The NFC North is up for grabs, and it's going to be ugly (ESPN)

[purplefaithful]

MINNEAPOLIS -- If you ever wondered what early-20th-century, leather-helmet football would have looked like in a $1.1 billion angular glass stadium, Sunday was your day to find out. The Minnesota Vikings slugged their way to a 24-16 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in a game that was nowhere near as high-flying as the final score makes it appear.
The Vikings kicked six field goals and scored one touchdown, after which the same kicker missed the extra point. The Ravens scored on three field goals (which, combined with Minnesota's six, tied an NFL single-game record) and didn't get the ball inside the Vikings' 20-yard line until the game's final minute, when they scored a touchdown on the last play of the game.
"That was a little disappointing," Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr said. "We wanted to keep them out of the end zone."
Point of pride, interrupted. But the Vikings won, and the Green Bay Packers lost. Now Minnesota stands alone in first place in the NFC North at 5-2. The Vikings won this division two years ago, so they know they can win it this year. But they also know that, since QBAaron Rodgers is out for the Packers and injuries have shredded the wide receiver corps here and in Chicago and Detroit, this division is going to have to be won ugly.
http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/...to-be-ugly

[Guest]

What a shame...Packers losing and all

[Guest]

@"Vanguard83" said:
What a shame...Packers losing and all

Remember, we wish 8/8 on them -- not a high draft pick for their suffering. 

[Guest]

@"purplefaithful" said:

@"Vanguard83" said:
What a shame...Packers losing and all

Remember, we wish 8/8 on them -- not a high draft pick for their suffering. 

I celebrate every Packer failure. 30 years of franchise QBs, sick of them

[Guest]

After seeing how ineffective Hundley has been the past two games...  I don't know where Green Bay's next win will come.  The play Detroit after the bye, that's going to be a tough game.  Then they play at Chicago, which the Bears actually have a pretty underrated defense.  It'll be a battle of which QB can make the least amount of mistakes and I'll take the Bears running game over GB's.  Then they play the Ravens, @ Steelers, and the Bucs...
I'll put it this way, the Packers best chance at wins are at Chicago and Baltimore at home.  If they lose those, they might not win a game until they play the Browns in Week 14.

[Guest]

The NFC north is not up for grabs. We control the division right now. That's the long and short of it. Until we relinquish our grip on it. It is ours for the taking. 

[Guest]

@"Mike Olson" said:
The NFC north is not up for grabs. We control the division right now. That's the long and short of it. Until we relinquish our grip on it. It is ours for the taking. 

yep,  not really sure where the hell they got "up for grabs"  

[Guest]

The Vikings schedule after the bye keeps this from being any kind of guarantee for Minnesota. 

But why is it 'ugly'? The Vikings are 5-2. Its not like the whole division is 3-4. 

[Guest]

Yep no doubt about it the schedule isn't "easy". Just eh Home/Away setup makes it that way. But it isn't nearly as difficult as it seemed when the sched came out. 

[Guest]

It's ugly to the people that don't like defense or have a hard on for shootouts. But who the hell cares? A win is a win. And if it's done with 6 field goals or 1 or 2 touchdowns, it still gets the team a "w" and I will take it. It's not always easy or pretty but so what?