As fans anxiously waited for the NFL Draft, attention turned toward the NFL schedule as fans wanted to fight out who they would be playing in the 2014 season. One of the most competitive divisions this year will be the NFC North with the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears all in contention for playoff spots.
The NFC North schedule is especially exciting this year with some marquee games spread out across and several prime time matchups. There were plenty of games to choose from but here are the Top 10 NFC North games in 2014.
10) Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints
The Vikings had one of the best offseason’s across the league in terms of putting together a coaching staff. Minnesota hired former Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer then brought in Norv Turner as their offensive coordinator. Minnesota is still a year away from being in real playoff consideration, but this will be an exciting season.
Looking at Minnesota’s schedule, a Thursday Night Football road trip to Lambeau Field could be extremely interesting if the Packers decide to honor Brett Favre. Until that happens though, a road trip to Louisiana stands out the most.
While there are major questions about who will be the Vikings’ quarterback in 2014, there is a strong chance we could be looking at Johnny Manziel or Teddy Bridgewater. A rookie quarterback in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is a bad mix. But Turner is an offensive mastermind and with offensive pieces like Greg Jennings, Kyle Rudolph and Cordarrelle Patterson will get plenty of opportunities for big plays. The icing on the cake is Adrian Peterson facing off against a Saints’ defense that made serious improvements in the offseason.
Finally, you get to see two of the best minds in the game go at it with Zimmer’s defense vs. Sean Payton’s offense. While the Vikings’ defense struggled versus the pass last year, Zimmer should help the group make a turnaround. They will get an early test in Week 3 versus Drew Brees, and it should be an indicator of how much room to improve the Vikings will have to make during the season.
9) Chicago Bears @ Dallas Cowboys
It’s a battle with roots deep in NFL history and a series the Cowboys lead 13-11, but recently the Bears simply owned the Cowboys. Last year when Jay Cutler was out, Josh McCown went to town on the Cowboys’ defense. After the slaughter was over, McCown had five touchdowns and Tony Romo was forced to watch in horror from the sidelines.
While we won’t see these two star franchises square off until Week 14 in December, there should be plenty of importance on the line. The Cowboys and Bears will likely both be competing for playoff spots down the stretch and could even be fighting over the same wildcard spot. A nationally televised game featuring some of the best wide receivers in the game with Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. While both teams possess great running backs in Matt Forte for the Bears and DeMarco Murray for the Cowboys, this game will turn into an arms race.
8) Chicago Bears @ San Francisco 49ers
The Bears start off the season with a comfortable game at home against the Buffalo Bills to start the year and should have a strong shot at starting the season 1-0, but things change quickly a week later.
The Bears’ will walk onto the national spotlight in Week 2 when the San Francisco 49ers kick off their home schedule with the grand opening of Levi’s Stadium. The 49ers will be hungry after an offseason that was filled with memories of a tough loss and players getting into the news for all the wrong reasons. Once they take the field for the first time in Santa Clara however, everything will be right as one of the best team’s in the league takes on the Bears.
It will all come down to the Bears’ offense versus the 49ers’ defense and who wins the battle in the secondary. Marshall and Jeffrey taking on a defense that ranked seventh versus the pass last season, but the 49ers will face a tough challenge with the wide receiver’s size. Cutler will hope to have time so he can show off one of the best arm’s in the game as he slings the ball around, looking to beat the 49ers deep.
This is what will decide if the Bears are just a big piñata for the 49ers’ opener or if Chicago is ready to take the next step and become a powerhouse in the NFC. It will all be played out on NBC as two of the top teams from the two best divisions in the NFC square off at Levi’s Stadium.
7) Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints
This will be a battle that fantasy football owner’s drool over and that will keep the stats tracker busy when these two teams meet on Week 7.
This one will be all about the passing game as last year’s second and third ranked teams in terms of passing yards per game and both in the top-five for attempts per game. Brees will take on Matthew Stafford in a test to see who has the best passing game in the NFC and who will throw more passes during the game. While both defenses have made improvements, it will be difficult for either defense to stop the multitude of weapons their opponent puts out on the field.
It will also mark an early return home for new Lions’ offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi after he spent the last seven seasons working as the Saints’ offensive assistant before being the team’s quarterbacks coach for the past five seasons. He will have plenty of experience and knowledge for what New Orleans likes to do, information that will be valuable for the Lions’ defense. In the end, this game may come down to who has the ball on the last possession. Both quarterbacks will need to have their arms swarmed with ice packs after the game, but an early win will make it easy for one of them.
6) Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Chicago Bears
The same week we get to watch Megatron on Revis Island, we also get to see another great reunion for a new coach when Lovie Smith takes on his former team.
Smith was fired by the Bears after the 2012 season and spent 2013 as a nice, calming year to step away from the game and wait for another head coaching opportunity to come up. The perfect opportunity presented itself when the Bucs fired Greg Schiano and immediately went after Smith. While Smith’s offenses have always struggled, he is a defensive mind who now has Lavonte David, Mark Barron, Gerald McCoy and Alterraun Verner. His new defense will now take on the team he led for nine years. It will be interesting to see how the Soldier Field crowd greets Smith.
Of course seeing the Bears’ offense against the Bucs’ defense will be the icing on the cake for this game. While Tampa Bay cut ties with Revis in the offseason, they still had one of the best offseasons in the league. This game also presents an opportunity for McCown to take on the team that revitalized his career last season.
5) Detroit Lions @ New England Patriots
Any time you get a head-to-head matchup with two of the best players in the game going at it, you have to sit down and just enjoy. When the Lions head to Foxborough in Week 12, we will be getting one of the most exciting matchups to watch this season.
Calvin Johnson will take on Darrelle Revis, in a fight between the best wide receiver in the game and arguably the best corner in the game. The chance to see Megatron take a trip to Revis Island as the two go back and forth for supremacy will be exciting to watch. The two went at it last year at the same time when Revis played with the Bucs. Johnson was kept out of the end zone, he finished with seven receptions and 115 receiving yards in a losing effort.
This will also be another chance to see the Lions’ offense go at it against one of the best secondaries in the league, a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. It will also be fun to see what Golden Tate can do against the Patriots’ secondary and if he will be able to attack them in the open field. It’s going to be an exciting game to watch and one that will certainly be circled on both team’s calendar.
4) Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears
The most historic rivalry in all of football, the Packers head to Soldier Field in Week 4 in a game that will already have a lot on the line and plenty of storylines to go with it.
Of course it will be the first meeting since Aaron Rodgers stepped out of a near Julius Peppers sack and launched it deep to a wide open Randall Cobb for the game-winning touchdown and the NFC North crown. It all happened on this very field and that memory will boil in the Bears’ locker room. Chicago will have a chance to set the tone early in the NFC North and potentially overtake the Packers in the division pecking order.
This game will also mark the return of Peppers to Chicago, after a strong three-year run with the team ended with a very disappointing season last year. Chicago ultimately cut ties with him in part to save memory and because his effort seemed to be lacking for chunks of the season. Green Bay quickly scooped him up and with time to settle in to a 3-4 defense, Peppers’ motor should be running full steam to prove his former team wrong.
Of course the history of this game is what makes it stand out the most, but Cutler-Rodgers contest has already brought plenty of enjoyment over the past few seasons. While both quarterbacks are friends off the field they are enemies on the gridiron and both will be looking to prove they are the dominant power in the NFC North.
3) Chicago Bears @ Carolina Panthers
While this matchup may have lost some of its luster thanks to a disappointing offseason in Carolina, there is still plenty to look forward to when these teams take the field in Week 5.
What really makes this battle exciting is how the Bears’ offensive line deals with the #Panthers front-seven. While Carolina took a step back offensively in the offseason their front-seven is still strong and read to create havoc next season. The Bears’ allowed 85 quarterback hits last season and while you should see some improvement from guys like Kyle Long, Cutler will be facing plenty of pressure.
Chicago’s defense really struggled last season as the injuries piled up and age started to catch up with several of their starters. General Manager Phil Emery went out and brought in some young and old talent with Lamarr Houston and Jared Allen while making sure his cornerbacks stayed in Chicago. While they will have to find a way to stop Cam Newton, the Panthers’ wide receivers and offensive line is far from anything reliable. After multiple offensive linemen retired and wide receivers left for free agency, this is an offense that could really struggle against the Bears’ defense.
2) Green Bay Packers vs. New England Patriots
It’s a battle between young and old, Rodgers takes on Tom Brady in a matchup that ESPN First Take will talk about for months. While it will be a battle squaring off two of the elite quarterbacks in the game it will also be a test to see where each team stacks up versus the respected conference.
Of course one of the main headlines in this game will be Rodgers versus Brady in a battle that for some will decide who is the better quarterback, even though they will face much different circumstances. For Rodgers, he will be playing in his cold, loud home of Lambeau Field. But he will be taking on a Patriots’ secondary featuring Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Alfonzo Dennard and Devin McCourty. While the Patriots will be facing a tough road battle, the advantage is on their side in terms of stopping the Packers’ best player.
What really will be the difference in this game is the running game, something both teams struggled to stop last season. Eddie Lacy will be looking to continue after a stellar rookie season and while New England is focused on stopping Rodgers, Lacy should find plenty of running lanes to break off chunks of yards. Green Bay also will also remain focused on pressuring Brady and that could mean good things for Stevan Ridley as long as he can hold on to the football.
Mike McCarthy versus Bill Belichick, Rodgers versus Brady, country-style versus big city. This will be an exciting primetime game to watch and one that will be a great test for each team late in the season. New England will get a chance to see how they stack up versus one of the greats in the NFC, while Green Bay has an opportunity to test them versus another great defense.
1) Green Bay Packers @ Seattle Seahawks
The top spot came down to a matchup of Rodgers versus Brady or the NFL opener. In the end, the 2014 Season Kickoff gets the edge for a variety of reasons, even beyond the “Fail Mary”.
The game of course will start off with the Seahawks being awarded their Super Bowl ring, a special moment at any stadium. But this will be the Seahawks’ first ring presentation and with the best fan base in all of sports, the moment will be even more special. What would already be an unbelievable crowd at CenturyLink Field will surpass even the wildest expectations and sound levels on the field.
Green Bay will walk on to the field trying to forget about their last experience in Seattle, but with all of the reminders of the “Fail Mary” it will be impossible to forget. The Packers will be looking for revenge to open up their season and erasing the memories of NFC West teams continuously dominating them. Rodgers’ will be taking on the best defense he will see all season in the hostile environment. It will also be a major test for the Packers’ offensive line including potential center J.C. Tretter who will just be getting his feet wet at the position.
The NFL absolutely picked the right game to kick off the 2014 season, a hard-fought battle between the best quarterback in the game against the best defense in recent memory. A win for the Packers would mean an early signal to the rest of the league that this team is ready to compete for the Super Bowl once again. It will be a close game but everything is leaning in the Seahawks favor to start the season 1-0.