Weekly State of the Franchise Report for Every NFC North Team

The NFL season may be over but teams don't stop changing and—hopefully—improving on a weekly basis. So let's check in on the state of the four franchises in the NFC North as we head into the middle of February.

Green Bay Packers: Coaching Carousel Finally Begins to Slow

The Green Bay Packers ended the regular season with a 15-1 record and were heavily favored to repeat as Super Bowl champions. However, a combination of rusty play at the exact wrong time and a surging New York Giants squad saw the team go one-and-done in this year's playoffs.

It's clearly not time to panic, however. Losing just one regular season game proves the organization is doing way more correctly than it is making mistakes, however the Packers aren't without their issues.

Though defense is their most glaring deficiency, everything the Packers have done thus far in the offseason has revolved around offense—more specifically, their offensive coaching staff. They lost offensive coordinator Joe Philbin to the Miami Dolphins and promoted quarterbacks coach Tom Clements to the vacant position.

Tight ends coach Ben McAdoo is now the quarterbacks coach, running backs coach Jerry Fontenot is now the tight ends coach and the team recently hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt to be the new running backs coach.

The shuffling shouldn't have much negative impact (or perhaps much impact at all) on the Packers' top-tier offense and the team was fairly successful in staving off a gutting of their coaching staff that seemed almost inevitable when former director of football operations, Reggie McKenzie, became the general manager of the Oakland Raiders.

With all of the coaching pieces in place for the Packers, they can now focus on deciding the fates of their eight unrestricted free agents and start building a strategy for the draft.

However, the team's biggest needs are on defense, and all the coaching moves on the offensive side of the ball aren't going help in fixing those holes.

However, the Packers are a savvy organization, one that's clearly aware of what needs to be done to shore up the defense in the offseason. Look for the team to focus heavily on defense in this year's draft.

Minnesota Vikings: It's an Uphill Battle this Offseason

The Minnesota Vikings are in the worst shape of any team in the NFC North. Quarterback Christian Ponder ended the year ranked No. 44 out of 47 quarterbacks who threw a minimum of 100 passes in 2011, according to Football Outsiders.

The fact that Ponder ended the year with the highest red zone completion percentage and an 8-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, which bodes well for his chances for overall improvement in the offseason. But the team also needs to get into the red zone in order for him to be effective, if his 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 2011 are any indication.

That effort will be severely hampered in 2012 unless the team makes a number of smart moves in the coming months. The Vikings will likely be without leading rusher Adrian Peterson until midseason, after he tore his ACL and MCL in Week 16.

They'll need more than running back Toby Gerhart and hybrid receiver/running back Percy Harvin to carry the offensive load in the meantime.

Adrian Peterson vs. Toby Gerhart vs. Percy Harvin, 2011

Player	Games	Rush Att.	Rush Yds.	Rush TDs	Rec.	Rec. Yds.	Rec. TDs
Peterson	12	209	973	12	18	139	1
Gerhart	16	109	531	1	23	190	3
Harvin	16	51	342	2	87	967	6

Though both were surprisingly effective in 2011, they were both aided by the presence of Peterson. Without him, it's going to be easier for opposing defenses to stop them; the team needs more weapons both at running back and wide receiver to lend an element of unpredictability next season.

Defense is also a major concern. Aside from defensive end Jared Allen, who is coming off the best year of his career, the rest of the Vikings defense was nearly non-existent in 2011, finishing the season ranked 25th overall.

All of this adds up to a long, difficult offseason for the Vikings. They aren't going to be able to address every area that needs improvement—or at least, not enough to completely turn things around. All they can hope for is to patch the leakiest of holes as quickly as possible and address all tertiary needs as well as they possibly can, within the constraints of their budget and draft positioning.

It's not just the players and performance that the Vikings need to worry about in the coming weeks and months—it's also where they are going to play.

The team has a Wednesday deadline to confirm to the league that they will be staying in Minnesota or moving elsewhere and it doesn't seem likely they will elect to move away. However, the team doesn't have a place to play in 2012, and the push to build a new stadium appears to be less of a priority for the state legislature than it was just a few weeks ago.

The Vikings may have to play their 2012 home games in the Metrodome while further wrangling in the capitol continues. The most likely scenario is that the Vikings will get a new home next door to the Metrodome and have to play games at the Metrodome and/or the University of Minnesota's open-air stadium until the new venue opens in 2016.

Those are a lot of issues facing a team that went 3-13 in 2011. With personnel problems and stadium issues occupying their offseason, the Vikings will be lucky to end 2012 at 8-8.

Chicago Bears: Just a Wide Receiver Away from Playoff Contention?

The Chicago Bears had their playoff hopes cut short by injuries in 2011 but at least two of those three players should be back to full health for 2012.

The only question mark is wide receiver Johnny Knox, who suffered a severe back injury in Week 15 and is well over six months away from recovering from surgery to stabilize his vertebrae.

Even if Knox hadn't gotten hurt, however, the Bears would still be in the position they are now, with a pressing need to add talent to their receiving corps.

For years now, the Bears have had issues with having adequate receivers for quarterback Jay Cutler, thus holding him back from the level of production he had in Denver. It also didn't help that the Bears traded tight end Greg Olsen, one of Cutler's top targets, to the Carolina Panthers before the 2011 season.

Instead, Cutler had to rely most heavily on running back Matt Forte, whose 52 receptions led the team. In order to compete against the NFC North's top two teams, the Packers and Lions, the Bears will need to drastically improve their passing game, and the first step in doing so is to bring in reliable playmakers.

Chances are they'll need to do this by picking up a free agent receiver as well as drafting a high-level player who can make an impact as a starter in his rookie season.

Indeed, just a wide receiver or two won't make the Bears an unstoppable team in 2012, but without them, they have little chance of being strong enough to threaten the Lions and Packers.

Detroit Lions: Was 2011 Their First of Many Playoff Seasons?

It wasn't entirely out of the blue that the Detroit Lions made it to the playoffs this year for the first time since 1999—a number of analysts, including yours truly, believed the Lions were primed for an excellent season.

However, now that they accomplished what seemed just a few short years ago to be impossible, the focus shifts to whether the Lions can match or best their 2011 success.

The Lions are in relatively good shape headed into the offseason. Their shortcomings are pretty well defined—they need a more explosive running game and significant improvements to their secondary—but they aren't overwhelming, either.

Indeed, the Lions are set up for success unlike many other teams in the league, and if they address their team needs intelligently in the draft and in free agency, should remain in very close competition with the Green Bay Packers in the 2012 season.

Twenty four year old quarterback Matthew Stafford proved he's no bust, throwing for over 5,000 yards in his first full season under center that wasn't marred with injury. Thanks to his arm, and of course league-leading receiver Calvin Johnson, the Lions had their first winning record since 2000.

With the two playing at a similarly high level next season and the team shoring up both their running game and pass defense, Detroit should manage not only to reach the postseason in 2012, but finally notch that elusive playoff win.

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