Uneasy lies the cheesehead crown. I mean, the Lions to win NFC North?
A cheesy – pardon the phrase – poll conducted by SBNation shows that the Detroit Lions are the fans pick to be the 2023 champions of the NFC North with 51 percent of the votes. The Packers are next with 34 percent of the vote, and the Vikings, who are the defending division champs, came in 14 percent.
The Bears – chuckle – got one percent. How’s that new stadium plan going Chicago?
Breaking Down the NFC North Poll
The fans’ picks don’t mirror the odds on DraftKings which has the Lions as favorites at +130 to take the NFC North, followed by the Vikings (+250), the Bears (+400) and then the Pack (+500).
What the SBNation poll did demonstrate is that Packer fans, staring at an immediate future without a Hall of Fame-level quarterback behind center, are either drinking the Jordan Love Kool-Aid and believing he will be a star, or hard times are coming.
“Show me a team in this division that doesn’t have significant questions,” wrote one fan in the comments section.
“The fact that 34 percent of fans thought GB would win the division tells me that these polls are click bait, Packer fans are idiots. This is ESPN level article trolling.”
Packer fans aren’t idiots, but have become a bit entitled for the last 30 years when Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers were throwing bullets all over the field. Favre is now embroiled in a political scandal in rural Mississippi and Rodgers is already hurt before the Jets even play a game.
You hate to see it, but…
Who will be the team to seize the reigns and win NFC North?
Are we really ready to live in a world where the Lions, who at last check, haven’t won a division title since 1993, when it was still the NFC Central, are on top?
Detroit Lions
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The Lions have the only quarterback in the NFC North who has been to the Super Bowl: Jared Goff. Sure, when he got there with the Rams he was terrible, but still. Goff is Pro Bowl quality, and threw for 4,438 yards last year.
But these are the Lions. They did weird things in the Draft, taking a running back No. 12 overall. Half of their team got suspended for betting on games (just about). They just have loser stink on them.
Minnesota Vikings
Then you look at the Vikings. They may have been the worst team in NFL history to win 13 games last year. Does anyone think Kirk Cousins is clutch? The Vikings have star wide receiver Justin Jefferson and a bunch of question marks. When the NFL schedules came out, fans saw the Vikings on their team’s list and were like, “oh yeah, we can beat them.”
Chicago Bears
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The Bears? There’s a reason they only got 1 percent in the poll — Chicago is a big city. The Bears are a year away from being two years away. Their offense seems to be ‘let Justin Fields cook.’ That worked for three wins last year. Fields is fun to watch. The rest of the Bears, not so much.
Green Bay Packers
And then our beloved Packers. Admit it, we’ve been riding high for a while, but we will need a program to identify the players on this team. The Packers drafted two tight ends and three wide receivers showing they know they have to give Love some options. Today’s NFL is a quarterback-driven league. Jordan Love has played in 10 games, started one. He’s young. He’s…talented? No one really knows. SB Nation should do a poll on that.