Gb 10-6
Lions 10-6
Vikings 6-10
Bears 5-11
Not buying into the Minnesota Hype, they did nothing to impress me last year, winning only 2 road games, one against a 6-10 rams team, the other against the lowly bucs at 2-14. They did not win against one single team last year that finished with a winning record. So, was Bridgewater really improving as much as it seemed, or was the opposition just taking them for granted?
Yeah AP is back, but you never win against father time........
Bridgewater definitely improved. thrown in to a starting role in week 4 to replace a craptastic Cassell on a team that lost its offensive focus after week 1.
He was typical mid level rookie bad the first 3 weeks, and then in games 5-16 he put up a 94 rating, 12 tds and 7 ints.
I would say for a rookie who was not intended to be thrown in coupled with the loss of peterson that is pretty damn good. Minnesotas best RB last year racked up less than 600 yards.
Compare that to staffords usual production, (outside of the crazy 2011 season) and bridgewater comes out on top.
Compare that to what many believe is Cutlers best bears season, 2011, and Bridgewater comes out on top.
Nobody is saying Bridgewater is great, and I dont even think he has to be good neccessarily (although if you look at the entire arc of the year his arrow seems to be pointing up).
We are talking about a decent Vikings defense with an exceptional OC, a 2nd year QB that has an entire offseason to learn the offense as a starter instead of being tossed in week 4, and at the very worst, a running back who will be very good and demand respect.
Minnesota was comparable if not better than chicago last year, and Minnesota was in meltdown mode in week 2 with a brand new coaching staff... but they turned out fairly respectable given the circumstances.
Functional by Bridgewater will be a massive upgrade, And a well rested peterson... the same guy that put up 2000 yards after acl surgery... means minnesota has had 2 massive upgrades in the offseason.
Green bay took a big talent hit this week, detroit is detroit, and Chicago is roughly even with Marshall leaving and Royal arriving.
Feel free to mock me when the vikings fail miserably, but as it stands they are the only team in the division that looks to be in a significantly better position going in to this season.