If they don’t, and the Vikings once again find themselves on the outside looking in come the post-season, the entire industry will be calling the Cousins gamble one of the worst in NFL history.

Just who are the Green Bay Packers right now, and where are they heading?

Once upon a time the Green Bay Packers were a bedrock of franchise stability and industry-wide respect.

It was a franchise which GM Ted Thompson ran like a well-oiled machine, placing a premium on its widely admired scouting team and which refused to be tantalised by the siren song of free agency.

With two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers under centre, the Packers were a consistent Super Bowl threat seemingly each and every season.

Between 2007 and 2014, the Packers’ 86-41 record was a mark bettered only by the New England Patriots, with Green Bay winning the 2011 Super Bowl and returning the following season with a 15-1 regular season record with one of the most dominant squads of the decade.

And now? Well, the Packers are staring down the barrel of missing the NFL Playoffs for a third consecutive season, which would qualify as their longest post-season hiatus since the early nineties.

There's a new head coach in town, with Matt LaFleur calling the shots, while even Ted Thompson has been moved into an ‘advisory role’ with Brian Gutenkunst taking over as General Manager.

Even their revered quarterback Aaron Rodgers is showing clear signs of decline - both in the health of his body, and in terms of his production.

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At 35 years old, Rodgers' numbers have fallen off a cliff with QB ratings of just 97.2 and 97.6 over the last two seasons, down from his career 103.1 average, and light years away from the incredible 122.5 he posted when collecting his first league MVP in 2011.

Yet, despite all of the concerns surrounding Rodgers, and all of the front office and coaching upheaval, perhaps the biggest concern for Green Bay has been its defense, which for a third consecutive season, failed to break into the league’s top 20 for points conceded.

The Packers defense has been one which for too long has shown very little potency hunting the ball. Last year it produced just 15 total takeaways (a number only Detroit and San Francisco achieved less than) while it was only able to make 74 hits on the opposition QB which was an area only Carolina (71) and Oakland (48) performed worse in.

To the Packers credit, they have identified that it’s their defense which is in most need of immediate attention and have committed no less than six of its last seven first and second round picks to defensive talent at the NFL Draft, while also finally opening the wallet in free agency, granting former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Za’Darius Smith a four year, $66 million contract.

Smith was one of just six players in the league last year - along with Aaron Donald, Von Miller, JJ Watt, Dee Ford and Fletcher Cox - to record at least 45 tackles, 8 sacks and 25 QB hits. Numbers which might suggest the Packers got themselves a bargain.

The Packers have been a middle of the road franchise for too long, and should be applauded for trying to modernise their organisation rather than living on past glory.

While their 2019 off-season has been tumultuous, it may well have just sown the seeds of a competitive re-awakening in Wisconsin.

Will the Detroit Lions efforts to become the New England Patriots of the NFC ever pay off?  

The Detroit Lions have tried a range of different measures of the past three decades in attempt to resurrect their once proud franchise.

Winners of four League Championships prior to the Super Bowl era, contemporary history has been thoroughly unkind to Detroit, with the franchise having not won a division title since 1993, while not winning a single NFL Playoff match since 1991.

Since 1993, the Lions have employed ten head coaches, cycled through six different general managers while having no less than 14 top ten NFL Draft selections.

In recent years, Detroit has sought to bottle some of the New England Patriots secret sauce by hiring former Patriots Director of Pro Scouting, Bob Quinn, to be their General Manager, while last year poaching the Patriots Defensive Coordinator, Matt Patricia for their head coaching position in the wake of the removal of Jim Caldwell.

The first season of the Quinn-Patricia era, while seemingly not very successful, did contain a variety of bright spots, mainly in the form of rookie running back, Kerryon Johnson, who rushed for 641 yards at an incredible 5.4 yards per carry, while also contributing to the passing game, catching 32 balls for another 213 yards.

While the Lions' 6-10 mark was yet another underwhelming return, they finished 1-4 in games decided by seven points or less, while their defense, at least from a yards conceded perspective, produced their second-best return since 1993.

But the Lions best moment of 2018 came in their Week 3 shock win over the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

It was one of Detroit’s most comprehensive performances of recent times, providing the template of exactly what Bob Quinn has been constructing his team to achieve.

The 26-10 win saw the Lions out gain the Patriots, 414 yards to 209, committing just a single turnover while rushing for 159 yards on 33 attempts.

It was the kind of performance the Lions hope can provide the platform for what this franchise wants to transform itself into over the coming seasons.

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