FanPost

The best division in the NFL

There's a storm brewing in the Midwest and I've beaten the weather watchers to giving it a name; the NFC North division race. What makes this such an intriguing race is that even though national "experts" seem to have annointed the Packers as the champs before the season begins, this division is about as even across the board as any division in the NFL. Think about this, the Packers were 11-5, the Vikings were 10-6, the Bears were 10-6, and though the 4-12 Lions didn't get many wins last year, it was reminiscent of our 3-13 season where every close game fell the other team's way. So I am asserting that the Lions, though they may never win the division (bless their collective heart) are not far off from becoming at least a respectable team again.

Simply put, in the NFC North, all 4 teams have had double digit wins at least once within the last two seaons! No other division can claim that mark. In fact, only the AFC North has had 3 teams with double digit wins in the past two seasons with all other divisions coming in at 2 or less. If this doesn't show the overall talent as well as the equivalency amongst the NFCN rosters, I don't know what does. These facts don't fully capture why I love the NFCN north though, so I am going to go team by team on what makes them capable of honoring the call of the Black-and-Blue division.

Vikings:

I'm not going to mention all the reasons that I love having the Vikings in the NFC North. We are all fans and absolutely know every single reason why the Vikings are God's gift to football. I will share these two thoughts on the Vikings though and why I love them.

1) Adrian Peterson (as if you didn't see that coming). How anybody can watch this man play football and not be inspired to do at least one thing in their life with as much determination and passion as he has for carrying a football is beyond me.

2) No matter what, the Vikings are always entertaining. Whether it's a 1998/2009 type season of fate, luck, and miracles (selective amnesia helps too) or a 2010 type season where lady luck has literally used our favorite team as toilet paper, the Minnesota Vikings are ALWAYS entertaining.

Lions:

The Detroit Lions are seemingly always at the bottom of the NFCN, however, they do have some redeeming qualities that I enjoy.

1) Calvin Johnson...the best wideout in the game bar none. Were it not for a crap head coach and a supporting cast that mailed it in the last half of last season, his incredible season last year would have garnered more attention. The guy is quietly great, and he's one player I cannot help but cheer for.

2) Jim Shchwartz is in idiot and I like watching him fail. I know it's wrong to enjoy that, but both him and the childish Harbaugh are my two least favorite coaches...it just so happens I get to laugh at one of them because he also sucks at his job.

Bears:

The Bears are great for this division because they probably most adequately portray the Black-and-Blue identity that comes with the NFCN. Though that may be changing (our own Vikes are becoming a more physical team by the day both on offense and defense), the Bears still have these things going for them.

1) Their defense is still special even without Urlacher (it actually may be better). Their splash plays defensively are always fun to watch.

2) Devin Hester was (and may be again now that he's only doing ST duties) an electric returner with seemingly otherwordly abilities. We can all appreciate how much fun having a great ST unit is...especially with Blair and the recent transformation of Percy Harvin into a bigger, more physical, game-changer by the name of Patterson.

Packers:

As much as I dislike the Packers and as much as it kills to me watch them win seemingly every fricken game every fricken week, I still watch because I still like to witness history and also to cheer for them to fail. Below are the reason I enjoy having the Packers in the NFCN:

1) They are ALWAYS competitive and I respect the heck out of any system that can maintain something that seems so fleeting to most other organizations...relevancy.

2) Aaron Rogers. Now, I hate that he seems like a petty, whiny, egotistical sh*t bag, but I do respect how the man used his draft day slight as motivation to take the league by storm. Sometimes, and I don't like admitting this, but sometimes, I just hate that he's not on our team. I hate him because he's the best quarterback in the NFL and has been for some time now.

Reasons I like the NFCN in general:

1) One of the oldest rivalries in the game - Packers/Bears

2) One of the most heated rivalries in the game - Packers/Vikings

3) The best running back in the game is in NFCN

4) The best wide-receiver in the game is in the NFCN

5) The best quarterbackk in the game is in the NFCN

6) The best return specialist in history is in the NFCN

7) The best kicker in the game is in the NFCN

8) NFCN has very good representation in the Conf Champ and Super Bowls

9) Storied history of legends (Sanders, Payton, Carter, Lombardi, Favre, Moss, etc)

10) Packers suck...

Alright everyone, I know that the football season seems like years away, so I tried to gin up something that would at least help pass some time. Feel free to leave some other reasons that I missed on why you enjoy having the Lions, Bears, or Packers in our divison or why you just like the NFCN in general. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. PS - Why can't we use sarcastic font in fanposts?

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.