Following the news that both Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams will be staying in Green Bay for at least one more year, the Packers are once again in ‘all in’ mode in 2022.
While the Packers gear up for another championship run, their NFC North rivals are very much heading in the opposite direction.
The Packers have whipped up on their division foes in the three years Matt LaFleur has been the team’s Head Coach, establishing a 15-3 record against the Bears, Vikings and Lions in that time.
When you consider one of those losses, to the Lions in the 2021 regular season finale, came with the Packers resting starters ahead of the playoffs, Green Bay’s divisional dominance is even more impressive.
In the NFL, the worst position a franchise can be in is to be a middling team. Not winning meaningful games in January and also not in a position to draft elite talent. That’s where Bears and Vikings in particular have been entrenched in recent years.
The return of Rodgers seems to have spurred the Bears into kickstarting a hard rebuild, in the hope of reaping the rewards in a few years’ time when the boogieman is presumably gone.
Star pass rusher Khalil Mack has been traded to the Los Angeles Chargers, Eddie Goldman and Tarik Cohen have been released. Allen Robinson and Akiem Hicks are set to be free agents.
Rebuilding is probably the right decision, but of course there’s no guarantee it’ll actually work. As Michael Jordan once said: “No one is guaranteeing rebuilding’s going to be two, three, four or five years. The Cubs have been rebuilding for 42 years”.
The Bears do not have a first-round draft pick this year after they traded up in last year’s draft to acquire Justin Fields.
The young QB is certainly talented and his improvement will dictate how competitive the Bears will ultimately be in 2022 and beyond, but his supporting cast appears to have been diminished in the short term.
The Vikings remain stuck in no man’s land, especially at the quarterback position, with the sufficient but underwhelming Kirk Cousins counting $45million against their salary cap this year on a fully guaranteed contract.
The salary cap issues facing the Packers are well documented, but at least the aggressive moves the team has made have been executed in the name of contending for a Super Bowl, albeit unsuccessfully.
Meanwhile, the Vikings are in the third-worst cap position according to Spotrac, sitting $15million over cap. They been a losing team last two seasons.
Minnesota’s once fearsome defense has become less intimidating in recent times, and there have even been rumours of Adam Thielen being traded or released.
The Packers have been beaten twice by the Vikings in the last three seasons, and Dalvin Cook has become a consistent thorn in Green Bay’s side, but his persistent injury issues are a problem for the Vikings in the bigger picture.
The Detroit Lions are a year into their rebuild after going ‘all out’, trading Matthew Stafford last offseason and securing number two pick in this year’s draft after going 3-13-1 in Dan Campbell’s first season.
However, it is not believed to be a banner year for the quarterback position in the draft and there are few options worth pursuing in terms of veteran signal callers.
Campbell’s team plays hard and is capable of knocking off a stronger opponent who underestimates them, but they are still potentially years away from being a genuine threat.
In general, the NFC as a whole appears weaker entering 2022, especially after Tom Brady retired. There are not many true contenders on that side of the league right now.
With Rodgers and Adams in tow, the Packers will return a strong core of players regardless of the tough decisions they face as Brian Gutekunst attempts to build this year’s roster.
As the rest of the division looks towards the future, the NFC North should provide Green Bay with a relatively easy path to the playoffs in 2022.
——————————————————-
Mark Oldacres is a sports writer from Birmingham, England and a Green Bay Packers fan. You can follow him on twitter at @Marko7LW.