Measuring Detroit's Success in the NFC North

The NFC North has long been known as the NFL's black and blue division, referring of course to the status of the players after playing each other throughout the season.

Critics have often written the NFC North off as a weak division, it's winners are often thought of as sacrificial lambs for better, more prominent teams in the playoffs.

Make no mistake though, this is a tough division to win and it is often closely contested, hence the moniker, black and blue division.

in 2006, the Chicago Bears won the division. In 2007, it was Green Bay. Last year? The Minnesota Vikings. The NFL's vision of league parity is working perfectly here. However, don't expect the cycle to complete itself with Detroit winning the division crown in 2009.

How does the division stack up this year? How does this impact Detroit's success this season? Let's take a look.

Predicted record and division finish in parenthesis.

Chicago Bears (11-5 first)

Detroit went 0-2 against Chicago in 2008, but was 2-0 against the Bears in 2007.

Chicago is a team that already had great talent in some key positions and finished with a 9-7 record in 2008, narrowly missing the playoffs.

They made a key acquisition to prime themselves for a return to the playoffs when they traded quarterback, Kyle Orton along with a first and third round pick in this year's draft, and a first round pick in 2010 for Denver Broncos quarterback, Jay Cutler.

Cutler is the pro-bowl quarterback that Chicago had been lacking and he gives the Bears one of the top-15 signal callers in the NFL. He should only improve on Orton's already solid numbers from 2008.

This is bad news for a Lions secondary that has been anything but solid over the last eight years.

At running back, Chicago has arguably the top second-year back in the game in Matt Forte. A dual-threat back, Forte racked up over 1200 yards on the ground and added an additional 477 yards through the air as Chicago's third leading receiver. He racked up 12 touchdowns as well.

In two games against Detroit, Forte ran up 162 yards rushing and one touchdown. All in all, not a bad effort from the Lions defense. It remains to be seen how the revamped D-line will be able to handle the task though.

The Bears wide receivers aren't much to speak of apart from Devin Hester who is a tremendous threat if given space after the catch. However, he had more return yards than receiving yards in 2008.

Tight End, Greg Olsen was the Bears second leading receiver as the second-year player hauled in five touchdowns. His size and height makes him tough to cover.

The Bears drafted Juaquin Iglesias from Oklahoma. An agile route-runner, Iglesias will likely jump into a starting role for the Bears.

On defense, Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher have tormented Detroit and other opponents for some time now, and the Bears vaunted secondary has 18 interceptions over the past two seasons.

They excel at forcing opposing quarterback's into poor decisions as Ogunleye and Harris crash through the offensive line quite often to generate a pick for the secondary.

The Lions will go 0-2 against Chicago in 2009.

Green Bay Packers (9-7 second)

Detroit has gone 0-6 against Green Bay the past three seasons, and are just 3-15 against Green Bay dating back to 2000.

Quarterback, Aaron Rodgers in his first year as a starter was impressive, totaling over 4000 yards passing with 28 touchdowns. He was especially effective against the Lions with 636 passing yards and six touchdowns.

That won't change this season unless Detroit is more aggressive on the pass rush and in the secondary.

Second-year running back, Ryan Grant rushed for 1200 yards and four touchdowns, but Detroit was able to limit him to 126 yards rushing in two games and no touchdowns.

Greg Jennings and Donald Driver make up a pair of 1000 yard receivers for the Packers and they also accounted for 14 touchdowns. Jennings especially shredded Detroit's secondary for 268 yards.

Defensively, the Packers have slipped, allowing nearly 100 more points against from 2007 to 2008. Still, they have some great young talent.

Both first round picks went towards addressing the gaps on the Packers D-line. Prized tackle B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews will likely both start from Week One.

Nick Collins was a solid defensive player of the year candidate for most of last season. Him and ageless Charles Woodson combined for a ridiculous 14 interceptions and five touchdowns last season. Green Bay's defense was a constant threat to score.

Collins and Woodson picked off Detroit quarterbacks five times with two being run back for touchdowns.

Aaron Kampman had nine and a half sacks last season for Green Bay and unless Detroit's O-line improves internally, he could have a field day against the Lions.

The Lions will go 1-1 against Green Bay in 2009.

Minnesota Vikings (9-7 third)

Detroit went 0-2 against Minnesota in 2008 and 1-1 in 2007.

Whether it was Gus Frerotte or Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback for the Vikings in 2008, they both were largely ineffective for most of the season. Jackson showed some promise at times however.

The Lions came closest to earning a win win 2008 against the Vikings largely because of quarterback inefficiency.

It should come as no surprise then that the Vikings are in discussions to bring Brett Favre on board. The Lions should be praying that doesn't happen.

The focal point of the Vikings offense is third-year running back, Adrian Peterson. Peterson ran for over 1700 yards in 2008 with 10 touchdowns; however, he was exposed as being quite fumble prone as his fumbles increased to nine, losing four of them.

Although he ran for just over 200 yards against Detroit, the Lions made him fumble four times, recovering two of them. In comparison to the rest of the NFL, Detroit was actually pretty successful in slowing down Peterson.

Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade were the top two receivers on the Vikings, with Berrian enjoying a fine season of over 950 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.

Tight End, Visanthe Shiancoe also emerged as a dangerous end-zone threat, catching seven touchdown passes of his own. Against Detroit, Shiancoe and Berrian caught two touchdowns and totaled roughly 200 receiving yards as well.

Minnesota in an effort to liven up their passing attack, drafted Florida's Percy Harvin. He will likely step right in next to Berrian and will give the Vikings another young playmaker in their offense.

The Vikings D-line was a huge reason for their success in 2008 and is led by Jared Allen who had an astounding 14.5 sacks.

Kevin Williams added 8.5 sacks as well.

Williams and Allen devastated Detroit quarterbacks last season for seven sacks between just the two of them. 

They had the best run defense in the NFL last season thanks to Kevin and Pat Williams.

The 2008 secondary was diminished from the 2007 version that featured Darren Sharper and Dwight Smith. That year the duo had eight interceptions and three touchdowns.

Dwight Smith is now a free agent after a horrible 2008 as a Detroit Lion, and Darren Sharper is a New Orleans Saint.

Antoine Winfield now leads the Vikings secondary as a do-all corner. He had 81 tackles, two sacks, 11 deflected passes, and two interceptions.

The Lions will go 1-1 against Minnesota in 2009.

Detroit Lions (8-8 fourth)

See my prediction on how the Detroit Lions season will go here.

Going 2-4 against the division isn't much to get excited about, and it won't help the Lions to win a division title anytime soon either, but it's a start.

If Detroit can somehow figure out a way to steal a game against Chicago or sweep one of their division opponent, that could be key to possibly securing a wild-card berth in the playoffs.

For the time being though, Detroit is looking up at their rivals. Minnesota, Green Bay, and Chicago especially should all be better or about the same as they were in 2008 and that doesn't bode well for Detroit.

Although the Lions are improving, their roster is still a work in progress and it will be at least a year or possibly two before they can legitimately challenge for the NFC North title.