Here's my NFC North prevue. It went out 4 days ago so the remarks about Bret Favre are already dated. I played around with the WYSIWYG editor and got it closer to the way I originally formatted it.

CHICAGO BEARS

Was it only two years ago that the Bears were in the Super Bowl? Yes indeed, and they lost to the Colts. The big issue in Chicago is QB. Bears let Brian Griese go, so they're down to Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton. They also have Caleb Hanie, who played at CSU and signed as a free agent rookie in the off season.

Grossman has talent and a great arm, but he can be very bad - he once had a 1.3 QB rating in a game (in 06 vs. Minnesota). Orton did a good job managing the team three years ago, when they had a great D and a very good run game and he went 10-5 as a rookie, but the rap on Orton is that while he's smarter and steadier than Grossman, he doesn't have the arm.

A big problem for the Bears is they have no receivers - Bernard Berrian was the lone bright spot, but they let him go in free agency to the Vikings. Then they cut their starting RB, Cedric Benson (who was the 4th overall pick in 05) after he got arrested a couple times and kind of, you know, just wasn't there for the Bears. Benson was a bust anyway. They drafted Matt Forte from Tulane this year, and have high hopes for him.

And some of the injured D players of last year are back and healthy. And the Bears have Devin Hester, the very best return man in the league, who is trying to become an actual wide receiver also. They'll be interesting to watch.

DETROIT LIONS

Lions finished 7-9 last year. They will play the AFC South and the NFC South and the Washington Redskins and at San Francisco.

The Lions have gone 31-81 since Matt Millen became team president in 2001. They haven't had a winning season since 2000. They haven't been in the playoffs since 1999. 7-9 last year was Millen's best year. No wonder the fans in Detroit dislike the guy. QB Jon Kitna kind of predicted 10 wins last year (he actually said he'd be disappointed if they didn't do that well) and they started off OK, going 6-2, but then the wheels came off and they went 1-7 the rest of the way.

Head Coach Rod Marinelli is in his 3rd year, and I think the Lions are improving, but too little too soon. They have great receivers in Roy Williams, Shaun McDonald, Mike Furrey and second year guy Calvin Johnson, one of the top picks a year ago. They got rid of O coordinator Mike Martz, though (who was with the Rams and their bombs away O of a few years ago) and brought in Jim Coletto, who is installing a zone blocking scheme (made popular by Alex Gibbs when he was the O line coach for the Broncos in the 90's) and Coletto wants more running and less passing, even though Kitna passed for over 4,000 yards last year. He also got sacked a lot though (Lions gave up 117 sacks the last two years, dead worst in the NFL).

At RB, the Lions let Kevin Jones and T.J. Duckett go, and kept Tatum Bell, who did good in Denver behind a zone blocking scheme. They also drafted Kevin Smith in the 3rd round out of Central Florida - Smith played in a zone scheme there. Bottom line is there is a lot of change here, and although their strength on O would appear to be the passing game, they're going to try to run it more.

It might work eventually, but look for a long year for the Lions. Oh, I forgot - their D was 32nd in the league last year, and it's hard to see improvement there.

GREEN BAY PACKERS

Packers were 13-3 last year, then whupped the Seahawks 42-20 in the playoffs, then lost to the Giants 23-20 at Lambeau in OT, after Bret Favre threw a bad pass that got, you know, intercepted. Packers will play the AFC and NFC South, and Dallas and at Seattle.

Well, speaking of Bret Favre, what's the NFL's drama queen been up to lately? After a teary retirement in March, he's been on again, off again about coming back. This is the third or fourth year he's waffled about retiring, and the Packers' management got tired of it. So, when he started talking about unretiring, they started telling him he would not be welcome in Green Bay. I mean, WHAT? Bret Favre not welcome in Green Bay? What a mess.

Story is that the Packers offered Favre 20 million bucks to stay retired (not cash, but some sort of marketing deal, but still, a lot of clams). Story then was that Favre was considering it. Then the story was that the Packers might trade Favre to the Vikings. Story also is that Aaron Rogers, drafted three years ago in the first round to replace Favre, is not happy about Favre's unretirement. But the latest story is that Favre flew into Green Bay this morning

Packers have a young team (except for the old guy at QB), and have a good shot at a very good year, kind of like last year. Story is that the Packer brass is reconciled to having an open competition for the QB position. What competition? Favre passed for 4,155 yards last year (356 on 535 attempts - 66.5% - with 28 TD's and 15 INT's). That's pretty good (it is a lot of INT's, and Favre is the all-time NFL leader in INT's). Packer's O was 2nd in the league, the D was 11th.

So how can the Packers brass not want the guy back? My prediction is that Favre will once again be the starting QB, and the Pack will have a very good year. And as a footnote, Aaron Rogers has missed more games due to injury in his three years as a backup than Favre missed in 16 years. And the Packer brass didn't want this guy back? Can you imagine the Broncos in 1999 telling John Elway he wasn't welcome back?

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

Vikings were 8-8 last year. They will play the two South Divisions, and the New York Giants and at Arizona.

Vikings' O was 13th in the league, but 1st in rushing. Vikings' D was 20th in the league, but 1st against the rush. So, looks like they need to get better passing and defending against the pass. They addressed the latter problem by picking up DE Jared Allen in a trade with the Chiefs. Allen is maybe the best pass rusher in the league, and the Broncos QB, the Chargers' QB, and the Raiders' QB all thank the Vikings.

As far as passing the ball, the Vikings did pick up Bernard Berrian from the Bears. Berrian had 951 yards on 71 catches last year.

The QB will still be Tarvaris Jackson, who only passed for 1,911 yards last year, less than half of Bret Favre's total. Gus Frerotte will be the backup. Or Brooks Bollinger.

Vikings have the elecrifying RB Adrian Peterson, who, in his rookie year, ran for 1,341 yards on 238 carries (5.6 per) and also Chester Taylor, who ran for 844 on 157 carries (5.4 per), so that will take a lot of heat off the QB.

My bet is that the Packers win the division, with Minnesota a close second, unless the Packers do something stupid like trade Favre to the Vikings, in which case the Vikings will win the division, and the other three teams will be in a free fall for fourth.