Throughout the long winter, winds of disenchantment swept across the Great Lakes region.  From the ice fishing huts of Minnesota, over the slush-gray waters of Green Bay, bounding past Chicagoland,and along the lonely Mile Streets of Detroit, came a chorus of plaintive cries:

     “Frank Walker?!”

     “Visanthe Shiancoe?!”

     “You guys know it’s okay to sign starters, right?!”

     And the fans were pretty upset, too.

     For the Chicago Bears, the rumbling started before the regular season ended, with the arrest of DT Tank Johnson, which was followed by Coach Lovie Smith’s contract squabble and the team’s collaring of Lance Briggs with the franchise tag.  Williams served his time and accepted an eight game suspension with humility and  grace, Lovie Smith got his extension, and Lance Briggs vowed never to wear a Bears’ uniform again.

     Fans may wonder how anyone could turn away from $7 Million, but in Briggs’ mind, $7 Million is still less than the $20 Million he could’ve gotten from Washington.  Say what you want about Briggs, his math skills are intact. Unless a new deal is reached by July 14, expect gales of spin from both sides in the Windy City.

     Anticipating Johnson’s absence, the Bears signed DT Anthony Adams from San Francisco.  Adams will add depth to the defensive line, which may be necessary if Alex Brown continues his demand  for a new contract. The Bears seem confident, however, that DE Mark Anderson and LB Jamar Williams will fill in nicely and without breaking their piggy bank.

     The Bears did lose depth in the secondary and on special teams with the departures of WR Justin Gage, and safeties Cameron Worrell and Todd Johnson.  They countered by acquiring Adam Archuleta, who knows Lovie Smith’s system, but may not have the legs to be effective.

     It’s a given that opposing teams will kick away from Devon Hester, so the Bears plan to upgrade their offense—and extend their roster’s cost efficiency-- by using KR Devin Hester as a receiver.  Hester is explosive in open space and the experiment looked good in the Spring.  However, there is a difference between the space available on a wheel route and the space Hester is used to exploiting on kick returns. And  there’s a huge difference between catching passes during OTAs and doing it in the maelstrom of the  regular season.   Remember Jason Sehorn?

     Remember Brett Favre?  Green Bay’s lack of free agent activity in recent years led to  Favre’s recent golf course criticism.  Favre knows better than anybody what pieces the Packers have and what pieces they need.

     But whether Brett Favre likes it or not , the Packers are rebuilding and they’re starting with the pieces on defense.  You can tell because  the offense consists of Favre, Donald Driver, a few logs, and some baling wire.  Gone are Ahman Green (Texans), TE David Martin (Dolphins), and FB William Henderson.

      What shopping the Packers did was accomplished in-house , and on defense.  They extended the contracts of Cullen Jenkins, Al Harris, and Nick Barnett and may do the same for Corey Williams. 




     The Lions know all about rebuilding.  They’ve been at it for half a century.    This year, the Lions acted to shore up the vision of second year coach  Rod Marinelli, looking to add character guys who’ll buy into the system  and getting rid of high-profile malcontents (QB Josh McCown, CB Dre Bly, , WR Mike Williams).

     Tatum bell and TJ Duckett are both solid role-players, but both lack the hands required to make Mike Martz’s offense work.  If Kevin Jones can’t come back from his injuries, there will be a problem at running back.

     Where there won’t be a problem is with the rest of Martz’s pass happy attack. QB Jon Kitna—tough enough to throw for over 4,000 yards in 2006-- has predicted a 10 win season.  And in Roy Williams and rookie Calvin Johnson he has a young wide receiving tandem to rival Arizona’s.  Mike Furry led the NFC in receptions and the Lions have enough confidence in him, they resisted the clumsy advances of FA Kevin Curtis. If newcomers George Foster and Ed Mulitalo can steady a very shaky offensive line, the Lions will put up enough points to fulfill Kitna’s prediction.

     But only if Detroit’s Tampa-28th  defense improves. The entire NFC Central is stout up the middle and Detroit has a terrific pair of defensive tackles in Cory Redding and Shaun Rogers.  DE DeWayne White knows the system and LB Ernie Sims led the team in tackles.  The rest of the line backers need to stay healthy and make more plays.  The secondary has more problems than Travis Fisher and Ike Charlton can solve.  With so much expended on offensive skill players, it will be a while before the Lions are a complete team.

     It’s never a good sign when fans accuse a team of tanking it.  And it’s even worse when one of the team’s defensive leaders feels the same way. But that was the rumor howling through the Twin Cities this Spring and that was Antoine Winfield boycotting  OTAs. After last year’s free agency spree (Steve Hutchinson, Chester Taylor, and Ryan Longwell, among others), Viking fans expected more than a 6-10 season and the leagues most boring offense.

     Napoleon Harris, Fred Smoot, Will Hunter, Mike Rosenthal, and Jermaine Wiggins all left for less purple pastures. The Vikings responded by bringing in… Visanthe Shiancoe. They also signed Bobby Wade, a good slot receiver who can return kicks. Neither is the kind of play maker this team needs.

     The addition of rookie Adrian Peterson means the Vikings should be able to run the ball behind C Matt Birk, Hutchinson, and Bryant McKinnie.  But at quarterback and wide receiver, the Vikings are very young and very unsure of what they have.  

     The Vikings know exactly what they have at defensive tackle:  Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, the best run stuffers in the NFL.  But their inability to generate a pass rush victimized the secondary and  led to the Vikings tying the Bengals for worst in the league.