The 2010 NFL season begins on Thursday night of this week, and it’s a great match-up. The Minnesota Vikings will revisit the New Orleans Saints in a rematch of last year’s NFC Championship Game.
The Vikings and the Packers were the cream of the NFC North crop in 2010, with Minnesota sweeping Green Bay and winning the Division. Both teams’ seasons ended with disappointment – and with a certain propriety. It was appropriate that the Packer season should end on a sack. And it was certainly familiar to those of us who have followed Brett Favre through the years that his team’s season should end because of a boneheaded interception.
Even beyond that ill-fated pass, however, that game must be a painful memory for Favre, for the Saints defense truly abused him. And it will be interesting to see if they can pick up where they left off, or whether Minnesota will be able to exact some revenge.
Personally, my heart and my head go the same way on this one: I think the Saints beat the Vikings on Thursday Night.
Meanwhile, our other two Divisional foes – Detroit and Chicago – play each other on Sunday afternoon. No one seriously expects either team to compete for the Division this year: quite a departure from the optimism that accompanied Jay Cutler’s arrival in Chicago last offseason. In my judgment, the expectations for Cutler and the Bears were overblown last year. Likewise, though, I don’t think they are being taken seriously enough going into this season. I see Chicago winning at home this Sunday and notching an early in-the-Division win for themselves.
Finally, in the premier late game on Sunday, the Packers head to Philadelphia to play the McNabb-less Eagles. It’s been generally tough sledding for the Packers against the Eagles in recent years, but I expect us to break that trend this week.
In the end, I look for the Bears and Packers to come out of Week 1 with wins, while Detroit and Minnesota will start in early holes.
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