Passing of the Torch..

[purplefaithful]

Aaron Rodgers drops back to pass and feels the pocket collapsing around him. He finds a lane in which to escape the pocket, moving to his right.
Anthony Barr, assigned to spy on Rodgers, took off after the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback to either disrupt the play or even get a sack.
Just after Rodgers released his pass — which fell incomplete thanks to a drop by running back Ty Montgomery — Barr’s 6-foot-5, 260-pound frame wrapped up Rodgers and buried him in the U.S. Bank Stadium turf.
The hit was legal, and Barr was not disciplined by the NFL for the hit. Nonetheless, Rodgers wound up breaking the collarbone on his throwing shoulder — an injury that effectively ended his season and his team’s season.
The hit derailed Green Bay’s season. The Packers were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Monday night for the first time since 2008. Rodgers has been carrying that entire team to the playoffs for nearly a decade.
Barr’s hit on Rodgers is much more meaningful than just the injury to Rodgers or even the end of the Packers’ playoff hopes. That play represents a passing of the torch in the NFC North.
The Packers have ruled the division for the better part of two decades, thanks in large part to Brett Favre and Rodgers. The 2017 season has finally exposed the Packers for what they really are — a team that simply cannot compete without Hall of Fame quarterback talent.
http://vikingsterritory.com/2017/feature...sing-torch

[Guest]

Meanwhile, the Vikings have thrived all season despite losing their starting quarterback for the season and waiting on another to return from a horrific injury sustained over a year ago. Many critics will try to put an asterisk on Minnesota’s NFC North title this season due to the Rodgers injury. But heading into Week 16, the Vikings are 10-3 against teams other than the Packers — and it’s fair to assume at this point that Minnesota will defeat the Bears Week 17 to move to 11-3 in such games.




Minnesota’s success and Green Bay’s ineptitude this season in response to injuries has shed light on which team is ready to run the NFC North for the foreseeable future, and it’s not the Packers. The Vikings are legitimate Super Bowl contenders without their starting quarterback, starting running back and starting offensive tackles for major chunks of the season.

[Guest]

I believe that drop was by prized free agent Martellus Bennett...  :p

[Guest]

I'll also point out that even with the games where Rodgers was healthy, they had no quality wins.  Maybe at the time Seattle and Dallas looked like quality wins, certainly the media treated them as such, but we now know them for what they are - .teams almost certainly to be watching the playoffs not playing in them.

I had to drive to the airport at the start of the Atlanta game.  While looking for the game on the radio, I had the pleasure of listening to Madison sports jocks being jealous of the resilience Rick has built into the roster compared to Ted.  Happiest I ever felt sitting in an airport waiting to go on a business trip.

[Guest]

Thanks for posting that wonderful bed time story.

Sweet Dreams...

[Guest]

In 2015 and now 2017, the NFC North belongs to the Vikings. Had it not been for a string of horrible luck, 2016 would have been, too. I have no doubt that had the o line held up, they would have won the division last season.

The Packers have been exposed, they’re done!

[Guest]

It's a return to the 70s for both franchises...as Rip points out, we should be on a 3 year run of NFCN titles without the horrific run of injuries...next year we hopefully get 16 games with our biggest weapon on O, Dalvin Cook...another good draft and some eventual good luck on the injury front and we make that three of four years with the NFCN crown...

[Guest]

Its too early to bury the Packers for 2018. But I'm enjoying the heck out of the 2017 season so far. 

[Guest]

At first I thought the title was about AR handing the torch to their new HOF qb Brett Hundley.

At AR's age and being injury prone ... the Pack should probably try to get a second rounder out of him now and save on the cap space needed to rebuild this pile of shit.

[Guest]

I think the North is going to be competitive in future years; 

Mitch should get better in Chicago and they will be drafting high
Rogers will make GB better next year 
Detroit still has some dangerous weapons and may still make the playoffs this year as a #6 seed

But I like our trajectory and have no reason to expect less with some luck on injuries and Dalvin coming back 100%

God, imagine this offense this year with him in it? He was early OROY guy.