vikings.com takes a look around the rest of the NFC North to see what the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers have going on…
Chicago Bears
If the Chicago Bears miss-out on a playoff berth and/or an NFC North division championship this season, last Sunday’s 22-20 loss at Atlanta will certainly be a game to look back on as one that got away.
As most fans know by now, the Bears took a 20-19 lead with just 11 seconds remaining the game. The team elected to squib kick the ball back to the Falcons, who started their drive with the ball at their own 44-yard line. Matt Ryan was able to complete a deep out pass to Michael Jenkins with just one second remaining. Veteran Jason Elam converted a 48-yard field goal attempt to drop the Bears to 3-3 on the season and into a three-way tie for first place in the NFC North.
Chicago’s offense continued to make strides in the loss. Kyle Orton was 26 of 43 for 286 and one touchdown, and more importantly put his team in position to get the win by engineering an 11-play, 77-yard drive late in the game which resulted in a Robbie Gould field goal.
Rookie running back Matt Forte continued his solid rookie season, scampering for 110 total yards and running for his third touchdown of the season and fifth overall.
Chicago’s defense did a good job of containing one of the NFL’s leading rushers, Michael Turner, as the former Charger had just 54 yards on 25 carries, with nearly half of those yards coming on one play.
However, Ryan – who was the third overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft out of Boston College – was able to make the Bears pay through the air in going for 301 yards and one score and, maybe more importantly, no turnovers.
Chicago will now turn its attention to the Vikings, who visit the Windy City this Sunday in a huge NFC North matchup. The Bears will then enjoy their bye week before hosting the Detroit Lions in a week nine matchup.
Detroit Lions
As all Vikings fans witnessed on Sunday, the Lions gave forth their best effort of the season, but were still unable to come away with a victory as the team feel to 0-5 on the season with a 12-10 loss to the Vikings.
Quarterback Jon Kitna, who missed Sunday’s game with a back injury, has been placed on the IR, meaning that Dan Orlovsky, a four-year veteran who made his first career start last Sunday, will lead the Lions for the rest of the 2008 season.
He’ll be leading Detroit without the services of Roy Williams, who was traded (along with a seventh round pick in the 2009 draft) to the Dallas Cowboys for a first, a third, and a sixth round pick. The trade appears to be very good for the Lions in the long-term, but for the remainder of this season, it certainly will limit what is currently the 30th ranked offense in terms of yards per game.
That offense didn’t do much against Minnesota’s stout defense on Sunday. Calvin Johnson, who will now see even more double-teams than he might have before Williams was dealt, hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Orlovsky, but other than that the Detroit offense total just 212 yards and turned the ball over once.
The Lions’ defense was certainly solid, but Minnesota’s offense hasn’t exactly been dominant this year. They did cause three Minnesota turnovers which is what allowed the Lions to stay in the game as long as they did. However, the loss of Williams will certainly not make their job any easier since the offense doesn’t figure to improve with the loss of a former 1,000 yard receiver.
This week’s game at Houston might be one of the most winnable games the Lions have in the foreseeable future; after the Texans, Detroit takes on Washington, Chicago, and Jacksonville in its next three games.
Green Bay Packers
If you believe in the theory that there are good and bad times to play teams, then you’d have to acknowledge that the Green Bay Packers played the Seattle Seahawks at the “right time” this past weekend. To their credit, Green Bay was able to travel half-way across the country and dismiss of a team they should have beaten as they topped the Seahawks by a 27-17 score.
The Seahawks have of course been hit hard by the injury bug this season, particularly on offense, and that trend continued last week when quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was forced to sit out due to a bulging disk in his back. His normal backup, Seneca Wallace, is still out with a calf injury, so third stringer Charlie Frye got the nod.
The former Cleveland Brown completed just 12 passes for 83 yards and threw two interceptions. Not surprisingly, the running game was unable to get much going either, as Julius Jones ran for just 44 yards on only 12 carries, so the Green Bay defense certainly did its job on Sunday.
The Packers offense was very balanced and efficient on Sunday, as Aaron Rodgers showed no ill-affects from the shoulder injury he suffered two weeks ago in throwing for two scores and 208 yards though he did turn the ball over once.
After a slow start due to injuries and a brief training camp holdout, running back Ryan Grant had his second solid game in a row, rushing for nearly 100 yards though he still remains scoreless on the season.
The schedule gets much tougher for Green Bay now though: they host Indianapolis and then play three of their next four on the road against Tennessee, Minnesota, and New Orleans, with a home game against the Saints mixed in.