NFC North Part One: Light at the end of the Tunnel

The NFC North has quietly been one of the more competitive divisions in the NFL lately, a big reason for the lack of attention being the undue attention the NFC East gets on a yearly basis.  After the Vikings went to the NFC Championship game last season and the Packers put up a great show against the Cardinals in the Division game, though, the North is finally getting some credit.  After domination by Green Bay in the 90's, the Bears and Vikings have taken the Division Crown in six of the ten years since 2000.  This still means that Green Bay has taken the Crown in four, which is more than either team has on its own.  All this adds up to one, if not the, most competitive divisions in the regular season, and this season looks to be another year of tough fighting in the North.

Detroit Lions

2009 Record: 2-14, Fourth in Division
2009 Playoff Record: Did not Qualify
Key Losses: Larry Foote, Ernie Sims, Robert Henderson 
Key Additions: Ndamukong Suh, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Nate Burleson

So I'm breaking my mold of breaking down who I think will be the best teams first and randomizing the North for the most part, that's because I always like to save the best for last.  I'll start with the Lions, who have been one of the worst teams in football for at least a decade now, making history by being the only team to go 0-16 in the regular season.  All those high draft picks are starting to pay off, though, and with a young quarterback and head coach leading this team they promise to improve on the two wins they had last season.

The Lions have had one of the better offseasons in the league.  They didn't have any huge losses outside of Larry Foote, and they made a big splash in both free agency and the trade market.  We'll start out on offense, where they have been at least steady over the past few years.  They already have some pieces in place with Matthew Stafford emerging as a franchise QB and Calvin Johnson having proven himself to be an elite receiver.  They added Burleson, a number one in Seattle, as a proven compliment to Johnson, which should improve their passing game greatly.  Also a big move in the passing game was grabbing tight end Tony Scheffler from the Broncos.  One area they didn't improve much was tackle, only addressing the position by drafting a player in the fourth round and picking up an unproven player off the street.  They're going to need improvement, as the Lions ranked 24th in the league in sacks allowed last season.

The run game has seen improvements as well.  They've done well with Kevin Smith, but decided to draft a compliment to him in Jahvid Best.  Best has looked great in the preseason, and they should make a potent one-two combination.  They did upgrade on the line in the running aspect, nabbing guard Rob Sims from the Seahawks.  They weren't horrible in the run game last season, but they would certainly like to improve on 1,616 yards and a 4.0 average, and Best and Sims should help them do that.

Defense is the one area that has been their Achilles' heel in recent years.  They have always carried some promising players, but that didn't translate well to production.  They made a concerted effort to change that this offseason, and it definitely shows.  They picked up one of the better pass rushers in the league in Kyle Vanden Bosch and drafted the top rated pass rusher in Ndamukong Suh.  They also picked up Corey Williams from the Browns, and now their line has gone from looking like one of the most lethargic in the league to one of the best in a short period of time. 

There is still plenty of concern in other area of the defense, though.  Last season they were, bar none, the worst team in the league in overall defense.  Whereas a team like Cleveland had a bright spot in sack totals, the Lions never broke 29th in any major category.  Their linebacking corps still looks depleted, they lost Larry Foote and Ernie Sims and only added Isiah Ekejiuba, and run defense will still be suspect until they prove otherwise.  Secondary isn't much better, though they did improve.  Louis Delmas has been on an island at safety, and they didn't add another safety that is a significant upgrade.  The only corner that stuck past cuts was Chris Houston, and coming from a maligned secondary in Atlanta he doesn't seem like the significant upgrade the Lions need.  They will definitely be counting on the pass rush to improve the play of their corners, whether it does or not remains to be seen.

Detroit still has gaping holes, especially on defense.  Three of their games last season came by eight point or less, and both of their wins by five points or less.  The upgrades they've made are enough to make close games like those winnable, but they are not enough to significantly improve this team's record.  Had this team been playing last year, at best they could have gone from two wins to five.  Expect that kind of improvement from Detroit, five, maybe six wins.  The schedule, also will most definitely not be kind to them.  The two East divisions are tough, their division rivals are solid, and even games against other last place teams from last year could give them trouble.  Detroit should look at this as a building season, if they can win a few games and retain most of their talent it should be a positive step forward.