The NFC North Round-Up: Early Vikings Dominance Continues
Josh Frey
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After another week around the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings continued their early dominance over the rest of the NFC North. Here’s a look at the action that occurred over the weekend.
Primetime Bears Fall Flat
The Washington Commanders and Chicago Bears met at Soldier Field on Thursday night, and it quickly turned into another snooze fest to rival the Denver Broncos/Indianapolis Colts game from the week prior. Once again, the winning team scored 12 points, but at least there were a couple touchdowns in this game.
For Chicago, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that they simply don’t have the supporting cast around Justin Fields. Their o-line continuously allows him to be put under duress, and outside of the occasional Darnell Mooney breakout, there’s no real weapons for him to rely upon.
Chicago’s 2-2 start looks like it is about to go down the drain. We’ll get to see them on primetime once again in Week 7 as they take on the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football.
Jets Fly High in Green Bay
It turns out that teams residing in New York are the kryptonite for the Green Bay Packers. After falling to the New York Giants in London last weekend, 27-22, Green Bay lost at home to the New York Jets on Sunday, 27-10.
Green Bay’s running game was essentially nonexistent against the Jets, rushing for just 60 yards on the day. Meanwhile, Breece Hall was able to get virtually whatever he wanted, rushing 20 times for 116 yards and a touchdown.
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The Packers of course are dealing with a number of injuries on the offense, including Randall Cobb who left the game with an ankle injury. That said, this team has scored fewer than 15 points in three of their first six games. That simply won’t get it done in the NFL on a consistent basis.
They now face a difficult stretch of three consecutive road games beginning with the Washington Commanders led by Taylor Heinicke as they attempt to climb out of the hole that they’ve dug themselves in the NFC North.
Don’t Let the Vikings Defense Get Hot
When it was announced that D.J. Wonnum would not play on Sunday against the Dolphins, it seemed like that could be a major hit to Minnesota’s pass rush group. That was not the case as Patrick Jones stepped up and recorded his first two sacks of his young NFL career. Overall, Minnesota recorded six total sacks, and Za’Darius Smith piled up 10 pressures by himself, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
On top of that, Patrick Peterson continues to defy Father Time and put together another outstanding day in the secondary. He and Harrison Smith caused three Dolphins turnovers on the afternoon, which proved crucial in Minnesota’s win.
The Vikings now head into their bye week 5-1 for the first time since 2016 and are effectively three games clear of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North. Their next game will occur on October 30th against the Arizona Cardinals.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.