4. Detroit Lions: The Lions are known to be the worst team in football ever since Barry Sanders after the 1998 season. The Lions had a very successful decade in the 90’s, making the playoffs six out of the 10 years, thanks a lot to the help of Barry Sanders. What will it take to make this team good once again? They have a young potential star quarterback in Matthew Stafford, a very good running back in Kevin Smith, probably the best wide receiver in the game in Calvin Johnson and they have a new tight end in Tony Scheffler. All these players are top of the line, but, their defense is still terrible. Everyone knows that defense is important to having a successful team in the NFL and the Lions still have a long ways to go in that department. They did draft Ndamukong Suh to help their defense out, but other than him the Lions defense still has a lot of holes. The Lions may be a little better due to the addition of Scheffler and Suh, but they will still let up a ton of points. The Lions may outscore a few teams, but not many. The Lions will improve by one win this season with a 3-13 record. At least they are improving every year, just very slowly.

3. Chicago Bears: Last year the Bears thought they had a playoff team with the acquisition of Jay Cutler. They were sorely disappointed when Cutler struggled all season long throwing interception after interception. Cutler finished the season with only one more touchdown then interceptions with 27 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. Cutler’s interception rate goes up every season, if it goes up anymore, Cutler will probably be in the 30’s. It is very hard to have a winning season when your quarterback throws 30+ interceptions. I think the Bears should focus on running the ball more this season because they have a great running back in Matt Forte. Cutler wasn’t the only one to blame for the Bears misfortunes last season. The Bears do not have great receivers, Devin Hester has speed, but he can’t catch. Earl Bennett has a promising future and may even be the top receiver on the team this season. The Bears tight end, Greg Olsen is one of the best in the league, he should be Cutlers main target unless he is double covered, which will probably happen a lot. The Bears defense is solid like usual led by Brian Urlacher. The Bears shouldn’t have any trouble stopping their opponents from scoring unless Cutler keeps giving up the ball. Basically this team all depends on Cutler, if Cutler stops throwing interceptions, they will be a playoff team, but I don’t see that happening. I think the Bears will have the same record as last season at 7-9.

2. Green Bay Packers: The Packers had a disappointing end to their season when they lost to the Cardinals in the playoffs in overtime. Everytime they lost last season, their defense let them down. Every single one of their losses, the Packers let up at least 30 points in the game. Two out of the Packers five losses also came from their division rival Vikings. If the Packers want to go further into the playoffs this season, they will have to find a way to beat the Vikings. Aaron Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Last season Rodgers had near MVP numbers with 30 touchdowns and only seven interceptions, giving him a quarterback rating of 103.2. Rodgers should thank his two great receivers Greg Jennings and Donald Driver for his success last season. The Packers running back Ryan Grant had a bounce back season last year and I think he will continue to improve this season. The Packers defense did not improve in my eyes with the departure of Aaron Kampman to the Jaguars. I think the Packers will struggle beating the Vikings again this season. The Packers will have to rely even more on their offense this season to outscore their opponents. I think the Packers will finish with the same record of 11-5 this season.

1. Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings may have the best offense and defense in the league. It is a toss-up between the Vikings and Saints as the best team in the NFC this season. The Vikings need Brett Favre to come back to have the best team in the league status. Favre announced last week that he will be retiring because his ankle isn’t well enough to play on. The season is still a little more than a month away though, there is still plenty of time for Favre to get back in shape. Like usual Favre is making his decision too soon, most people are expecting Favre to come out of retirement for the third straight year. With Favre the Vikings will be dangerous once again, their offense is lethal. Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe, and Adrian Peterson round off the best all-around offense in the NFL. With Favre the rest of his offense will flourish, without him they will be wasted talent, Tavaris Jackson already tried to lead the Vikings and failed. The Vikings defense is solid with Jared Allen, Kevin and Pat Williams, Chad Greenway, Lito Sheppard, and Antoine Winfield. Even without Favre their defense will help them win a lot of games. The Vikings have a good chance of making it to the Super Bowl if favre comes back, if he doesn’t the Vikings will be lucky to make the playoffs. I will have to make two predictions for the Vikings, with Favre 13-3, without Favre 8-8.(nfl.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

by Josh Weiner at the Sports Fan Blog Network

AFC
Jets @ Chargers 1/17 4:40pm
Ravens @ Colts 1/16 8:15pm

NFC
Cowboys @ Vikings 1/17 1pm
Cardinals @ Saints 1/16 4:30pm

My Predictions:
AFC
Jets 21 Chargers 17
Colts 28 Ravens 20

NFC
Cowboys 28 Vikings 17
Saints 27 Cardinals 10