NFC North Daily Breakfast Links: August 30, 2012

We're almost done with preseason football, which means we're running out of time for the league/ref kerfuffle to settle itself. Hopefully it will—no disrespect meant to the replacement refs, but the quality of calls is definitely taking a dive.

I'm not worried about player safety because, as I said on Twitter this morning, I don't think it factors in a ton. I do hate blown calls, though, and we will see a bunch of these. The learning curve is steep for that job and, frankly, an entire group of officials learning at once is a bit scary.

By the way, if you haven't read Ryan Riddle's work here at Bleacher Report, you should. He has a tremendous insider's look into an experience many players will have this week: being cut from a team.

It's a rough piece to read. You know these men work their tails off and are pursuing a dream. So to be cut—in essence told no, you can't do what you love—has to be devastating. As a person who has struggled to pursue what I am doing right now, I empathize with the piece perhaps more than others—but it gives you a sense of what these guys go through.

Minnesota Vikings

Bleacher Report's Arif Hasan has a look at some underwhelming rookies.

Meanwhile, the Daily Norseman's tireless Christopher Gates has five non-starters you should watch when the Vikings take on the Texans on Friday night.

At the Star Tribune, Mark Craig talks about ways quarterback Joe Webb might find himself used in the regular season.

Chicago Bears

Matt Bowen is always a great read. Thursday in the Chicago Tribune, he has a look at how the exhibition finale against Cleveland tonight could make or break a bubble player.

Cutting Rashied Davis helps Dane Sanzenbacher's chances of making the team, says the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Potash.

ESPN Chicago's Jeff Dickerson says that the linebacker position is still foggy.

Detroit Lions

Justin Rogers gives you five things to watch in the Lions-Bills game in a column over at MLive.com.

Lions fans, you and I are not alone in our belief that the Lions will be in the playoffs again. Also over at MLive.com, Philip Zaroo relays some of Barry Sanders' ESPN interview from this week in which he says the Lions can make a deep run into the playoffs.

Since we're talking cuts, John Nyo has a story in the Detroit News about how Jim Schwartz and the Lions handle theirs.

Green Bay Packers

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Tom Silverstein writes that rookies Mike Daniels and Jerel Worthy have a chance to make a big impact this season.

Weston Hodkiewicz says in the Green Bay Press-Gazette that Tramon Williams looks to be back to form.

ESPN Milwaukee's Jason Wilde talks about five things to watch in the final preseason game, including shaking out the second safety spot.

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