A while back, before the draft, I wrotre about the worst case scenario (for Packers fans) for each NFC North team. Basically, what would have to happen for them to be as good as possible. This week, we're going to have more fun and talk about what could sink each of the inferior NFC North teams. Starting with a team that still sucks.

Bears

Stop me if you've heard this before: the Bears have a rookie QB who was drafted really high and they're pairing him with a likely lame duck head coach, new offensive coordinator and some expensive pieces on offense. Sure it could work (in Madden), but what happens when the team is 2-5 and the fan base is clamoring for Brett Rypien or whoever the backup is? Pairing mostly failed head coaches with rookie QBs who cost so much draft capital that they can't be benched very rarely works. 

Let's say Caleb Williams is an above average rookie QB and the Bears ownership gives Eberflus the rope to develop him, the defense could still be pretty meh pretty easily.

The defense took off last season thanks to a combination of factors: Eberflus took over running it after some weird FBI rumors may or may not have caused the defensive coordinator to quite, they traded for Montez Sweat and Jaylon Johnson was the best corner in the league. Eberflus is back but Eric Washington will be running the defense and what's more likely: Montez Sweat and Jaylon Johnson can be the backbone of a top-5 defense or the Bears caught lightning in a bottle last year with Johnson in a contract year and Sweat playing a little better than his typical ceiling? 

Vikings

The Vikings are easy. They drafted a guy who passed on half his snaps in college at QB, their defense was already bad at the end of the year and their offensive weapons (outside the best wide receiver in football, admittedly) consist of a disappointing small wide receiver, an overpaid tight end, a running back who chose losing and Brandon Powell. They also have a horrific interior o-line. 

It's just not hard to see the Vikings taking a step back this year. They had some momentum going last year with Kirk Cousins and a gimmicky defense but then Cousins tore his achilles and the defense was figured out. Now baby Kirk Cousins and the next evolution of the defense (featuring several free agent acquisitions who are all worse than Danielle Hunter) are coming to a dome near you. It's enough to make you cringe, but not enough to make me nervous. That's for sure. 

Lions

The Athletic NFL pod did a draft of NFL head coaches this week and though Matt LaFleur was chosen third, he was (justifiably) criticized for hanging onto coordinators for too long -- he should've fired Joe Barry a season earlier, they said. LaFleur gets that criticism a lot and he should, but you never hear criticism for Dan Campbell sticking with Aaron Glenn after another year and another mediocre defense. 

Glenn was the Saints defensive backs coach for five years and for the past three he has tried to port that scheme onto the Lions. The Saints are famous for lifting up meh players -- Paulson Adebo had a top-15 grade last year and Montravius Adams had a few pretty good years there, just to name a few ex-Packers. The Lions (though you could probably say this about any Lions team over the past 65 years) are famous for having meh players on defense. 

Maybe next year will be the year that Glenn's defense clicks with Lions players, but it's more likely that Campbell will finally be forced to part ways with his old friend. 

On the offensive side, it's all about the o-line. If Penei Sewell goes down and everyone realizes that Kevin Zeitler is like 52 years old, those goofy misdirection run play highlights are going to come after Jared Goff panicked and threw three picks in a quarter.