ESPN: Kings of The North Prediction...

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@StickyBun said:
Vikings won 10 games last year. That didn't win the division. How is Minnesota better than 10 wins this year? They lost Stefon Diggs. Lost a bunch of players on D. See the logic? The winner of the NFCN last year went to the NFCC game. What have the Vikings done to leapfrog them?

It is homerism. But the team has talent for sure. And that's why they play the games. But there's a handful of posters here that every year overvalue the Vikings and undervalue the Packers. Like clockwork regardless. I'm not saying Minnesota can't win the NFCN, I'm saying the odds are against it. 

The only thing I'll say to that is the Packers were one of the healthiest teams in the league last year (in terms of games missed by starters) and went 8-1 in games that were decided by one score (8 points or less).  That type of record in close games isn't sustainable and really inflates their win/loss record.  Bill Barnwell who goes deep into statistical analysis did a piece on this recently where he looked at teams who won a high percentage of close games and how those teams performed the following season to project which 2019 teams are most likely to see their win loss record regress the mean.  Guess who he thinks will regress in the W/L column in 2020...

If the Packers are more league average in close games, they would have been 9-7 or 10-6 instead of 13-3...  Green Bay was not a dominant team last year as we saw when they played SF twice and got blown out each game.

I still think the NFC North is up for grabs, the Vikings could have been an 11 win team if they didn't rest all their starters in Week 17 against Chicago.  We beat the Saints in New Orleans last year...  they were a legit 13-3 team.  Let's not discount what the Vikings did last year.

I think the division is up for grabs between GB and MN and maybe CHI if Foles is Philly Foles and not St. Louis/Jacksonville Foles.

[Guest]

@Hawkvike25 said:

@StickyBun said:
Vikings won 10 games last year. That didn't win the division. How is Minnesota better than 10 wins this year? They lost Stefon Diggs. Lost a bunch of players on D. See the logic? The winner of the NFCN last year went to the NFCC game. What have the Vikings done to leapfrog them?

It is homerism. But the team has talent for sure. And that's why they play the games. But there's a handful of posters here that every year overvalue the Vikings and undervalue the Packers. Like clockwork regardless. I'm not saying Minnesota can't win the NFCN, I'm saying the odds are against it. 

I understand your logic, but also remember the Packers were playing teams who finished third in their division last year while the Vikes were playing teams who finished second. This year, the Packers are now playing teams who finished first, making this year a lot tougher for them. The Vikes schedule is definitely a tough one this year, but Green Bay's schedule is going to be quite difficult. One way the Vikes have improved is we don't have a bottom feeder starting for us at corner in Rhodes. Sure, we lost Diggs, but Irv will greatly improve, hopefully Thielen is healthy all year, and then Jefferson steps up along with Bisi and others.

Our division has had a different winner in three straight years...let's play the games first.

...as you can in the parts that are bold, I said the same thing. 

[Guest]

The Packers did not win the division last year!
The Packers and the zebras won it.

[Guest]

@StickyBun said:
Vikings won 10 games last year. That didn't win the division. How is Minnesota better than 10 wins this year? They lost Stefon Diggs. Lost a bunch of players on D. See the logic? The winner of the NFCN last year went to the NFCC game. What have the Vikings done to leapfrog them?

It is homerism. But the team has talent for sure. And that's why they play the games. But there's a handful of posters here that every year overvalue the Vikings and undervalue the Packers. Like clockwork regardless. I'm not saying Minnesota can't win the NFCN, I'm saying the odds are against it. 

Read my post above. Pointing out the team's losses without evaluating its gains is not a realistic take.

Regarding "posters here who overvalue the Vikings and undervalue the Packers," go back to what I said in the preseason last year. When most people were saying the Vikings would be lucky to be .500 and the Bears were still the team to beat, I said the Vikings had an 11-5 roster, the Division Champion Bears would come crashing down, and too many people were overlooking the Packers. Is it over or undervaluing if you're exactly right? 

Honestly, the Packers weren't as good as I thought they'd be. I did not expect such a crap year from Rodgers. That was a really uneven team who, like us, had a handful of games where they were just terrible. The team who wins the North in 20 will be the team who cleans up those games.