NFC North Predictions: Packers, Bears, Lions or Vikings?

I myself, I am going with the Green Bay Packers. I am believing in Jordan Love as much as I have question marks myself. Some other picks from our team include Cliff and John High are going with the Detroit Lions. And then you'll notice a handful of people going with the Chicago Bears. One of our Bears predictions comes from the only Vikings fan in the newsroom, Alec Nolan. So joining us now, Alec, Alec, explain yourself. Why are you going against your team in purple there? Well, if you know anything about being a Vikings fan, the agony, the heartbreak, they're the most successful franchise to never win a Super Bowl. So I think just growing up that way, I've gotten to the point where I expect nothing. You know, I almost expect the worst. And I don't think they've ever been a terrible franchise for a long period of time. But they haven't been able to figure out a quarterback situation, essentially, since the Hall of Famer, Fran Tarkenton. And really, this comes down to quarterback play in this league after seeing what I saw with the Chicago Bears. And mind you, being a Vikings fan, I don't like the Packers, but I really don't like the Bears. And I don't like Caleb Williams. And there's various reasons for that. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the nail paint, the nail polish. But hey, if you call me a hater, whatever, I guess I'm a hater. But what I have seen is that this player is extremely talented, arguably one of the most talented quarterbacks in the entire league. The arm talent's there. And you've got him matching up with Ben Johnson, a great offensive mind. And they won the division last year. And I think this year, they need to prove that last year wasn't a fluke. I understand kind of your trepidation to go in on the Vikings. Certainly, the new quarterback situation can get a little funky. But I go back a couple of years ago when they brought in Sam Darnold off the street and turned into, I believe, what, 14 win, 15 win team that particular year. This year, Kyler Murray joins them. And Kyler Murray is a bit of a cast off coming from that Arizona situation. But it does seem as though this might be the best offensive situation he's walked into throughout his career. The reason why I'm going with the Packers is, assuming Micah is healthy, I like what this team has been able to do the last few years, both offensively and defensively. Matt LaFleur, obviously, the most veteran coach in the division. And I just trust them a little bit more. I see the Lions as a little bit of a team on the decline. I see the Bears as a little bit of a erratic team that won a lot of coin flip games last year. And as we mentioned, the Vikings, yes, if the quarterback situation works out this year, they can be among the top of the division. But there's still a lot of questions there. That's why I'm going with the Packers, personally, myself. Yeah, I think you're right in saying that. Green Bay, certainly, from what we've seen, the track record with Matt LaFleur, we've seen what Jordan Love can be. We obviously know how great a player Micah Parsons is. I think that Josh Jacobs, Commissioner Exemplus situation is certainly troublesome. But this is a franchise that always seems to be not one that's tanking, not one that's in a bad position. And one that, between Favre, Rodgers, and now Love, seems to always have a great quarterback and a great offensive mind in Matt LaFleur. I did like that you brought up the Lions being on the decline. I feel like teams have windows. And I felt like their window came and went. And they had everything there. And they were in that NFC title game against the 49ers. They had them on the ropes. And you thought, wow, the Detroit Lions are going to go to the Super Bowl. And I feel like ever since then, can you really get over that? And then you can't keep all your players. And then everybody else wants your assistant coaches, which is why Ben Johnson is in Chicago to begin with. So I just don't know how long you can hold that magic with your team, especially in a division like this where it's so competitive. But with the Vikings, I don't know. I mean, I think it's really going to all come down to Kyler Murray. And if he plays well, but I have no reason to believe that all of a sudden he's this MVP caliber player that we saw with Sam Darnold. People call Kevin O'Connell the quarterback whisperer, if you will. Well, that doesn't matter if you can't find a quarterback that can just take the job and take the franchise somewhere. They bring someone in. They may play well. And then you could argue that two of his worst games as a Viking Sam Darnold, I mean, was in the playoffs. And then he goes the next year to win a Super Bowl. So at this point, I would take Darnold over Kyler Murray because Kyler's done nothing to show me otherwise. In my defense, too, with the Packers, I would also say that I made my prediction pre-Josh Jacobs decision. And still a lot of question marks there to see if Roger Goodell lets him off the list. But it does tell me the NFL may know something that we don't know. So that's still very much in the air on that respect. As far as the Lions, too, it's a shame because I do like Dan Campbell's moxie. I do like that everything he's brought to that team over the years, he just gave them identity, a toughness, a grit that Detroit throughout most of our lifetime had just been lacking. And they still have the offensive weapons on this team. I should clarify, they do have the offensive skill position players that can win any kind of particular game. But defensively, if this is the same Lions defensive unit that we saw last year, they're going to lose a lot of games just because they can't win 40 to 50 every single week. Yeah, I mean, I think if you look at just talent wise, I mean, Aiden Hutchinson, if he's healthy, that'll make a huge difference. Obviously, with the team last year, I felt like injuries really hammered them. I mean, they were nine and eight. Same same record as the Vikings, which is kind of hard to believe. And the Vikings beat them as well. But I think like you said, it's like, how long can this last? And yes, the moxie is great with Dan Campbell. Once again, how long can that last? That's why it's so hard to have these dynasties. And that's why you have to give teams credit that are consistently good. Because when you're good, you now have to pay everybody. They've just paid Jameer Gibbs. They've paid Amon Ross St. Brown. You're going to have to pay everybody that's in the building. And then also, you got to keep all the coaches. And those coaches want to go on to get their try at being a head coach as well. So it's just really hard unless you win the Super Bowl and have it all pay off. You get that close. And then now everybody in the building is leaving. And it's really hard to keep everyone inside. I think going back to the Packers situation, I just I don't know what we're going to get with Jordan Love. We've seen greatness, but then we've seen him make huge mistakes. I know you and I talked about that earlier in the week. It's just I don't know what Jordan Love we're going to get. And that's that's not necessarily a confidence booster. If you're Green Bay.