Cold as Ice - History/Tradition of the NFC North

And we continue with the history/tradition category of the team ratings.  Again, this is a major category of the ratings portion, making up 20 of the 100 points. With that said, we look at the coldest division in the NFL:

NFC North

Chicago Bears - 9 NFL Championships, more NFL Hall of Famers than any other team, and one of the charter members of the NFL. The Monsters of the Midway were a powerhouse of the early NFL, winning 7 titles in the NFL's first 26 years. The Bears followed this with only moderate success over the next 40 years...then came the 80's...

Led by Coach Ditka, Jim McMahon, the Fridge, and Walter Payton, the 1985 Bears were not only dominant on the field, but in pop culture as well. Their incredibly awful rap "Super Bowl Shuffle" (enjoy it here) rose to #41 on the Billboard charts and they were immortalized in one of the greatest SNL skits of all time. Their on-field prowess was just as legendary, as they are still the measuring stick for great defensive teams.

While the Bears 9 NFL Championships is undeniably great, only one has come in the Super Bowl era. Still, that 1985 team carries historic weight matched by few teams.

16/20

Detroit Lions - The Lions history hasn't been ALL bad.  They did win 3 NFL titles in the 1950's.  They did have one of the most exciting players of all time in Barry Sanders.  That counts for something, right?

Still, outside of the 50s, futile would be a nice way to describe the Lions.  Sure they had a nice run of playoff teams in the 90s, but won only ONE playoff game (and that's all they've won since 1957). They're the only team to ever go 0-16 and their draft blunders are legendary.

The best thing going for the Lions history, the Thanksgiving Day game.  Still, it'd be nice if they weren't an underdog in that game from time to time. To be fair, 4 NFL titles are still more than a lot of teams can claim and the Lions history is a little better than its reputation, but these last 50 years have hurt.

6/20

Green Bay Packers - The Packers have the most NFL Championships (12), probably the greatest coach in NFL history, and by far the best ownership in the NFL history, so forgive me if I don't do their history justice in 2 or 3 paragraphs. Let's start with ownership. In an effort to keep the financially-strapped franchise in the small town of Green Bay, the team was literally sold to the fans. Currently 112,120 Packers fans share ownership of the team, with no one possessing a majority share. Talk about a vested interest...

The most dominant of the Packers' eras was without a doubt the 60s. Vince Lombardi led the Packers to 5 NFL titles between 1960 and 1967 including wins in the first ever Super Bowl and the legendary "Ice Bowl" the following year. The Packers struggled through the 70s and 80s until returning to championship form again in the Brett Favre era.

While the 70s and 80s show that no teams' history is perfect, its tough to argue with 12 NFL Championships

19/20

Minnesota Vikings - A relatively young NFL franchise with their start in 1960, the Vikings captured their first NFL championship just 9 years later. The 1970s Vikings featured one of the greatest nicknames of all time (The Purple People Eaters) and Hall of Fame QB Fran Tarkenton. During the decade they won 8 division championships and appeared in 4 Super Bowls, but came up short each time.

It looked like the Vikings were headed for greatness in the late 90s behind Randy Moss's freakish talent and a young, promising Dante Culpepper but things took a turn for the worse with Culpepper plagued by injuries, the Randy Ratio, and the infamous Love Boat scandal.

The Vikings organization got off to a fast start in the 60s with their first and only NFL championship. Since then, they've been consistently competitive, but haven't gotten back to that championship level.

10/20

Enjoy your NFL Sunday and we'll continue with the History/Tradition breakdowns early next week as we move to the AFC South.