The Vikings don't really scare me. I believe Aaron Rodgers is breaking down and you can count on the Lions being the Lions. IF this offense takes off like Trestman's did it could take the league some time to adjust to it. Unlike when Trestman took over the Bears have a great defensive coordinator. That could be enough for them to shock the league. Either way this team should be fun to watch.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Hey looky here.

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Elections have consequences.

The Smith holdout is souring my mood on the team.

Cutler MVP?

Welcome back Nas.

I think the Vikings take the division because of the upgrade at QB and they kept the majority of their defense.
I think Patricia becomes the first coach off the Belichik tree to succeed and the Lions come in second.
IF the Bears WR and ILB can stay healthy, they move up to third.
I agree with Rodgers breaking down and Kizer isn't ready to lead the Packers, so they finish fourth.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

I'm lying about the Vikings. They do scare me. I hope last season was a fluke otherwise the wildcard will be the Bears only shot at the playoffs for a few years. I think Patricia was kinda exposed in the Super Bowl. I'm not really high on him. IMO the Bears put together a far better staff than he did. I think the Lions will take a step back.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I don't think it matters that much now. Sure guys in the locker room probably aren't thrilled but if he shows up and plays the way most expect him to play it will be forgotten rather quickly.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Rodgers is not breaking down

I love Bear fans

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

No fucking way. Last place again. 4-6 wins again.

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This guy gets it.

The elephant in the room with all this newfound optimism is that Mitch still sucks. Once they get a decent QB I'll consider taking them seriously.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I know everyone can't be Brett Favre but he's gotten hurt quite a bit recently. That collarbone had been broken at least twice. Besides they don't exactly have division winning talent on offense.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Patricia is a joke. I think the Lions are going to be a trainwreck this year and may threaten for 1.1. Their receiving corps is not good and their runningbacks are no better than they've been in the past. If Stafford gets hurt they're going to fold. Their defense will be truly abysmal. Their pass rush is horrible and they did nothing to improve it. Patricia is not a good defensive coach.

I agree that this may be the year Rodgers begins to enter the twilight of his career. The Packers are team on the obvious decline. Their pass rushers are both old, injury prone and overrated. They have invested a ton into their defensive backfield and it still doesn't seem particularly threatening. They did bring back Rodgers favorite offensive coordinator, but I am not enthralled with their skill position players at all. I think there is a chance Rodgers goes supernova this year lashing out against the dying of the light, stays healthy, and leads them to a miracle 13-3 season but other than that I think they are going to descend further into mediocrity.

The Vikings could have the best regular season record in the NFL next year. They are going all out to win a title. On paper they didn't lose anyone of consequence and added Richardson, Cousins and another good looking secondary player in the draft. This year and next year are what they see as their championship window.

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I think the Bears can beat these teams. The Vikings obviously will be tough but the Bears might actually be able to slow down the Cousins attack with their defense. This is where the Roquan Smith holdout is a problem, because the Bears are going to be leaning heavily on their linebackers to win those Minnesota games. They absolutely have to deny Minnesota on the ground and settle the Rudolph mismatch in order to keep their offense in the game against Minnesota's defense.

Clearing the Rodgers hurdle will be a mental one. New coach, new QB...its a fresh start. The Packers are down but not out.

This could be true. I'm a little bit more optimistic. Even if you are right I believe they'll still be appointment television on Sunday.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

All of this is wrong. He's broken his collarbone twice, but I did find the way you phrased it amusing. They have a lot of talent on offense around him and outside of the collatbone injury last year he hasn't been hurt recently.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Its a bad distraction. Kwiatkowski is playing well in camp, what happens when Smith shows up? They've created this situation where their top 10 pick isn't coming into camp in a starter and now the veteran, sensing that this is his shot, is making the most of his opportunity.

I dont like it that our "guy who just loves football" pick is missing training camp.

The Packers are not down. If Rodgers is healthy they are a 12 win team and on the short list of SB contenders.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I know you're a Packers fan so I'll allow a bit of hyperbole. I dont think he sucks but its just being assumed that he will be good to great. I've seen nothing to give me confidence in that. And dont say the coaching... Nagy is completely unproven and his OC is a college coach.

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They will go as far as Rodgers can take them.

I just want to be entertained again. I havent watched much football the last 3-4 years. I have too much going on to dedicate 3+ hours to watching them get their dicks kicked in week in and week out.

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He's missed 16 games in 5 years. That's a lot of games. He's still clearly the best QB in the division but at best he has the 3rd best offensive weapons around him. Can he still be mobile and great enough to overcome this? The division is getting better and the Packers don't appear to be doing the same. I see them finishing 3rd.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

In previous years I would agree. I think the improvement of the division changes that. They can't bank on 5 or so division wins anymore.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Of course, that's every team with an all time great QB in his prime.

But you guys are all sleeping pretty hard on the rest of the team. They're bringing back one of the best offensive lines in football, they have good pass rushers who are neither old nor particularly injury prone. They have good safeties. As you said they invested a lot in their CB spot but I agree it doesn't excite me much what they have there still. Their LB corp is a weakness unless one of their draftees stands out. Davante Adams is better than Allen Robinson and every other WR in the division not named Stephon Diggs. Their RB committee is extremely talented. They replaced one of the worst defensive coordinators in the league with a well respected one.

Thinking this team sucks outside of Rodgers seems a little out of town stupid to me.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Sure they can. They'll kick the shit out of bums like Detroit and Chicago again and split with Minny.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

IF he's the player many believe he is the competition is good. Besides Barry Minter didn't relinquish his starting spot to Urlacher immediately.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I would be willing to wager they don't win more than 4 division games. The Packers are probably a 9 win team with a healthy Rodgers.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Bear fans? This is Nas. He does this every year. I would venture to say that you cannot find another Bear fan around here that agrees with him.

Most of us would be thrilled with an 8-8, 9-7 season and showing some steps forward.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Thank you and welcome back Nas. I feel much better about my Packers now

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“How do you get to be president and you’re stupid?” Donald J Trump - 4/10/25
When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus. - Turkish Proverb

I was more referring to Nas, Frank, and America saying Rodgers is breaking down. I was dumb enough to start a thread about that a couple years ago, so I understand being susceptible to a dumb, lazy storyline like that, I just found it funny that it was three of the first six or whatever posts in here.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Their pass rushers suck. They are banking on a Wilkerson return-to-form because while Daniels is obviously a great player he's not great at getting to the QB. Other than that its still Nick Perry and Clay Matthews. They've got a really good defensive line and a probably average-to-above-average secondary. What that means to me is they have a defense that will not lose them games (like it did under Capers) but wont win them games either.

I am not anywhere near as high on the offense as you are. They've clearly improved their tight end position, nothing could be worse than what Bennett gave them last year, but they seem to have taken the approach of just throwing a bunch of WR's into camp and seeing what Rodgers can make out of them (this feeds my sentiment that this Packers team will go entirely as Rodgers goes). They have a good offensive line, wont say they are any better than that until/unless Bulaga shows he's fully recoevered from his injury.

It all depends what you think of Rodgers. If you Rodgers is still in his prime you think the Packers will be good. I can certainly tell you that they are not good enough to weather losing Rodgers for 5 or so weeks. They are also not good enough to overcome Rodgers losing a step. Like I said, the possibility that Rodgers goes supernova and blows out all our expectations for the Packers is out there...but as I compile a list of possible Rodgers outcomes and assigning them probability off what I've seen from Rodgers recently I feel pessimistic about the Packers chances.

I agree with Nas. I think the second round picks pushed the Bears over the hump.