Regardless of who is the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers this upcoming season, they are one of the better teams in the entire NFL. And even with the ongoing Aaron Rodgers situation, this team made the NFC Championship Game for a reason last year, and that certainly should be in the cards for this season as well.

Obviously, many moments were reliant on the talents of Rodgers, who was on his way to another league MVP award, and not having that kind of leadership at QB this upcoming season certainly would be an issue. But looking forward to this upcoming season should occur regardless, especially with the unfinished business that this roster has to achieve.

Boasting the league’s fourth-toughest schedule this upcoming season, Green Bay certainly will have a tough slate on their hands, beginning Week 1 by traveling to face the Saints. With that added 17th game on the schedule adding the dangerous Kansas City Chiefs, nothing will be easy for the green and gold.

The Packers are the easy favorite for taking another NFC North divisional crown, which would keep consistent with most recent years. With all four teams at different stages of competitiveness, it certainly sides with Green Bay.

The Minnesota Vikings are the likeliest competitor in the division, but are facing defensive secondary shortcomings and have a question mark at QB with Kirk Cousins – while the offensive trio of Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, and Adam Thielen will keep them in games, they are still a few pieces away.

The Chicago Bears will be welcoming in two new QB options, as veteran Andy Dalton will be mentoring rookie Justin Fields in an attempt to try and salvage HC Matt Nagy’s job. While the CHI defense still ranks above average in most areas, having cut CB Kyle Fuller this offseason puts a damper on those stats, making them easier to attack through the air.

Finally, the Detroit Lions brought Dan Campbell over from the Saints to replace Matt Patricia as their new head coach, and with it saw the trade of long-time QB Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams. Outside of the draft picks that they received, bringing QB Jared Goff into the fold apparently was enough to quell the need to take a solid QB in this year’s draft.

Minnesota is the clear-cut runner-up in the division, Chicago is more of a wild-card option that may decide to give up on its incumbent HC this year, and the Lions are just trying to accelerate a rebuild that seemingly has been taking too long. If Green Bay wants to make sure they can take care of the right things and position themselves to make another deep playoff run, then taking care of their own division is a great first place to do so.

뿓뿓뿓

Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23

뿓뿓뿓