NFC North Preview of Each Team

Minnesota Vikings:

Biggest strength:

Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen form one of the NFC North best pass-catching tandems, and they’ve paved the way for three different quarterbacks to have career years since 2016. With another year of continuity with Kirk Cousins, their ascension should continue. They ranked in the top 25 in yards per route run last season, making the Vikes one of only three teams to see two receivers record at least 550 snaps in route and still rank in the top 25.

Biggest weakness:

NFC North X factor for 2019:

Anthony Harris. Arguably Minnesota’s best defensive player last season, Harris made his biggest impact in coverage, where he saw just 13 targeted passes. Still, he recorded three interceptions and two additional pass breakups with a long reception of just 18 yards. He’s on the rise, and the Vikings saw enough out of him to let Andrew Sendejo walk to the Eagles this offseason.

Chicago Bears

Biggest strength:

Eddie Jackson was named PFF’s top coverage defender a season ago after he dismantled opposing game plans. He was by far the league’s highest-graded safety in 2018, and of the 44 targets in which he was the primary coverage defender during the regular season, he allowed only 24 receptions while intercepting six passes and breaking up eight more.

Biggest weakness:

The Bears will likely go only as far as their quarterback will allow them and hope for a much better performance from Mitchell Trubisky in 2019. He finished with just the 31st-highest quarterback grade last season and led the league with 11 interceptions from a clean pocket. Clean pocket performance, of course, is one of the more stable metrics from year to year in the NFL.

NFC North X factor for 2019:

Tarik Cohen and David Montgomery are both threats out of the backfield in the passing game. Chicago will be a running back by committee team. From what I have heard from multiple sources Montgomery will get the starting job getting most of the touches as Cohen is a very one-dimensional back while Montgomery excels in both running and catching the ball. 

Green Bay Packers:

Biggest strength:

No matter the head coach or offense, this team’s strength will always be a healthy Aaron Rodgers. One of the best in the NFL at providing the big play and avoiding the bad ones, Rodgers’ big-time throw percentage of 5.9% ranked fifth among 30 quarterbacks who attempted 300 or more passes last year, while his turnover-worthy play percentage of 1.2% ranked first. Rodgers attempted 91 deep passes last year, and not a single one was deemed to be turnover-worthy. In the PFF era, only two other quarterbacks attempted 50 or more deep passes over the course of a season without a single one of them being turnover-worthy: Brett Favre in 2009, and Rodgers in 2015.

Biggest weakness:

The Packers have one of the best wide receivers in the league in Davante Adams. Outside of him, this receiving corps is a shadow of its former self. Geronimo Allison, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown all showed flashes at times last season, but inconsistency was a huge problem. On the bright side, this means more targets for Rodgers and with an extra year for the young guns this could mean a better receiving core

NFC North X factor for 2019:

Jaire Alexander. The Packers haven’t had a top-tier playmaker in the secondary since Casey Hayward left after the 2015 season. That looks to be changing now that Alexander is in town. He contested a league-high 36% of his targeted throws as a rookie in 2018, and his incredible week eight performance against the Rams — when he broke up five of the nine passes that were thrown into his coverage — showed the impact he can have on the back end of the defense.

Detroit Lions: 

Biggest strength:

On paper, this young and talented defensive line is one of the best in the NFL. On one edge, you have Trey Flowers, fresh off a career-high 7.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. In the middle, you have Damon Harrison, who has recorded 184 run stops over the past four years, 67 more than the next closest interior defender. Next to him is the promising duo of A’Shawn Robinson and Da’Shawn Hand. With a defense-minded head coach in Matt Patricia, this D-line has the potential to skyrocket in 2019.

Biggest weakness:

On defense, the Lions are promising upfront and on the back end, but pretty iffy in the middle. Jarrad Davis has missed 36 tackles over the past two years, the third-most among linebackers in that span. Meanwhile, Devon Kennard’s career-best effort came in 2018, when he recorded a career-high seven sacks. 

NFC North X factor for 2019:

Kenny Golladay. The second-year wide receiver had a contested-catch rate of 56.7% tied with Michael Thomas for fifth among receivers with at least 20 such targets. Golladay is a budding star. If he can continue his upward trajectory, he has the potential to be the playmaker that this team so badly needs on the outside.