What is up, everyone! We’re back with more sneaky big questions, this time checking out the NFC North, a rather boring division minus the Aaron Rodgers drama. Next week we’ll be back and checking out what will most likely wind up being the best division in football: the NFC West. Let’s dive in!

Detroit Lions

Q: Do the Lions actually believe in Jerad Goff as a long-term option?

Let’s not forget that Jerad Goff led the Rams to Super Bowl LIII in just his third season in the NFL. DeShaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, AND Matthew Stafford can’t say that. Most NFL fans would attest to the fact that Sean McVay was Goff’s eyes, ears, and arm during his tenure with the Rams, but he still quarterbacked Los Angeles to the playoffs three times in his four seasons as the full-time starter.

Jerad Goff’s dead cap hit this year is $41 million and $30.5 million in 2022, so Goff is stuck in Detroit for at least the next two seasons and likely a third. Most would agree that Jared Goff and his massive contract aren’t assets, but it’s obvious that Detroit feels otherwise. New GM Brad Holmes had been a scout in the Rams organization for 17 years and was an integral part in drafting Todd Gurley, Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp, AND Jerad Goff. Holmes clearly still believes in Goff because absorbing his $104 million contract isn’t worth just two 1st round picks from LA. This roster has so many holes on both sides of the ball. If Goff can give the Lions 75-80% of what Matt Stafford did then this could be a competitive football team in 2-3 years. It’s hard to imagine the Lions finishing in any other place than 4th in the NFC North in 2021, but I’m curious to see if Holmes can turn this team around in the coming years.

Minnesota Vikings

Q: Why exactly is Mike Zimmer on the hot seat?

Let’s take a look at a cautionary tale involving Jim Caldwell and the aforementioned Detroit Lions, a story that proves that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. In his four years as head coach, Jim Caldwell led the Lions to two playoff births and Detroit had a winning record in three of his four seasons at the helm. After leading them to a 9-7 record in 2017, Caldwell was let go and replaced by Matt Patricia. The Lions thought they could get over the hump with Patricia in charge, but they were sadly mistaken. Caldwell had a 36-28 record with Detroit, which is the 2nd highest winning percentage for a head coach in the franchise’s history during the Super Bowl era. Patricia came in and was immediately a disaster, as he led them to a 13-29-1 record and they finished last in the NFC North in every season with the team. Do you think the Lions still would have fired Caldwell if they had a crystal ball?

This story leads me to ask the question: Why are teams so quick to throw coaches that produce winning teams to the wayside? Every year Minnesota is competing, hovering around 9 or 10 wins, and they usually get knocked out early in the playoffs. But is that really such a bad thing? Would Vikings fans really prefer to see their team be 6-11 or 7-10 every year much like the Broncos?

Mike Zimmer has done a fantastic job with the Vikings and he’s been their most successful coach over the past 20 years. Zimmer holds a .576 winning percentage. He led them to an NFC North title in just his second season, and Minnesota nearly made it to the Super Bowl with Case Keenum under center. The interesting tidbit about Zimmer is that he is the longest-tenured head coach without a Super Bowl appearance. Many Vikings fans have been calling for his head this past offseason because their defense ranked 27th in Yds/G, 27th in Rush Yds/G, and 29th in PPG in 2020. There is no question that if the Vikings start off 1-4 or 0-5, Zimmer will surely be fired. They have only made the playoffs one time in Kirk Cousins’ three years and the defense is slowly slipping. Despite all this, I would continue to roll with Zimmer. Why? Because you can do a heck of a lot worse. He’s produced competitive, winning teams for years…and like we’ve seen with Detroit, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Chicago Bears

Q: Can Justin Fields break the curse of Ohio State quarterbacks in the NFL?

For decades, Ohio State has been a breeding ground for NFL talent. Ohio State has sent more players to the NFL than any other school outside of USC and Notre Dame. Michael Thomas, Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, Chase Young, Orlando Pace, Ezekiel Elliot, Eddie George, Cris Carter, Marshon Lattimore, Terry McLaurin, Nick Mangold, Denzel Ward, the list goes on and on. However, there is one position that Ohio State has failed to produce even mediocre NFL talent at. The quarterback spot.

The track record of Ohio State quarterbacks transitioning to the NFL is downright horrendous. Craig Krenzel, Troy Smith, Terrelle Pryor, Cardale Jones, JT Barrett, Dwayne Haskins Jr., none of them have done anything at the next level. The most successful NFL QB to come out of Ohio State was Mike Tomczak who threw for 16,079 yards and had a career 42-31 record. I believe a big reason why Justin Fields fell in the 2021 NFL Draft was due to the stigma surrounding Ohio State quarterbacks.

After the 2020 season ended, every mock draft and analyst had Fields as the consensus #2 pick to the Jets. Then, the Zach Wilson buzz started to mount and teams became enamored with the physical tools of Trey Lance. During the months leading up to the 2021 NFL Draft, Fields’ throwing motion/mechanics were picked apart and he was ultimately the 4th quarterback off the board last April. All the Ohio State QB bias aside, I believe in Justin Fields at the next level. He reminds me a lot of Cam Newton…he’s big, he’s tough, and he runs a 4.4. My left brain wants to be scared off by the fact that he is another mobile Ohio State Quarterback, but my right brain tells me he’s just an exciting player that threw for 6 TDs against Clemson. He’ll most likely be very inconsistent as a rookie, but coming into the 2021 season, Fields is one of the most intriguing players in the NFL.

Green Bay Packers

Q: Will they actually utilize AJ Dillon this year?

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers had themselves quite an offseason. The reigning MVP hosted Jeopardy for a few weeks, demanded a trade, and publicly said that he hates GM Brian Gutekunst. With Aaron Rodgers back, the Packers really don’t have too many question marks heading into the 2021 season. The Packers currently have the 3rd best odds to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl behind the Bucs and Rams. They’ve made it to back-to-back NFC Championship games, they had a top-10 defense last year, and they retained most of their starters outside of Corey Linsley.

The 2020 NFL Draft was a complete and utter disaster for Green Bay. It’s shocking that Packers management didn’t foresee that the Jordan Love selection would piss off Aaron Rodgers and the rest of their nine selections had virtually no impact on the 2020 team. Green Bay selected running back AJ Dillon out of Boston College despite already having one of the best RBs in the league in Aaron Jones. The Dillon pick was questionable at the time, but it’s even more confusing after Aaron Jones signed a 4-year $48 million deal this offseason. Dillon was third on the depth chart last year and only saw 46 rushing attempts during the entire 2020 season. He was the only rookie that saw virtually any snaps in 2020 and I’m curious to see what his role will be this upcoming season. They used a high draft pick on a backup when guys that made an impact last year like Jeremy Chinn, Jonah Jackson, and Julian Blackmon were still on the board. With Jamaal Williams departing for Detroit, Dillon should see an increased workload in his sophomore season.

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