The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
NFC North now deeper after draft
DETROIT – The Detroit Lions swept the NFC North two years ago. Last season, they went 4-2, sweeping the Vikings while splitting with the Packers and Bears.
This season, the black and blue division could be even tougher. At the very least, there is more talent, especially young talent, especially at quarterback.
At the moment, it’s still projection, though not in Green Bay, where Jordan Love led the Packers to a 6-2 finish during the regular season, a beatdown in Dallas in the wild card round, and a near upset in San Francisco in the divisional round.
Green Bay is young. Matt LaFleur is a creative coach. Love looks like a serious keeper. The Packers drafted a promising tackle in the first round to help protect him, along with some defensive pieces as they switch their scheme from a 3-4 to a 4-3 under new coordinator Jeff Hafley.
The last time the Lions saw Green Bay was on Thanksgiving, and the outcome wasn’t pretty. Love made several turn-your-head throws, a few on the run, against an overmatched secondary and a defensive line unable to consistently pressure him.
The Lions spent the last three days addressing their secondary. They added more muscle up front. Even so, expect the battles with the Packers to be intense, fourth-quarter games, and for more season-series splits; the Packers are here.
The Bears are coming. Maybe not next season – it’s hard to win with a rookie quarterback, though it can be done; hello there, C.J. Stroud – but if Caleb Williams, the most naturally gifted quarterback to come into the league since Patrick Mahomes, finds his footing as a rookie, watch out.
It’s not preposterous to think it could happen. Stroud may have been the best rookie quarterback in years, but he isn’t the only rookie who has excelled immediately.
Brock Purdy balled as a rookie, and if not for a shoulder injury in the first quarter of the NFC title game in Philadelphia in 2023, he might have led the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
As it happened, he got them there this past season. I assume we don’t need to catalog the details of how it unfolded.
Williams, like Purdy did and, for that matter, like Stroud did, will be joining a team with some interesting pieces. The Bears weren’t a contender before Williams as the 49ers were before Purdy; still, the defense is solid and the wide receiver room will be among the best in football.
D.J. Moore already was in that room ahead of the draft. So was Keenan Allen, who arrived via trade from the Los Angeles Chargers in mid-March. To that collection of Pro-Bowl level pass catchers comes Rome Odunze, whom the Bears drafted with the ninth overall pick Thursday night.
Chicago also added former Lions running back D’Andre Swift in the backfield and returns tight end Cole Kmet, who is coming off a career year.
The Bears beat the Lions in Chicago last fall without half of these skill players and with Justin Fields at quarterback. They were feisty for most of the season and won four of their last six games. Their head coach, Matt Eberflus, is a defensive-minded fella and he brought in a new offensive coordinator to help sort out all the new toys.
Williams could struggle, as many rookie quarterbacks do, and the threat of a Chicago surge would dissipate. Betting against it, though, is no sure bet. At minimum, the Bears will almost certainly be difficult to play, as they were last season.
Now they are more talented.
As for Minnesota?
They’ve got a new quarterback, too. How good J.J. McCarthy will be is the question. Yet, like Williams, he’ll be joining a team with serious skill play: Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson. Defensively, the Vikings are often tricky and opportunistic, and they added Alabama’s promising edge rusher, Dallas Turner, in the draft.
Minnesota also signed Sam Darnold as a free agent. Presumably to take a little pressure off McCarthy, who didn’t throw the ball at the clip his fellow firstround quarterbacks did for their college teams.
Still, McCarthy has big arm talent, above-average mobility, and some spark to his game and presence. If it takes him a moment to earn the starting job, that won’t be the worst thing in the world. If it doesn’t, and he shows he’s ready, the Vikings will be difficult to sweep again.
Even if it’s Darnold leading the huddle when the Lions are on the schedule, Jefferson and Co. will be difficult to deal with. Nick Mullens, you’ll recall, threw for 411 yards on Christmas Eve last year and had the ball in his hands with a chance to win the game.
Ifeatu Melifonwu picked off Mullens with 49 seconds to play to secure the win, and the Lions’ first division title since 1993. This year, the safety will have help in the secondary after Brad Holmes signed two corners in free agency and drafted two more.
The Lions will need that help to navigate through a more talented division. Sure, the talent is young, particularly at quarterback, but teams can rise in a hurry in this league.
And while the Lions look better on paper after productive free agent signings and a promising draft, the NFC North looks better, too.
“I can see it heading that way for sure,” said Holmes. “It’s hard (not) to make an argument for it now. You know, in terms of ... those guys got some good players.”
And?
“We’ve got some good players, too.” he said, “but, yeah, this is going to be a good division. Obviously, you kind of saw last year (with) some of the guys in the division making some surges.”
Holmes expects everybody’s best this fall after coming within four points of a Super Bowl. The Lions are among the eams garnering the most buzz, rightly so, yet buzz can act as fuel for rivals within a division. So can talent.
Which means the division is about to get tougher, perhaps a lot tougher, sooner rather than later, even if the Vikings are a few seasons away. And if they take a leap, we might be looking at the best division in the game.
“We’ll be ready,” said Holmes.
He and the Lions will need to be. The NFC North is getting fun.