At the halfway point of the 2018 season, the Chicago Bears sit atop the NFC North. Can they hang on to win the division? We size up the NFC North for the second half of the season.
The Chicago Bears start the second half of their season in unfamiliar territory – atop the NFC North. I think it’s safe to say that the Bears have exceeded preseason expectations. The offense continues to make strides while Mitch Trubisky is learning Matt Nagy’s system.
The defense, despite missing Khalil Mack for the last handful of games, is rounding into form as playmakers like Eddie Jackson and Roquan Smith emerge. Are there blemishes in all three phases? Of course there are, but there are plenty of blemishes to go around the division.
The Vikings have not been quite as strong as most experts predicted despite Adam Thielen’s career year but with a defense missing one of their best players.
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The Packers can usually go as far as Aaron Rodgers will take them, but with a gimpy knee and holes on both sides of the ball, they’ve failed to meet lofty expectations as head coach Mike McCarthy’s seat seems to be getting hotter by the day.
The Lions are still adapting to new head coach Matt Patricia and his systems. They’ve made some interesting trades, bolstering their defense but trading away arguably their most productive wide receiver.
On the whole, the NFC North appears to be really competitive but maybe not quite as good as we all believed before the start of the season. That’s good news for the Bears, who will try to win their first NFC North title in nearly a decade. Let’s see how they stack up:
We’ll dig into each team and take a swipe at making some predictions and see how this whole thing might play out.