Around the NFC North: 2024 Week 7
The cannibalizing has begone.
By Mike Price
Well we gained on two of the North teams this week. The Lions handed the Vikings their first loss of the season, and the Bears didn't bother playing. Unclear if the Bears had a bye or if they simply realized that they were the Bears and gave up, I guess we'll see next week.
Lions and Vikings
The Lions pulled out a 31-29 victory. We've got a short one today since two teams played each other and the third didn't play so we'll try to load up with fun nuggets.
Game Notes
- The book on Jared Goff is that he falls apart when you pressure him. Or, at least, it was. The Vikings went all out on the pressure Goff strategy and succeeded, in a way, since they pressured Goff on 51.7% of his drop backs. But somehow Goff was 10/11 for 164 yards and two touchdowns when pressured. Wut? Goff has so much faith in Ben Johnson's system and the Lions' weapons are so good right now that pressure isn't really affecting him.
- I'm not sure what the defensive plan is to beat the Lions. In this one, David Montgomery got hurt and had one catch for -4 yards. It didn't matter because Jahmyr Gibbs had 15 carries for 116 yards and two TDs and the Sun God had eight catches for 112 yards and a TD.
- On the defensive side for the Vikings, Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard both had big games again with two sacks and a sack respectively. Only one other Vikings defensive player had a PFF grade over 72.
- The Vikings gave up 29 points to the Packers a few weeks ago and 31 to the Lions this weekend. Both of these offenses are great, but the Vikings defense is definitely starting to show some cracks.
- The Lions defense, post Aidan Hutchinson injury, is also showing some cracks. The Vikings had 383 yards in this one on 81.5% passing completion and 6.6 yards per carry - you don't put up those numbers against an elite defense very often.
- Aaron Jones led the way with the team's highest PFF grade and 116 yards and a TD on 17 touches. Darnold made one mistake, throwing a pick, and that was the difference between his and Jared Goff's performances. It is interesting to note that Darnold added 39 rush yards something that would probably take Goff seven or eight seconds.
- Justin Jefferson had 81 yards and a TD on seven catches to lead the team. Jordan Addison added 66 yards. Lot of pundits talked about Jordan Addison being better than Jayden Reed this off-season, but he's yet to eclipse either 3 catches or 72 yards in a game this season. Maybe the Vikings just haven't needed him with Jefferson and Aaron Jones tearing it up but you'd like to see more out of a first-round pick.
- As far as the Lions defense goes, Twitter could not get over how amazing Brian Branch is again and how horrific it is that he lasted 44 picks in the draft. He's obviously a great player but let's not forget that he had a very meh combine. For every 4.6 safety who looked like a genius in college and is good in the NFL, there are 17 failures who couldn't cover in the NFL.
Bears
The Bears had a bye.
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Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved from Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
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Comments (11)
Coldworld
October 23, 2024 at 10:33 am
Williams over branch any day. In a Hafley D I don’t think Branch gets preferred to Nixon as the default slot anyway.
Goff is not Stroud. Pressure approaching doesn’t worry him and he’s good at just getting the ball out. To throw him off you have to either have him trying to run for his life or hit him. So pressure needs to be fast and block his chances need not simply collapse.
He will stand in there and get hit if he can, unless he’s pulling the ball down and moving or in the floor it’s not going to cut it. He does worse after a hit or two too. Darnold is relatively similar. Stroud was not. Not an easy task with that OL, because Goff will read blitzes rapidly and throw behind them.
The Vikings have an innovative but essentially gimmick D. It’s hard to keep that innovative. Teams learn. The Lions without Hutchinson expose their D exponentially. I’m not surprised Darnold was effective with his weapons, I’m also not surprised Goff wasn’t rattled by that D.
Begone oh builder of myths. They are good teams but they both now have flaws. If we resolve our own, it will be a very interesting battle.
dobber
October 23, 2024 at 11:10 am
The Vikings secondary is no great shakes. If you pressure and single cover, your DBs need to be able to cover--at least long enough for the rush to disrupt the play. Minnesota is mostly a "stop the run, and pressure enough to eventually make the play that gets your D off the field" defense.
You're right: last year, teams figured out the defense and when it had to carry the water (after Cousins got hurt) it couldn't do it.
LLCHESTY
October 23, 2024 at 07:14 pm
Flores has been putting on a magic show for a year and a half now. It's a truly impressive job by him but experienced QBs can see through the smoke and mirrors. I'd like to see what he could do with a defense with more talent(in another division).
Bearmeat
October 23, 2024 at 01:14 pm
Agreed on all points, CW.
splitpea1
October 23, 2024 at 11:21 am
No surprise with the Lions, as Goff regularly chews up the Flores defense. Cumulative last three games vs. the Vikings: 75/97, 857 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 3-0 record. Even though he took 4 sacks this game, constant blitzing apparently isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Leatherhead
October 23, 2024 at 12:22 pm
Lions have a good offense, but there are a lot of problems on defense. Remember, this is the defense that coughed up the epic hair ball in the second half of the Championship game. I don't see it as better, especially without Hutchinson.
Minnesota is 5-1. If they play .500 ball the rest of the way, they'll win 10 games and make the playoffs. They are not a better team than the Packers. I think the good part of the season is over for Minnesota. They play a game tomorrow, on the road, against the Rams, and then they have a stretch that includes teams like Seattle, Atlanta....and four more division games. Playing .500 ball the rest of the way isn't a given. The sweetest possible ending is for the Vikings to need a win the last week of the season to get in. That game would be in Detroit. I could totally see Minnesota losing their last three games: At Seattle, home against the Packers, the At Detroit.
The Bears are respectable looking, and until Caleb Williams breaks, they'll be competitive.
Coldworld
October 23, 2024 at 01:00 pm
Bears D is good, but their easy season is over and it will be tested much more, as will their O.
Bearmeat
October 23, 2024 at 01:17 pm
The Lions defense is about to get exposed. Lions fans think they're getting an under 30 blue chip talent from the Raiders or Browns at a premium position for pennies on the dollar to "fix" the issue. GTFOH. They're going to score. But they're going to give up a shit ton of points too.
The Vikings defense has more talent than I thought it did. I'll give them that. And Darnold has been better than I thought he was. I'll give them that. But I still think both houses of cards will fold in on themselves. Darnold will regress and people will figure out Flores as the season goes along. That's long been his pattern.
The Bears? They're frauds and will get exposed. Starting with WAS this week.
If Love can clean up the bad decisions, we're going to win the division. The defense is LEGIT. We have kicker figured out. A few concerns are still pressure with 4 on defense and run fits. But we are the most talented team with the best QB and the best coaching staff, in the NFC. People around the country haven't figured that out yet. But they will.
egbertsouse
October 23, 2024 at 06:40 pm
Yup, the Packers are great and the other teams in the division suck. That’s why they are in 3rd place. “You are what your record says you are” according to Parcells.
joejetson
October 23, 2024 at 08:00 pm
The Bears may catch a huge break if Jayden Daniel's rib injury causes him to miss this game.
That would be a shame, the Daniels/Caleb Williams showdown has been much anticipated.
Marcus Mariota played well in relief last week, so hopefully he'll do it again vs Chicago if necessary.
barutanseijin
October 24, 2024 at 06:44 am
Daniels > Williams.