NFL Power Rankings: Division rankings after Week 2
By Brad Rowland
2) NFC North
It was an uneven week for the NFC North, but much like the AFC East, there is no bad team in the bunch. The Minnesota Vikings are garnering all sorts of unwanted attention in the wake of the Adrian Peterson controversy, and there is no question that an extended absence of their best player is cause for concern. However, Minnesota’s defense is more than respectable, and with the duo of Cordarrelle Patterson and Greg Jennings on the outside, they are potentially built to withstand some of the storm.
The Packers and Bears both needed comeback victories in Week 2 to salvage 1-1 marks, but neither offense is worrisome, and both teams are still considered playoff favorites if nothing else. As long as Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler are upright (neither is a given at this stage), I feel comfortable that both teams are in the “plus” category in the NFC.
Lastly, the Detroit Lions are wildly inconsistent, but they are still talented. There is an argument that no one looked better than Detroit in week one, as they dismantled the New York Giants, but that came crashing down as they scored just 7 points in a loss to Carolina, leaving the public to decipher which is the “real” Lions. It is probably a mixture of both, but even if the wheels careen off at times, the Matthew Stafford-Calvin Johnson combination persists.