Before I get to the other teams in the division, a note.  Jay Cutler’s Chicago Bears #6 is currently top selling jersey in the National Football League and the Bears are second overall.  Now let’s take a look at the rest of the division in the aftermath of the first preseason game.

Detroit Lions
It seems to be all about the starting quarterback in Detroit, where first overall pick Matthew Stafford and Daunte Culpepper are competing.  Ernie Sims is quoted in the Free Press:

“It’s a
toss-up between No. 9 and 11. Daunte Culpepper is a good veteran. But
you saw what I saw when No. 9 came out there and made some very
impressive throws.”

If the Lions don’t start Stafford Week One, they are simply lost as an organization.  The kid is going to make mistakes and often look like he doesn’t belong.  But you’re dealing with an organization that will consider four wins a massive success.

And, as always, the Lions’ broadcasters can sure put things in perspective:

“You know, Brandy, I got to admit, you look at these games and you
try to take something out of them,” Miller said. “And I think forever,
Lions fans are going to be a little bit more careful after a 4-0
preseason last year and then the year that everybody had to endure.”

“Not to mention their announcer. Me!” Brandstatter said. “I learned my lesson.”

Green Bay Packers
Am I the only one totally shocked by the fact that Matt Flynn has completely outplayed Brian Brohm for the backup quarterback job?  There was a time, when Brohm was at Louisville, that some believed he’d be the top pick in the draft. (And some of you were downright angry the Bears did not select him in the second round.)

New name to know: Jermichael Finley.  The second-year tight end is set to usurp Donald Lee in the starting lineup and the Bears have found themselves ultra-susceptible to tight ends for the past few seasons.  The last thing we need is for the Packers to find another weapon in their deep, pretty damn terrific passing game.

Good news!  The Pack are shuffling the deck with their offensive line.  Outside of left tackle Chad Clifton, nobody knows where they’ll be lining up against us on the 13th.  What this means is we’ll get a good read on Marinelli’s “rush men” right at the start of the season.

Minnesota Vikings   
Great post by Mark Craig about the shear boredom that is the NFL preseason.  I hate it.  Every single snap. And so does he.

Apparently, Jay Glazer is still convinced that Brett Favre is going to join the Vikings this summer.  And, according to him, so are the Minnesota Vikings:

“…I’m absolutely convinced. Why?
For starters, because everyone else on the Vikings seems to be
convinced of the same thing. I mean damn near everybody! During my two
days in Mankato, nearly everyone I talked to within the team talked
about Favre joining not as an ‘if’ but rather a ‘when.'”

I’m quite surprised that this story isn’t gathering more attention from those clowns at ESPN, who normally salivate at the very mentions of Favre.

Good story about John Sullivan, the man replacing the great Matt Birk at center.  Apparently Sullivan was so nervous about making his Vikings’ debut, he vomited a lot.  Nice to know this who playing professional football thing still means something to some of these guys.