Detroit Lions: The most overrated, underrated heading into 2019

Division Foes

Overrated: Chicago’s dominance

“If you wanna’ crown ’em, then crown their a**!!”

The late Denny Green’s famous words about the Bears ring just as true today as back in 2006. While most experts are assuming that Chicago will pick up where they left off, win another twelve or more games, and repeat as NFC North champs, I’m not ready to crown them just yet.

I’ll concede that the Bears deserve to be the favorites at this point, but if the division is as competitive and improved as suggested, it won’t be as easy as people seem to think. Case in point is the Vikings, who went 13-3 in 2017 and seemingly came back even stronger, only to sputter through all of last year and miss out on the playoffs.

Chicago is good, but if they are who I think they are, breezing through the division again (5-1 last year, blowing a three touchdown lead in their only NFC North loss) isn’t happening.

Underrated: Aaron Rodgers

All I’ll say is that rumors of Rodgers’s supposed decline are greatly exaggerated. Devoid of many of his favorite offensive weapons and in a supposed “down year”, Rodgers still threw 25 TDs against two picks and was a Pro Bowl selection. Wouldn’t mind having a down year like that.

Detroit has won four in a row against the Packers, but let’s not confuse that with thinking they’ve beaten Rodgers four times straight. Whether or not he gets along with his new coaches, whether or not there’s a viable running back or healthy receivers, if Rodgers is on the field, he’s dangerous.