Reaction to Today's Hottest Issue for Every NFC North Team, 2/8 Edition

The NFL is a year-round endeavor, with pressing issues coming up for every team throughout the course of the offseason. Whether it's free agency, the draft or off-field incidents, there's always something to talk about. Here are my takes on today's top stories in the NFC North. 

Will Chicago Bears Running Back Matt Forte Get a Long-Term Deal or the Franchise Tag in the Offseason?

Chicago Bears star running back Matt Forte has been waiting impatiently for the team to extend him a long-term deal that he feels is fair.

Forte turned down an offer from the Bears prior to the start of the 2011 regular season, reportedly worth between $13 and 14 million guaranteed. Clearly, Forte believes he is worth more than that—perhaps up to $20 million a year. But that doesn't mean he's opposed to being franchised in the coming weeks.

Speaking last week on the "Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, Forte said he'd be open to being franchised, but it "depends on the motive." Forte went on to say that,

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"If they are doing the franchise tag just to get more time in order to negotiate a long-term deal then I would be OK with it. But if it's just to hold me another year and just 'Let's throw some money at him right now to keep him quiet,' that's not going to solve anything."

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For what it's worth, Bears president and CEO Ted Phillips spoke to "Waddle & Silvy" as well, saying that the team won't be letting Forte walk. Forte would make around $8 million in 2012 with the franchise tag.

Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers to host "Saturday Night Live?"

Ever since Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning hosted NBC's "Saturday Night Live" after his team won Super Bowl XLI in 2007, an NFL player hosting the long-running sketch comedy show hasn't seemed like such a bad idea. 

Now this year's Most Valuable Player, the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers, wants to try his hand at hosting duties. 

Rodgers told ESPN 540 radio that he had spoken with a few "SNL" cast members in Indianapolis during Super Bowl week and that he hopes a deal can be made this offseason to have him host the show.

Aside from being one of the best quarterbacks in the league at present, Rodgers is also known for his (debatably) amusing State Farm "Discount Double-Check" commercials, which, if anything, prove he can poke fun at himself.

Fast-Track Plans are in Place for a New Minnesota Vikings Stadium—Finally

It's been a tense year for the Minnesota Vikings. With their lease on the Metrodome close to expiring and a deal for a new stadium taking ages to hammer out in the state legislature—in concert with a push back against needing public funding to do so—it seemed the Vikings could be forced to move out of Minnesota.

But now a deal for a new stadium is nearly finalized. The Vikings would be playing in their current home, the Metrodome, through the 2015 season. The Metrodome would then be torn down, with its replacement built right next door.

The plan, as it stands now, is for the Vikings to play their first two or so games of the 2016 season in the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium but moving to their new home "before it gets cold," according to Ted Mondale, Governor Dayton's chief stadium negotiator.

For a saga that has played out both in the courts and in the capitol, this is a positive development that marks the light at the end of the tunnel and confirmation that the Vikings won't be going anywhere.

Poll: Detroit Lions DT Ndamukong Suh Goes from Loved to Hated in Four Short Months

What a difference a regular season (and a stomp to the arm) makes. Just four months ago, a Nielsen/E-Poll Market Research survey of Americans had Suh leading the way in most-liked players in the NFL, with a 71 percent approval rating.

Nielsen and E-Poll ran the same survey recently and the results are surprising—Suh is now the fourth most-hated.

Clearly his on-field actions, not just limited to that Thanksgiving Day stomp on Packers' guard Evan Dietrich Smith, and his non-apology apologies linked to them have turned fans off from the otherwise charismatic second-year player.

Suh recently embarked on a PR campaign of sorts, appearing on "The NFL Today" pregame show on CBS and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Apparently, that's not yet enough to shine up his tarnished image in fans' eyes.