Can JJ McCarthy Save The Vikings? | 2025 NFC North Preview

NFC North Predictions: The Battle for Division Dominance in 2025

The episode delves into the competitive landscape of the NFC North division for the 2025 NFL season. Key discussions focus on the Detroit Lions, who are looking to recover after a disappointing season, the Chicago Bears with their new acquisition Caleb Williams, and the Minnesota Vikings led by new starting quarterback JJ McCarthy. The Green Bay Packers, highlighted for their storied franchise history, emerge as a potential division leader. The analysts debate the impact of team depth, coaching changes, and quarterback performances on the overall division standings. They conclude that the Packers and Lions are likely playoff contenders, while the Vikings and Bears struggle to keep up, predicting a highly competitive and closely contested season.

00:08 Detroit Lions: Challenges and Changes
00:27 Green Bay Packers: The Storied Franchise
00:42 Depth Issues and Defensive Concerns
01:04 Ownership and Fan Perspectives
01:23 Coaching Turnover and Team Dynamics
02:19 The Bears' Offensive Intrigue
02:48 Media Literacy and AI Videos
03:40 Head Coaching Talent in NFC North
04:14 Predictions and X Factors
10:56 Final Thoughts and Viewer Engagement

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The NFC North is going to beabsolutely insane.

(00:03):
In 2025, we have the defendingNFC North champions from 2024.
The Detroit Lions, they lost BenJohnson in division to the
Chicago Bears, and they'renumber one overall pick.
Caleb Williams.
They're looking to bounce backafter a disappointing season.
You also have the Vikings firstyear as the starter.
JJ McCarthy, can he live up towhat Sam Darnell did last year?

(00:27):
And then of course, you alwayshave the most storied franchise
in NFL history, the Green BayPackers, they have talent, they
have a quarterback, they have ahead coach, James, who is the X
factor in the NFC North in 2025.
It is going to be the DetroitLines depth chart for on the
defensive side of the ball.

(00:48):
You saw last year, whathappened?
Aiden Hutchinson goes down, thisguy goes down, this guy goes
down, bop, bop, bop, bop thisyear.
Hey, it's the pa, it's thePackers division.
Man.
If there's no debt on thedefense for the lines, give me
the Packers to win.
This division spins because.
I wanna be an owner of the team.
Are you an owner of the team?

(01:08):
Oh, it's funny you mentionedthat I actually happen to be an
owner of the Green Bay Packers.
I own exactly one share.
Not a fan, I'm an owner.
Just one.
But no, in all seriousness.
Yeah, I it's really the lions.
Um, of course there's more tothe depth of the defense.
You know, you lose Aaron Glenn,you lose Ben Johnson to, you
know, head coaching jobs.

(01:28):
What's that turnover gonna looklike?
We've seen teams turn over bothcoordinators.
I know for a recent example, theEagles after Super Bowl 57
flipped coordinators like that.
And it didn't look well after,you know, the whole season.
But for them it is gonna bethat.
And the new coaches, because ofcourse, you know, the offense
skill wise they, they're gonnabe fine for me.

(01:49):
'cause last year everyonepredicted the lines to go to the
Super Bowl.
Mm-hmm.
And then it just one fly afterone fly, and then it just showed
in the, you know, in thedivisional against the
commanders that they just couldnot defensively hold up.
So that's really my X factor forthis division because I think.
The Vikings are not gonna liveup to what Sam Donna did.

(02:10):
I am excited to see JJ mcMcCartney, but I just don't see
12, whatever it was, 13 andfour, 12 and five last year.
Mm-hmm.
And then with The Bears, they'regonna be the most intriguing on
the offensive side.
I know we've seen all thehorrific videos of my man Caleb
Williams flipping out.
And some of them werelegitimately ai.

(02:31):
Did you know, like did you knowthat some of them, they got
found out they were AI videos ofpeople making like really bad
throws.
I mean, some of them are legit.
I'm not gonna let him get offcompletely scot free.
Oh my gosh.
But like there was a lot ofpeople, they were showing their
internet literacy by notrealizing it was ai.
I'm just, I just wanna throwthat out there.
Yeah.
Media literacy is important,guys.

(02:52):
Yeah.
Very.
Don't fall for these AI videos.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that you saw that.
My mom DMed me on Instagram andit was an eagle at night coming
to take a dog off of the lawn.
She says, oh my dog, make sureyou watch your dog.
And I was like, mom.
I love you.
This is totally ai and my mom isnot even 50 years old.
Hey, you're talking about it.

(03:12):
You're talking about your mom.
My mom fell into the Tel trapthe other day.
Oh no.
WNBA Tel with the Nets.
No.
Bordering the, uh, green Beding,whatever they want to call it
for video.
Say, yeah, my mom fell into thatjob, but she's 65, so, okay.
Pass, pass.

(03:32):
Yeah.
Pass, pass, pass.
Okay.
Thank you.
But back to the bears.
Oh yeah.
I'll say this.
This is what I'll say.
I think the NFC North is thegreatest collection of head
coaching talent in the entireNFL.
There's no other division, topto bottom that you'd be like, I
want that guy to be my headcoach.
Let's go down the list.
Dan Campbell in Detroit.

(03:52):
Yeah.
I want Matt LeFlore in GreenBay.
I want him Kevin O'Connell inMinnesota.
I want him, I, or you shouldhave been the coach of the year
last year.
And then finally the up andcoming hot shot offensive mind.
Ben Johnson is the head coach inChicago.
Yep.
This is four head coaches thataround the league.
They probably end up in the top10 list.
All four of them.

(04:13):
Yeah.
Relle let's ask you this.
Who you got in the NFC North?
What's your X factor?
What's my X factor for the NFCNorth?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh, okay.
It's always fun to watch theseteams'cause I feel like these
are honestly like your vintageold, like true NFL teams.

(04:34):
Like no matter what, you alwayswanna see how these teams are
doing'cause they've just beenaround for so long.
I am attesting to a lot of whatJames said.
Everyone thought and assumedthat the lions were gonna go all
the way.
You know, it was gonna be thelion's year making a huge
comeback.
Basically what we saw from theyear prior, the only reason why

(04:54):
they weren't able to surpass thecommanders is like you said,
James, they didn't have thedepth.
They lost some really keyfundamental players for their
defense.
And from there on, when you losethose fundamentals and you're
not able to replace them, noteven half of what you're
missing, it just is always gonnafall flat.
I think that there's a lot ofoptimism when it comes to the
Green Bay Packers.

(05:14):
I am a huge fan of Jordan Love.
I love watching his game.
His season last year was alittle bit shaky, if I'm being
quite honest.
I really preferred him the yearbefore.
So I really hope that he showsout more than anything.
'cause if he does, and I thinkit's going to be a battle
ultimately between Green Bay andDetroit.

(05:35):
And I'm gonna say it now.
I think the Packers are gonnaredeem themselves.
Come on Cheeseheads.
I know you guys have gonethrough it.
You guys are missing AaronRogers.
You guys got y'all's newbenefactor in Jordan Love and I
think you guys are gonna be ableto triumph this season, so
that's exciting within itself.

(05:56):
I do really like the Vikings.
I love, you know, JustinJefferson, I always love
watching him run routes and makethese fantastic catches.
And of course his touchdowncelebrations, ah, chef's kiss.
But with JJ McCarthy, I'm justnot a hundred percent sold that
they will win 10 games or more.
I think that they're going to besitting between seven to eight.

(06:19):
I don't think they're gonna goabove the eight game win
threshold, just my opinion incase you wanna make some bets.
Okay.
Oh, okay.
It sounds like you're Sam DonaldBeliever.
Okay, fair enough.
That's one thing me and SP are,we are not, uh, Sam darn
believers.
That is, I, I am not a fan ofthe guy.
I think he was exposed to thefinal two weeks of the season

(06:41):
last year and it was Oh, well,yeah, a hundred percent.
But I think.
The highest threshold is thatthey will win seven to eight
games.
I, I think that's fair.
I think I could see, and theonly reason why they would is
'cause they have great talentlike Justin Jefferson.
But again, that team lacks depthand I think veteran status as
well.
If you don't have a really greatbalanced and smart QB that's

(07:03):
able to deal with pressure rightoff the bat and have like that
high iq, it's always gonna fallflat.
So we weren't really able to seeJJ McCarthy last season due to
injury.
And I don't have the highest ofhopes.
Just good luck, Vikings.
'cause you're gonna need it.
James, were you a big JJMcCarthy guy?

(07:24):
I can't remember when we talkedabout JJ McCarthy coming out.
So when we did, back when he gotdrafted, I don't know.
I know of course he led theWolverines to a title versus the
Washington Blue.
Yeah, I remember.
I re I remember.
I remember.
I didn't think he'd go as high.
Um, for a while I rememberSpence, he was like a low first

(07:44):
round projected.
And then combine and then ProDay really shot up the boards.
And of course, you know, intoday's game, man, hey Kevin
O'Connell saw somebody who hethought would fit his system
perfectly.
Of course, we couldn't watch himplay this past season during the
preseason.
'cause he got hurt.
But I'll say it like this.
I'm with Giselle, but not atseven and eight wins.

(08:05):
I think the Bears and theVikings are gonna be tied for
third, both being nine andeight.
That's my prediction for boththose two teams will be fun.
Solid.
I just think the Lions and thePackers are the only two teams
making the playoffs from the NFCNorth.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
We're gonna go three for threehere.
I think it's the Packer's year.
I think.
Jordan Love will live up for theexpectations of that contract

(08:28):
that he got at the beginning oflast year.
Mm-hmm.
I'm with you, Giselle.
It was a little bit of adisappointing year for him last
year, but people forget, andJames u will attest to this.
Maybe you can make a case forthe Rams, but I think of all the
teams that the Eagles played inroute to a Super Bowl victory
last year.
The Green Bay Packers actuallygave them a really good run for
their money.
They competed more than thecommanders did, or the chiefs

(08:50):
did in the Super Bowl Packers.
Actually, I believe it was a onescore game late in the fourth
quarter.
It was, yeah.
he did slide.
That's right.
But no.
It was a close game.
I will say the Rams did givemore of a run for their money
just because they were literally12.
They were trying to win thegame.
That's right.
They were 12.
Yeah.
I was like, please, for the loveof God, this cannot happen.
I swear, this has to be the yearthe Eagles win.

(09:12):
I swear, dude I'm stressed.
We'll talk about the NFC Westlater, but who do you have in
third then?
Because if we're all packersone.
Lines two, who do you have thirdtiebreaker.
Hey, tiebreaker.
I'm gonna give the Vikings thetiebreaker.
See, this is the thing giselle'snot wrong about when it comes to
depth.
And another thing we need totalk about, Jordan Addison.

(09:33):
Three game suspension.
Yikes.
That's three games withoutarguably the best number two,
don't, don't do that.
No, no, don't do that.
Arguably, I, they're not mine.
I said arguably.
When people would say, sincehe's come into the league,
pretty impressive on a per gamebasis, but nonetheless, with,
very mediocre quarterback play alot would say.
But that to me is more atestament on one of my favorite

(09:56):
head coaches in the entire NFLand that's Kevin O'Connell.
I'm a massive Kevin O'Connellfan, and I think the Vikings
take the third spot just becauseof Kevin O'Connell just being a
damn good head coach.
But I don't think the Bears aregonna be a bad team.
Even though they'll be fourthplace in the division, I
honestly think this is gonna bea division where I would be
shocked if anyone in thedivision finishes with a better

(10:19):
division record than four andtwo.
I think these teams are gonna, Iagree, beat the hell outta each
other all year long and it'sgonna lower some of their
records to a lower mark thantheir actual talent and how good
of a team they actually are.
But because they all gotta playeach other six times a year,
they're gonna beat the hell outof each other.
I agree with you James PackersLions, they're gonna be in the

(10:39):
playoffs, but I do think theBears, even though they'll be
fourth in the vision, I thinkthey win seven games.
Yeah, yeah.
No, I got both of them winningnine and eight, like they're
nine and eight.
Fourth place is nine and eightthis year.
Wow.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
That would be so disappointingto be on the outside.
Looking in at nine and eight.
Y'all let us know in thecomments.
Who's winning the NFC North in2025?

(11:01):
Who's the biggest X factor?
Let us know.
Down below.