During August, the Last Word On Sports NFL department will be breaking down every division in the league by position. This article contains a position-by-position breakdown of the NFC North offenses. The breakdown will contain “the best” at each unit followed by “the rest” in descending order.
NFC North Breakdown by Position: Defense and Special Teams
2020 Offenses of the NFC North
Quarterback
The Best: Green Bay Packers
The Rest: Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears
There’s a saying that goes you’re the best until you ain’t. Ok, so maybe that’s the first time that’s been used, but the point stands. That applied to Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Well, at least for the time being. Green Bay selected a quarterback in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, so the end will come sooner than later for Rodgers in Wisconsin. But he still putting up historic numbers. Rodgers’ “down year” consisted of throwing for 4000 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only two picks. He did this while leading the Packers to a 13-3 record. We haven’t seen Rodgers throw double-digit picks since 2010. He may have lost something, but he’s still the class of the division.
Kirk Cousins and Matt Stafford both have strong cases as the second-best quarterback in the division. So rather than make that determination, we’ll just rattle off the case for each. We’ll start with Cousins as his team has been the better unit. He’s thrown for 7901 yards, 56 touchdowns, and 16 picks. Minnesota is 18-12-1 with two playoff berths over that time, going 10-5 with him under center last season. Stafford ( seems like he has been around forever. Drafted back in 2009, he’s pretty close. He missed eight games and the Detroit Lions went 3-4-1 with him. They were 6-10 the year before and have only had four winning seasons in his tenure.
Bringing up the rear are the Chicago Bears quarterbacks. There’s an (actual) old saying that says “when you have two quarterbacks you have none”. For the Bears, the battle between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles is one they desperately need to get right, but even that might not be enough. Trubisky is expected to at least begin the season under center. He’s thrown for over 3000 yards each of the last two years but his decision making has led to costly turnovers and questions about his durability have cropped up as well. He will have to fend off Foles, a former Super Bowl MVP, who hasn’t had a good regular season since 2013, and even then he only started 13 games.
Running Backs
The Best: Green Bay Packers
The Rest: Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions
Green Bay remains the class of the division here, now boasting a potentially dangerous 1-2-3 punch in last year’s rushing touchdown leader Aaron Jones, pass-catching specialist Jamaal Williams, and rookie AJ Dillon’s legs. The Packers re-committed to the run in Matt LeFleur’s first season and finished 13th in attempts and 15th in yards. That’s up from 32nd and 22nd, respectively, in 2018. Jones started all 16 games last season for the first time in his career, but Williams still mixed in heavily on third-downs. Neither occurrence stopped them from taking Dillon instead of another pass-catching weapon for Rodgers (or Jordan Love).
Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook cracked the 1000-yard mark for the first time in his young, injury-plagued career. He started gangbusters, averaging 19.5 carries for 102.9 yards per game and a total of nine rushing touchdowns over the first eight weeks. Those numbers fell to 15.7 carries and 52 yards with four scores over the last six (he missed time with injury in the middle).
Chicago and Detroit bring up the back end but for different reasons. Chicago displayed a shocking reluctance to commit to the run last season, given they traded up for running back David Montgomery. Even more so because they were 6th in attempts and 11th in yards in 2018 but fell to 20th and 27th, respectively, last season. Will Mongomery reach 1000 yards this season? Will Tarik Cohen be the weapon we say in 2018? Detroit just can’t get right. After taking Kerryon Johnson in 2018, they have seen an endless parade of injuries as he played in 10 games as a rookie but just eight last season. Better health would help the Lions who were 16th in attempts and 23rd in yards, at least in part.
Wide Receiver
The Best: Detroit Lions
The Rest: Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers
Finally, it’s the Lions time to shine. One thing they boast is the best receiving corps in the division. That title belonged to Minnesota until they traded Stefon Diggs. That elevates Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones to the premier spot. The duo combined for a division-leading 1969 yards and 20 touchdowns. That even with Jones missing three games. Depth gets thin quickly after Danny Amendola though.
Thielen missed six games for the Vikings but is about as sure-handed as they come. He will be joined by rookie Justin Jefferson out of LSU, who shares a lot of qualities with the veteran. Olabisi Johnson, Tajae Sharpe, and Chad Bebe provide interesting depth.
The Packers and Bears bring up the rear but might have the best two individual receivers in the division. Davante Adams is probably the best but the depth behind him has been awful and won’t be much improved after Green Bay’s free against acquisition Devin Funchess opted-out of the season. Allen Robinson went from Blake Bortles to Trubisky but still manages to put up numbers. He had 1100-plus yards for the second time in his career but needs guys like Anthony Miller to step up and help out.
Tight Ends
The Best: Minnesota Vikings
The Rest: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers
Minnesota has Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith behind him and a case can be made that the Vikings could do a better job utilizing both. Rudolph is coming off his least productive season in which he played all 16 games; perhaps due to Smith’s arrival. Both could see their roles expanded with Diggs now suiting up elsewhere.
Chicago made a heavy investment in what was a problem area for them last season. Can Jimmy Graham provide sufficient production while also being a mentor to rookie Cole Kmet? Spending $9 million on Graham and a second-round pick on Kmet, the Bears sure hope so. They could easily be the top group by year’s end.
Detroit has TJ Hockenson and Jesse James but they haven’t gotten tremendous production out of either just yet. Not that they necessarily need it with their wide receivers. Green Bay has bodies, including Jace Sternberger, but they don’t use them much.
Offensive Line
The Best: Green Bay Packers
The Rest: Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears
You can’t talk about the success Green Bay has had without mentioning the hogs upfront. Led by David Bakhtiari, the group finished 12th in sacks allowed and paved the way for Jones’ career year. Rick Wagner steps in for the departed Bryan Bulaga and look for guard Elgton Jenkins to take another step forward after a strong rookie season.
Detroit could be coming for the title of the best offensive line. They already have strong building blocks in Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow and just signed Halapoulivaati Vaitai to a big deal. They’ll miss Graham Glasgow though. The Vikings focused on their offensive line last season, drafting Garrett Bradbury in the first round. They cut the amount of times Cousins was hurried in half from 2018 to 2019 and opened holes for Cook on his way to over 1000 yards.
Chicago’s line being bad could be due to regression or poor performance from the skill positions. That isn’t an outrageous claim. But they weren’t great in 2018, just passable. With no major additions outside of Germain Ifedi at guard, team officials are hoping for regression to the mean after a disastrous 2019.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
