Are you a fan of one of the NFC North Teams? Check.

Would you like to talk football on a whole new level, with some of the most vibrant football fans on the internet? Check!

Well hold your breath no longer!

Midwest Sports Fans proudly brings you “The NFC North Report,” a weekly hour long show dedicated to giving you the best football talk on your favorite teams: the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, and the Detroit Lions.

Show Details:

• When: Every Wednesday from 6 – 7 pm CT
• What: From game reviews and predictions to the division’s hottest discussion, we’ll cover it all.
• Where: Listen live to the first episode here and bookmark this link for future episodes.
• Your hosts: Drew Lange, Chris Callaway, Tyler Juranovich, and myself, Amanda Lawson

Also note that you can either listen live while the show is being recorded or listen to the archived version after it’s finished. And if you listen live, you can call in! The call-in number is (858) 365-5571.

Meet your hosts

Drew Lange

You might know Vikings expert Drew Lange from his weekly NFL Power Rankings or perhaps from his sympathetic posts to young football fans. Either way, Drew uses humor and knowledge to provoke the football mind in you.

 Chris Callaway

As one of the two Packer counterparts on the podcast, Chris is MSF’s “Discount Double Check” expert. While Chris follows all levels of football, this Wisconsinite will bring you all the Packer info you need.

Tyler Juranovich

Tyler Juranovich is most well known for starting the “Jay Cutler Dominates” trend and praising Conor Oberst to no end. As a proud Bears fans, Tyler brings key facts loaded with sarcasm to the NFC North discussion.

Amanda Lawson

Many of you know me from my Fantasy Football Injury Update and other football previews and predictions. However, I will make sure you never forget how die-hard of a fan I happen to be.

We hope you join us Wednesday evenings for some the best NFC North talk in the Midwest!

His completion percentage was 50%, while his QB rating was 56.9.

All three of his three interceptions came in the first half, luckily the Bears defense held the Raiders to only six points off those mistakes by Hanie.

His last interception came on a second-and-one play with under 30 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Bears were having success offensively after WR Johnny Knox returned a kickoff 56 yards, but then offensive coordinator Mike Martz called up a throwback screen to TE Kellen Davis.

Hanie didn’t execute it very well, after Raiders linebacker Aaron Curry came into break it up.

Kameron Wimbley caught the ball off the tip and was able to return it 73 yards before Bears right tackle Lance Louis ripped him down.

“I got it over the first guy (Wimbley), which is how it usually works out in practice … there’s one guy in front between you and him, you get it over him and it’s a touchdown normally,” Hanie said after the game.

Coach Martz needs to run better plays for the young quarterback Hanie. Hanie made crucial mistakes in the first half because of his lack of experience.

Martz needs to draw up plays that help him out. This isn’t Jay Cutler out there throwing passes, this is fourth-year quarterback Caleb Hanie, who before Sunday never started an NFL regular season game.

Hanie settled into the game in the second half, but the three interceptions turned out to be costly. The Bears don’t tend to win when they don’t win the turnover battle either.

I’m not blaming coach Martz entirely, but he needs to know that with an inexperienced quarterback you can only do so much.

The running game had perhaps their best game of the season with 172 net yards on the ground, so maybe more running plays could be in the playbook moving forward.

Marion Barber had 63 yards, Forte had 59 yards and Hanie had 50 yards as well.

Consider that 126 yards passing for Hanie came with 3:47 left in the game. 81 yards came on the bomb to Johnny Knox during their second half touchdown drive.

The Bears didn’t let him unleash long passes after he faltered on a pass in double coverage to Matt Forte in the first half that was intercepted.

Teams will know that Hanie likes to scramble to his right, so expect defenses to force him to his left.

Considering it was his first start on the road against a very good Oakland team, it wasn’t the worst performance.

The turnovers have to go and Lovie Smith is expecting to see a much improved Hanie next Sunday at home against the Chiefs.

Hanie definitely showed some flashes of good play in this game, but with a healthy Jay Cutler you’d think they would of won that game.

You can’t alter what the Raiders did on special teams with their kicker Sebastian Janikowski booting six field goals and their punter Shane Lechler (Seabass) averaging 54.6 yards on punts, including a 80 yard blast.

What you can alter is the turnovers by the raw quarterback Hanie. With a healthy Cutler most of those mistakes wouldn’t have been there.

The Bears can’t say what if, they need to move on and build off of Hanie’s second half performance which was pretty solid.

Did he really just do that?

Hanie needs to know when to spike it because the final play turned into intentional grounding after he took too long to spike it.

He also stepped out of bounds instead of throwing the ball away, which turned into a sack by the Raiders.

Most of those little mistakes should be fixed with time and experience.

Monsters of the Midway

The score was 12-7 at the half despite Hanie’s three interceptions.

The defense played pretty efficient not allowing a touchdown until under four minutes left in the game.

Julius Peppers posted two sacks, while Henry Melton and Amobi Okoye each brought Carson Palmer down. Nickelback Corey Graham reeled in his third interception of the season.

Safety Major Wright led all defenders with six tackles, while defensive end Chauncey Davis posted four tackles in his Bears debut.

Cornerback Tim Jennings did a solid job all day in coverage putting himself in position to reel in a couple interceptions.

Only a couple breakdowns in coverage happened on this day.

FB Marcel Reece and WR Louis Murphy both reeled in 47 yard passes. Murphy’s catch help set up the Raiders touchdown drive which ultimately put the game away.

Charles Tillman made a great play off the two minute warning on the Bears onside kick try, but the Bears just couldn’t come up with it.

The Bears defense isn’t at fault in this loss, the turnovers were simply too much to overcome.

The Raiders needed this game more than the Bears considering Tim Tebow and the Broncos have been on fire as of late in the AFC West.

What now?

The Bears still have the No. 5 spot in the wildcard because of the loss by the Lions on Thanksgiving day. Atlanta sits at (7-4), Detroit sits at (7-4) and the New York Giants (6-4) in the wildcard race.

The next three games for the Bears are against the Chiefs, Broncos and Seahawks. The Chiefs and Seahawks matchups are at Soldier Field, while the Broncos game is in Denver.

Those could all be wins for the Bears, which would put them at 10 on the season. 10 wins could get you in as a wildcard team in the NFC.

Quick Tuneup

Hanie and the offense will come out more prepared on Sunday against the Chiefs. Coach Martz needs to call up simpler plays for the inexperienced quarterback.

Look for the Bears to bounce back next week after a disappointing loss in Oakland.

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This article was originally published on Bearsbacker.com. 

Jake Perper is the owner and head writer for Bearsbacker.com. He is also the Chicago Bears writer for NFLTouchdown.com. Follow him on Twitter, @Bearsbacker and on Facebook for up to the minute news about the Bears.

Peppers’ injury occurred near the end of the first quarter. He seemed to plant his foot wrong while trying to get around Lions tackle Jeff Backus and proceeded to limp off the field.

He went to locker room for a brief moment, but quickly came back on the field. He didn’t look to be at full strength and the Lions did a good job at containing him throughout the game.

The play following Peppers exit from the game, the Lions were able to hit WR Calvin Johnson for a 73-yard touchdown. Peppers is clearly an asset to this Bears defense.

Nick Reed was the only other active pass rushing defensive end behind him on Monday night. Second-year end Corey Wootton is out with a broken hand, but Henry Melton could be an option moving forward at defensive end if needed.

Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune, who broke the story says, “the severity of Peppers’ MCL sprain is unclear but not believed to be serious.”

Its good news that his injury isn’t that serious. the Bears need an effective pass rush and without him they could be even worse.

Peppers hasn’t been ruled out for Sunday night’s matchup against the Vikings, expect Lovie Smith to keep it a mystery all week long.

Peppers will likely be out there Sunday night, but the Bears need to make some moves just in case he can’t go or last the entire game.

Other injury news:

DT Matt Toeaina, who went out with a knee injury in the fourth quarter Monday night, is expected to be okay. He was scheduled to have an MRI on his knee, which is said to be sprained.

It’s believed he will miss roughly two weeks with whats being called a sprained posterior cruciate ligament. Toeaina has been steady on the defensive line, but like the rest of the players out there, they haven’t played up to par.

That means second-round pick Stephen Paea will likely be active come Sunday night. It also means that Amobi Okoye will see more time on the field, which could bring some athleticism to the unit.

With only nine sacks all season, the Bears defensive line needs to provide the pass rush in order have the proper success on defense.

The Bears defense needs to get back to the basics, Toeaina and Peppers are players needed on the field for this unit to be effective.

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This article was originally published on Bearsbacker.com. 

Jake Perper is the owner and head writer for Bearsbacker.com. He is also the Chicago Bears writer for NFLTouchdown.com. Follow him on Twitter, @Bearsbacker for up to the minute news about the Bears.

The Bears are looking very dangerous, but a Jets team that would clinch a playoff spot if they beat the Bears Sunday should make this game a total toss-up that will be fun to watch.

While the Bears’ win over the Vikings was a huge game, don’t forget that the Jets walked into Pittsburgh, having lost their previous two games, and beat the Steelers in a highly contested 22-17 win. Chicago now has some breathing room, but Lovie Smith and company have stated winning the division doesn’t make the last two games meaningless, but rather a stepping stone to gain confidence and momentum going into the playoffs.

The Bears defense continues to be one of the best in the league. They are still limiting the run game, but can be exploited through the seams of the backfield.

The Jets offense, once hitting its stride, has now been tamed due to Mark Sanchez struggling. They will face similar problems this week if the Bears defense gets at Sanchez. Julius Peppers has six sacks in his last five games, and his explosiveness has opened the door for other defensive linemen to get their share of a pass rush.

Rex Ryan has been hailed as one of the best coaches in the NFL today. He needs to have a plan that will test Jay Cutler and avoid kicking the ball to Devin Hester. The Jets defense is going to have to play tight coverage, stopping the short passing game so that the Bears don’t have room down the field.

The Jets are a remarkable 11-4 on the road under Ryan, mainly due to a great defense that limits both the run and the pass. The balanced Jets defense will be tested by the balanced Bears offense. Whose play calling and ability to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent will reign supreme?

Bringing in Mike Martz might have been one of the best decisions of Chicago’s recent history. Martz’s offense started off slow, but in the later half of the season, Martz adjusted and now has an offense he and fans can be proud of.

Martz moved away from the deep pass and now focuses more on short passes, using Cutler’s passing strength and ability of a quick delivery with accuracy to his advantage. Once that is established, Martz likes to air out the deep pass from time to time, as was evident in the Johnny Knox touchdown play Monday night.

The Jets’ situation makes this game one of the best games to watch this week, although I have to give the Bears a slight advantage since they’ve played great recently and it’s at Chicago.

Bears win 24-21.

Let’s kick it off this week with the Detroit Lions.

As you may remember, last year on September 27th, the Detroit Lions held on for a 19-14 victory over the Washington Redskins. This win snapped the franchise’s pitiful 19-game regular season losing streak.

It was like a guy, on the longest dry spell of his life, finally getting lucky again on a drunken, kamikaze shot-infused night – meaning it was sloppy, anything-but-comfortable, and probably enjoyed a little too much afterwards.

Even ending up on the victorious side of a football game should not have been that straining.  (Females, of course, are a different story…)

And I’ll be honest: I was rooting for this torrential shitstorm in Detroit to continue for as long as possible (I was especially rooting for it during this game, which would have been awfully embarrassing had it gone the other way). It was fascinating to watch something so bad, so seemingly destined for nothing but awfulness and with no real end in sight march onwards.

It’s the same reason Detective Jimmy McNulty’s drunken exploits on “The Wire” were so engaging. You expected them to happen, you probably knew the telltale signs, but you always wanted to see exactly how we would finally get there and how far into the depths McNulty would plunge.

It felt as though a Lion victory would have required something otherworldly to reverse all of the bad luck and shoddy play delivered both to and from this team. We didn’t know when Detroit was going to finally hit rock bottom, or if they would ever recover.

Turns out, all it needed was the Washington Redskins, caught in the midst of their own, albeit more expensive, pathetic season.

Detroit would later win their second and final game of the season in a memorable Week 11 shootout with the Cleveland Browns, which ended 38-37 when rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford outdueled Brady Quinn (remember, we’re taking baby steps here) with a bum throwing arm. In two seasons, this was the most exciting moment for the Detroit Lions.

Heading into the 2010 campaign, the Lions seem to be putting more distance between where they are now and where they were not so long ago, a credit to the new brain trust of general manager Martin Mayhew and head coach Jim Schwartz.

A young offensive core of Stafford, running backs Kevin Smith and Jahvid Best, and freakish wideout Calvin Johnson, along with a stronger supporting cast around them, should continue to grow into a potentially dangerous unit.

The defense, meanwhile, is still under construction from the defensive line back, as was the way in Schwartz’s tenure as Tennessee defensive coordinator. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams, and top pick Ndamukong Suh will provide a solid foundation for this plan, which is in place and clearly progressing. The Lions are ready, now more than ever in the recent past, to move forward.

But – and with Detroit, there is usually a but – um, look at the schedule leading up to their Week 7 bye:

Week 1: At Chicago
Week 2: Vs. Philadelphia
Week 3: At Minnesota
Week 4: At Green Bay
Week 5: Vs. St. Louis
Week 6: At New York Giants

Whoa. After the bye, they host games against the new-look Redskins and fashionable New York Jets. Later in the year, on Thanksgiving Day, or what is known as the Lions’ very own melancholy Super Bowl, they play the New England Patriots.

Someone on that schedule-making decision team, undoubtedly tucked away in a shadowy, sound-proof conference room at NFL headquarters, had a pretty perverse sense of humor when they drew this up. It seems they enjoyed the Lions’ struggles and wanted to make the franchise earn its way out of this mess. I guess that would make them like me.

So, the real question: measured improvements and tapered optimism aside, where will the concrete signs of an upswing – the wins – come from?

That schedule is a hell of a way to start a season for any team, especially for a franchise that doesn’t just want to start, but wants to start over. A slow beginning to the year could bring nasty memories and bad habits back to the forefront. For a team that could’ve used a few warm-up shots, it’s like they’re going into a shooting contest cold against Steve Kerr.

Alas, in the end, they don’t have a say in the matter and though it might be harder to see, the play should be better. The concrete rewards may have to be replaced for the time being with the dreaded Moral Victories and Baby Steps, but I don’t see how this team doesn’t at least look improved this year. They still have a lot of questions, especially on defense, and well, that schedule will be quite the barometer.

Detroit can, however, be pretty sure of one thing: they will not be sniffing around 0-16 again anytime soon. Eventually, talent and smart decision-making skills should trump whatever dark clouds have hung over this franchise; and they are beginning to assemble both.

The Lions have hit rock bottom, and they are trying to move up. This year is not going to make the move easy. With the Lions, nothing ever is.

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Photos courtesy of the Detroit Lions and whatsontv.co.uk.

Twitter: twitter.com/griffingotta Email: griffingotta@gmail.com

This post is for 2008!!!

Follow the link to see the 2009 NFL playoff picture and Week 17 scenarios for the AFC and NFC.

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The National Football League handed down suspensions today that will last the remainder of the season to those who were caught using a banned diuretic. Included in those suspended are Kevin Williams and Pat Williams who make up the heart of the Vikings 2nd ranked run defense and one of the best pass rush duos in the league.

Throughout the season, the Pat and Kevin Williams made up one of the strongest units on the Vikings squad. The two completely dominated the line of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball, and allowed the Vikings to take advantage of their high octane running game behind Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. They controlled the clock, they stopped the run, and they pressured the opposing quarterback. Without a doubt, these two players were a major key to the Vikings success this season.

Now, all may be lost as the Williamses will have to sit out the remainder of the season which includes a tough slate of very good offenses to close out the season (and the Lions, which are up on Sunday). Aside from the Lions game, though, the Vikings will face the Cardinals, Falcons and Giants in a three game slate that now could allow either the Packers or Bears to jump back into the lead of the division because without Pat Williams and Kevin Williams doing what they do best, all three games could be losses.

How will they win if Kurt Warner has all the time in the world to pick apart their shaky secondary? Who will step up and stop Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood? How can they prevent the Giants from completely dominating them to close out the season? The Vikings already had the toughest remaining schedule of all three contenders for the NFC North, but without Pat and Kevin Williams, the degree of difficulty might very well have doubled. In looking at the rest of the division’s remaining games, it looks like a door closed on the Vikings, and opened for someone else.

In the final three games, the Packers will play Houston, Jacksonville, Chicago, and Detroit while the Bears will have Jacksonville, New Orleans, Green Bay and Houston. If the Vikings start losing, the Monday night showdown between the Packers and Bears could very well decide who will win the NFC Norris this season.

The NFC North division just got a whole lot more interesting.

Kyle Orton leads Vikings to the top of the NFC North

In what many are calling a “mental error”, Bears Quarterback Kyle Orton got some faulty halftime advice from back-up QB Rex Grossman on what to do in the second half Sunday night against the Vikings.

After a brief conference in which Grossman imparted some sage-like advice to his one-time third string backup, Orton threw three second half interceptions that led to Minnesota’s 17 unanswered second half points.

Panthers Win While Packers Argue Over Who Should Make a Big Play

The Packers dropped another close game after an argument amongst special teams and defensive players erupted over who would be the one to step up and make a big play. In the “we should really win this one though a loss would not completely eliminate us from winning our weak division” game, Packers players were all insisting that someone else stop at least someone from scoring in the crucial fourth quarter. Amid the confusion and finger-pointing, Carolina cruised downfield and won the game at Lambeau.

Detroit Players Regret Eating Turkey Before Thanksgiving Game

The Lions front office, feeling left out after having to work 69 thanksgivings in the last 74 years, decided that this year they would have themselves a grand turkey dinner in the locker room on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the turkeys arrived before the game and the players all ate before remembering they had a game to play against the Titans. In what turned into a tryptophan induced performance, the Lions entertained a capacity crowd for 13 minutes before the rest of the Ford Field crowd hit the exits to go and eat their own turkeys before laying down at home.