NFL Preview – NFC North Figures to be a Three Way Battle

The NFL will soon begin their training camps in preparation for the 2009 NFL Season. BetOnline has already released odds on which teams will win the 2010 Super Bowl, which players will win the MVP, and how many regular season games each team will win.

Today we take a look at the NFC North Division and analyze the chances of each team, based on their odds to win the NFC North.

Let’s take a look at the teams.

NFL: NFC North Division To Win

1. Green Bay Packers +200 – - The Packer should be back n 2009 when they take to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. Green Bay, in the NFC Championship game two years ago, made the right choice by starting Aaron Rodgers last year. A year under his belt as a starter should have done wonders for Rodgers, but the real story is the fact that the Packers drafted two potential starters for their defense in B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews. Both guys will play in the Packers front seven and both guys could make a big impact. That, along with a healthy Nick Barnett, makes the Pack defense one of the best in the NFC North. Good offense, great coach, terrific defense…this team will be tough in this division.

2. Chicago Bears +180 – - Jay Cutler will absolutely make a difference at the quarterback position in 2009. Devin Hester might finally be ready to be a dominant wide receiver in the NFL and running back Matt Forte will be running behind one of the better offensive lines in the league. On defense, the Bears need to stay healthy or else they could be in trouble, again. The key with this team will be Cutler. If he can manage games the right way, protecting the aging and slowing defense against good offenses by keeping the ball in the Bears’ hands, then the Bears could challenge for the division title.

3. Minnesota Vikings +160 – - The defense is very good and nobody is better at the running back position than Adrian Peterson, but let’s be honest and just say that this is the one team in the NFC North that hasn’t really improved. Sage Rosenfels just isn’t the answer at quarterback. Neither is Tarvaris Jackson. Neither is John David Booty and, sorry Viking fans, neither is Brett Favre if he finally decides to come back. Without a real quarterback, the Vikings are in trouble because the teams that I like ahead of them, Green Bay and Chicago, have two of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league playing for them.

4. Detroit Lions +1400 - – The odds should be 140 to 1 on the Lions to win this division not 14 to 1. The problem with Detroit is that unless Matthew Stafford is Matt Ryan from Atlanta, he’s going to have a long season in Detroit under center. Then again, Ryan has Michael Turner to turn to at the running back position, a good offensive line and a decent defense. Stafford has an awful defense, a suspect offensive line and Kevin Smith and Maurice Morris to turn to in the backfield. It’s going to be a long, lonely trip for Stafford and Lions in 2009.