In preseason, many NFL analyists picked the Chicago Bears as the ones to beat in the NFC North division. These predictions relied heavily on the fact that the Bears would rely on their strong defense to win some close games with the assumption that offense would be conservative and not lose games.

As evidenced by last night’s 37-6 win over the defending NFC champions Seattle Seahawks and the results of the games so far at least part of the above prediction is definitely true. The Chicago Bears held the Seahawks potent offense to just two field goals and allowed their opponents an average of 7.25 points over the first four games. Ricky Manning Jr. intercepted Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck 2 times, Hasselbeck was sacked 5 times, and the Bears held the Seahawks to 230 net yards. I understand that some may say that this is because of the absence of Shaun Alexander, but this game follows a Seahawks outing against the New Giants where the passing game lead to 5 touchdowns. This shows that the Seattle team does not solely rely on Alexander for their offense.

Heading into this season, no one could have predicted the success that Rex Grossman has shown in the passing game. All the owners in most fantasy leagues, steered clear of the un-tested Grossman. He is currently 4th in the NFL with 1061 passing yards, tied for the NFL lead with 8 TD passes, and holds 5th place with a 100.8 passer rating. He also has shown great 4th quarter leadership and Favre-like tendencies as evidenced by the fourth quarter comeback win last week against the division rival Minnesota Vikings.

It was expected that the Bears would continue to rush the football. They have continued this approach this year with a solid running game lead by Thomas Jones. The passing game success, the solid running game, and dominant defense make the Chicago Bears the team to beat in the NFC North division as well as the NFC in general.

So, you may ask, what does this have to do with the Green Bay Packers? Why would the owner of a Green Bay Packer fan website tout the merits of the Chicago Bears? Isn’t this taboo?

I guess it at one level this can be construed as taboo. On another level, it is really about respect for the history of two of the oldest NFL franchises in the league. The Green Bay Packers hold 12 NFL championships and the Chicago Bears are second with 9 NFL championships. Players like Ray Nitschke and Dick Butus define what it means to be an NFL linebacker. Coaches like Lombardi and Halas defined what it means to be a head coach. Running backs Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Walter Payton, and Gale Sayers epitimize both tough and graceful running of the football. Reggie White and Dan Hampton showed how to dominate their offensive line counterparts. Bart Starr and Sid Luckman served as role models for many modern day quarterbacks.

Though it definitely two early to tell, some analyists are saying that Rex Grossman is showing Favre-like leadership on the field. When it comes to divisional respect in the NFC, both the former NFC central and now the NFC North are typically held in a lower regard by the analyists who prefer to pick the NFC East and NFC South before considering the merits of the NFC North teams. The Chicago Bears from the old “black and blue” division are showing these analyists that this division is better than originally expected. Respect for the NFC North helps all the teams in the division. Players want to be play for teams that win and respected franchises.