Around the NFC North: 2023 Week 18
Here's what's happening this week and next with the teams in the NFC North
By Mike Price
It was the best week of the season for this article. The Vikings and Lions embarrassed each other and the Packers took care of the Bears.
Vikings & Lions
The Lions beats the Vikings 30-20 in the season finale.
Game Notes
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Jared Goff ended the regular season with his best performance. He completed 23/32 passes for 320 yards and 2 TDs. A little bit of the shine has come off the Vikings defense in recent weeks, but Goff is certainly heating up at the right time.
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Vikings backup Nick Mullens has Goff beat in one area: pass yards. Mullens loves to throw the ball up and stacks up yards in almost every game (396 in this one) he just gives the ball away too much (2 interceptions).The two turnovers were basically the difference in the game.
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The Sun God and Justin Jefferson both ended the season on a strong note with 144 yards and 192 yards respectively. The two are the clear best receivers in the North right now, it will be interesting to watch the young Packers receivers and see if any can approach them next year.
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Aidan Hutchinson was the standout player defensively in the game, racking up 2 sacks to get to breach double digits on the season.
Next Week
The Lions take on old friend Matt Stafford and the Rams.
Bears
The Bears fell to the Packers 17-9.
Game Notes
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In one of the biggest games of the year, possibly playing for the coach's job, against the Bears' biggest rival, Justin Fields had 16 attempts. The embattled QB had an ok final QB rating and but he couldn't even manager to eclipse 200 total yards on the day. He ain't it for the Bears.
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Khalil Herbert had a disappointing day with 12 carries for 28 yards and true number-one Bears receiver DJ Moore had 4 catches for 64 yards. If the Bears choose to move on from Fields and use their number 1 overall pick on a QB, they're still gonna need to spend some capital building up weapons and a stable o-line.
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The defense got a lot better once the team traded for Montez Sweat, but Jordan Love did whatever he wanted in this game and should've had 4 TD passes. Sweat had one TFL and 2 tackles. Coincidentally, one TFL is the best thing Jaquan Brisker did on the day as well.
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Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved form Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
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Comments (16)
mnbadger
January 09, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Watch 63 - wow, perfect execution in space. Hardest part of the field for a big guy to dominate. Not for 63, on this play any way.
GPG!
Qoojo
January 09, 2024 at 01:04 pm
"Watch #63", I don't think it gets any better for offensive lineman does it? Maybe a straight up pancake or like last year when Lazard blocked 3 guys on one play.
- I assume bears will use yet another #1 pick on a QB.
- I think it's awesome how the playoff seeding worked to send packers against MM, and Stafford to Detroit.
- I think the injury to Cousins showed the vikings his value to their team, and that they have no one near ready to replace him
ricky
January 09, 2024 at 02:24 pm
I don't care if one of the Packers receivers gets more yards than the Sun God or Jefferson. Nor do I care if Jordan Love is named MVP. And I could care less if any Packer is named All-Pro, or to the Pro Bowl. What I want is for the team to win a Super Bowl or three or four (or more) while Love is QB. The team, not the individual should be what counts.
And the Bears drafting another QB with the #1 pick? Who cares. They've proven they have no clue how to draft the best player available. After all, this is the team that chose Mitch Trubisky while Patrick Mahones and Deshaun Watson were available. Then again, they would have found a way to screw up whatever QB they chose. Because when it comes to developing a QB, they suck.
Leatherhead
January 09, 2024 at 03:03 pm
The Packers beat Detroit, Minnesota, and Chicago on their own fields this year. They've won 10-0 against Chicago, and they're something like 15-1 in December under LaFleur. Love looks like he's going to be the best QB in the division next year, right out of the gate. We have more draft capital than any other playoff team, we're the youngest team in the playoffs...ever....and we don't have a bunch of big FA problems this offseason, relative to other teams.
IOW, when the new season starts on March 1, the Packers are in first place, Detroit is probably second, the Bears will start over with a rookie QB, and Minnesota will crash and burn with another rookie QB.
So it is written. So it shall be done.
Brewcity_BearsFan
January 09, 2024 at 06:58 pm
I genuinely believe Chicago is keeping Fields. I think Washington or NE will trade up for the 1. Chicago will end up with it least 2, possibly 3 more 1's in return, and still land Harrison, and a pass rusher at 9. My wish is they get a new OC, spend on the O line in FA. They have a ton of available cap space, even after paying Sweat, and hopefully keeping Johnson.
Regarding Minnesota, they have to play Cousins. Dude should be pretty much getting a blank check to fill in. He was playing at a borderline MVP level when he got hurt. A 2 year deal would make sense for both sides.
Bitternotsour
January 09, 2024 at 08:59 pm
Kirk Cousins is going to get another franchise tag or a two year contract, and the Vikings will kick the can down the road, again. Cousins, at the end of his career will have made more money than Aaron Rodgers.
Houndog
January 10, 2024 at 06:22 am
Bitter,
Really? More money than Rodgers? I had no clue about that.
Wow, that's great, more money with 5% of the drama!
Must be Karma.
Bitternotsour
January 10, 2024 at 10:31 am
it had to do with his repeated franchise tags in Washington. He kept being the highest paid one year contracts.
T7Steve
January 09, 2024 at 03:48 pm
Last week was good this week better,
Just beat the Cowgirls! (sorry for the politically incorrect pronunciation)
White92
January 09, 2024 at 04:18 pm
ya no need to apologize. Folk just need thicker skin
GregC
January 09, 2024 at 06:12 pm
I really thought Justin Fields would show us a little more in Sunday's game, with his future on the line--just as I thought he would show us more in the first game of the season. But it appears that he just isn't capable of doing any more than he's done in the league already. It now looks like a no-brainer for the Bears to draft a QB in the first round, while Fields appears destined to be a career backup. Running QBs make good backups because they can improvise when things go bad, and they do better against defenses that haven't game-planned for them. The Packers game-planned well for Fields in both games this season and played with discipline, never overrunning him.
Coldworld
January 09, 2024 at 06:29 pm
Give Fields a good OL, and he might be ok. When he has plenty of time he does have the arm. He just can’t process consistently if things don’t go as planned and then if he can’t scramble to buy time or run himself, it falls apart or opponents fall on him.
He’s a guy that’s maybe would be best in a team that is willing to let him go back to being the runner who sometimes passes. Im not sure if there is one, but I don’t think he’s ever going to be a truly good conventional QB.
Tundraboy
January 09, 2024 at 08:33 pm
Maybe true. But who cares, its the bears. That's their problem . Meanwhile things are going quite nicely for us!
Bitternotsour
January 09, 2024 at 09:03 pm
It would be pure poetry if he left the bears and turned into a winner. Luke Getsy did everything possible to give him the chance to be good, he just couldn't. Life comes at you fast in the NFL.
My great hope is they don't get that much draft capital for him in a trade.
Fields might thrive with Sean McVay. Or a coach who hires Greg Roman as his coordinator
Ferrari-Driver
January 09, 2024 at 09:49 pm
I may premature in my thinking, but after playing 17 games this season, I have the feeling that the Packers may have another franchise quarterback behind center. He had the physical tools when he was drafted which including a strong arm, 6'4" in height, and decent speed in the 40 yard dash (between 4.65-4.74). This year he has shown us pocket awareness and the ability to move around in the pocket. like Brady, Rodgers, and a few others have, to buy time while looking down field for an open receiver. He exudes confidence in himself and his team mates exude confidence in him. I feel his accuracy has improved and he has won over the players in the locker room as a team leader.
All this bodes well for the Packers in the upcoming years and wouldn't it be amazing if the Green Bay Packers were fortunate enough to have three Hall of Fame quarterbacks in succession? As I said, I may be a little premature, but it looks pretty darn well at this point in time.
Johnblood27
January 10, 2024 at 12:11 pm
This year also showed that Love has some improvements to make.
He needs to get better at tracking deep receivers and judging their speed in relation the where he places the ball. Way too many open wr had to stop to try to catch the ball.
Some of his throws were lollipops that either were or almost were defensed. He needs to keep his 'touch', but stop being afraid to sling it in there. He threw up a few 'punts' and got very lucky in terms of which team caught the ball.
Ball security can also be improved upon, both in the pocket and on the move.
Overall Love was excellent, but not perfect. He did many many things very well and for the most part displayed good consistency, but every player can stand to improve, including Jordan Love.
When he gets the off-season coaching on improvements he will become even better, and I am looking forward to that!