NFC North Week 10 Recap
The NFC North had an exciting Week 10 with three out of the four teams securing a win with the Green Bay Packers being the only team to lose this week.
Chicago Bears 16, Carolina Panthers 13
The Chicago Bears played on Thursday Night Football again when they faced off against the Carolina Panthers. The game was nothing special becoming another Thursday Night stinker that many people besides Panthers and Bears fans tuned out of after one quarter.
The Bears succeeded in the run game using running back D’Onta Foreman giving him 21 carries for 80 yards. Quarterback Tyson Bagent was conservative with the ball not turning it over once this game compared to his three-interception game last week against the Saints. Bagent was also not sacked once during the entire game especially against a good pass rush with Brian Burns and Derrick Brown. The defense played well creating pressure on Bryce Young and sacking him three times. They also shut down his biggest target in wide receiver Adam Thielen holding him to 42 yards on six catches.
The win was not pretty, but a win is a win.
Green Bay Packers 19, Pittsburgh Steelers 23
The Green Bay Packers continue to struggle as their offense continually finds more ways to mess up drives and their defense is battered with countless injuries. Jordan Love threw two costly interceptions in the game towards the end. The first was thrown with three and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter in the redzone on a drive that could have brought them the lead in the game with a touchdown. The second was thrown on the last play of the game, but both of them were balls Love was forcing to wide receiver Christian Watson.
The running game killed the Packers on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The rushing offense was up and down all game with Aaron Jones having 13 carries for 35 yards having a 2.7 yards per carry. AJ Dillon had much more success with 9 carries for 70 yards averaging 7.8 yards per carry. Love threw the ball 40 times in a game where he could have thrown 25-30 times and used play-action to increase productivity in both the passing and running game.
The defense gave up 205 yards on the ground while holding Kenny Pickett to only 126 passing yards. The defense did not seem to make any adjustments throughout the game to focus on the run game and force the ball into Pickett’s hands. Besides last week’s win, the Packers have lost 5 of their last 6 games.
Minnesota Vikings 27, New Orleans Saints 19
Quarterback Josh Dobbs finally had a full week as the starter, and it showed in a dominating first half performance putting up 24 points in the first half with 21 of those points coming in the second quarter.
The team slowed its pace down a lot in the second half only being able to score a field goal in two quarters and having countless stalled drives. The Vikings look dangerous at times and at other times look like a team that has been plagued by injuries to their star players. Wide receiver Jordan Addison has continued to put up good numbers and with Justin Jefferson returning soon he will be a great second wide receiver to complement Jefferson.
If Dobbs can keep up this level of play, there is still a chance for the Vikings to sneak into the playoffs as a Wildcard team.
Detroit Lions 41, Los Angeles Chargers 38
This was one of the best games of the entire year. The Chargers had the fourth highest offensive output of any team this year. The unfortunate part is that the Lions had the third highest offensive output of any team this year.
In a shootout victory, the Lions defense could not stop the Chargers at all, and the old Lions would have crumbled and lost by 24 as the Chargers pulled away. The new Lions were able to keep pace with the Chargers and an enormous part of that is because of the elite running back duo that Detroit has.
Detroit has finally started to utilize running back Jahmyr Gibbs properly and it is showing in his statistics as he continues to put up great rushing numbers and great numbers in the passing game.
The Lions took a hard beating from the Ravens a few weeks ago, but they have shown they are able to bounce back and that they had a down week which many other teams who are at the top have shown as well.
After this big win, the Lions are back in the discussion of teams that could make the big game by the end of the year.
NFC North Standings:
1. Detroit Lions (7-2)
2. Minnesota Vikings (6-4)
3. Green Bay Packers (3-6)
4. Chicago Bears (3-7)
