NFC North burning questions for 2024 NFL season: How quickly can Bears, Vikings quarterbacks make an impact?

2024 NFL the season isn’t far off and there may be no more intriguing division to watch than the NFC North. The defending champion Detroit Lions just finished their best season in decades, coming within one victory of a historic Super Bowl appearance. The Green Bay Packers are trying to build their own playoff promise. And both the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings have new quarterbacks to go along with full supporting casts.

All four have the potential to challenge for NFC North throne. All four also have obstacles to overcome. Here’s a burning question for each of them, in 2024:

Chicago Bears: Can Caleb Williams’ talent translate into immediate impact?

In case you forgot, Bears general manager Ryan Poles once said the team was “all in” on Justin Fields as the face of the franchise. Except the front office’s actions indicated otherwise, asking Fields to almost single-handedly overcome a moderate setup. Was Fields perfect? No. But he wasn’t exactly positioned to stand out. Williams, on the other hand, enters the NFL not just with a superior scouting report as a laser-wielding gunslinger, but with a genuine investment from Poles and Co. What then can we expect from Williams with weapons like DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Keenan Allen and D’Andre Swift at your disposal? It depends on how quickly the USC product adapts to the speed of the NFL. Will his freestyle mirror the rollercoaster ride of, say, Josh Allen? Will he hold back for the benefit of Matt Eberflus’ defense? The spectrum of debut possibilities is broad.

Detroit Lions: Did they do enough to maintain the momentum?

The Lions didn’t just live up to the hype in 2023; they surpassed him, restoring the Motor City’s belief in a competitor on the football field. And much of their ultra-balanced core remains: Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown are locked in for the long term, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs remain a combination of thunder and lightning in the backfield, and the secondary has plenty of new talent, notably rookie cornerbacks Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. There’s also little doubt that Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson will keep the gas pedal as aggressive decision-makers. Under the surface, though, the Lions are still banking on young prospects at key spots like wide receiver and edge rusher, where St. Brown and Aidan Hutchinson do a lot of the heavy lifting. And they’ll need the O-line to stay healthy to keep Goff comfortable for another deep playoff push.

Green Bay Packers: Can Jordan Love build on his promising debut?

Few quarterbacks have been as dazzling to close out 2023 as Love, who went from erratic to MVP in his first full year, replacing Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay also appears pleased with its progression, considering the Packers barely touched their crowded young wideout space this offseason, allowing players like Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks and Romeo Doubs to headline the aerial attack. A reinforced ground game with Josh Jacobs and MarShawn Lloyd should help, as well as a defense aided by a new patrolman, Xavier McKinney. But their ceiling as a team will mostly depend on Love’s next move: With contract issues swirling in the background, can he harness his inner Brett Favre to make smart reads with such a talented arm? If so, this club is primed to be a weekly pest in and out of the NFC North.

Minnesota Vikings: What’s the center’s priority?

For the second year in a row, it’s difficult to define the Vikings’ internal expectations. Entering 2023, Kirk Cousins ​​was preparing to play out his contract at the time general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah stripped the defense of new coordinator Brian Flores. Entering 2024, Cousins ​​is gone, but the supporting cast is arguably just as competitive, if not more so. So when Kevin O’Connell and company evaluate Sam Darnold versus first-round pick JJ McCarthy at quarterback, will they prefer long-term patient development or instant results? Maybe they can have both. McCarthy is the future, but with a skill group featuring Aaron Jones, Justin Jefferson and other elite talent, the time to make another playoff push might be now. Especially with Flores also promoting a deeper pass-rushing rotation for a defense he has outperformed in 2023.