NFC North QB's and TE's 
Analysis: Favre has been the man and is still the man. In 2004, he was the best player in the league and it wasn't even close. Can he repeat that in 2005? Odds are good that he will again put together a huge season from a numbers perspective. The Packers offense is built around him and I would do the same thing if I were the GM. Favre's attributes are the best in the NFC and maybe in the entire league, so he's the best QB in the NFC North. However, Daunte Culpepper is inching closer to Favre's attributes and with Favre retiring this coming offseason, Culpepper is ready to take the mantle. Meanwhile, the Lions have a new QB in Michael Vick who was traded to Detroit from Kansas City this past offseason. The Lions GM will be converting Vick from a scrambler to a balanced QB for 2005. This brings Vick into the upper tier of QB's in the league. The Lions have also locked Vick up on a seven year contract which only brings more positive vibes to the team. Alex Smith is the new kid on the block. He's a promising rookie who is taking over the helm in Chicago. The Bears are in rebuilding mode so Smith will take some time to progress.
It's hard to know exactly who has the edge at TE. Mili has the numbers plus he has the most progressed attributes. The Bears have gotten really good production from him so I think he has the slight edge. Heath Miller is the Packers new rookie drafted in round 2 of this year's draft. He's slightly ahead of Teyo Johnson who is entering his third year with the Lions. Johnson's a former 3rd round pick who put up decent numbers last season but Miller has slightly better attributes right now and will only get better. The Vikings John Kuhn is the most intriguing player of the group. He's clearly the most athletic TE in the division and by next season perhaps in the entire league. However, he's very raw with 54 AWR and 64 CTH pre-training camp and preseason. I think each GM will probably claim their TE is their choice of the four.
NFC North HB's and FB's 
Analysis: Cedric Cobbs of the Bears had an unbelievable rookie season with Chicago rushing for 1897 yards and 13 TD's. He shared the rushing title with superstar Musa Smith, though as the Patriots GM will rightly point out, Smith .57 more yards per carry. Despite his good numbers in 2004, the Packers recent acquisition of Ricky Williams means Cobb is no better than second best in the division and as a power RB Eddie George could rival him on overall talent as well. Back to Williams for a minute, Ricky Williams is a bonafide stud RB in this league. He average a mind-blowing 5.87 yards per carry last season in Cleveland. It is a little unusual to see a player put up that type of performance and only spend one season with that team. However, the Browns got good value for him so they make a profit on a player after only one season. Marion Barber is the Lions rookie who will be starting in 2005. This wasn't a great RB class but Barber was probably the best of the bunch. Overall there are three quality RB's with Barber potentially getting there a couple of years.
Fullback isn't a priority position in Madden but it's still worth a brief mention. I think the Bears have a clear cut advantage at this position in Kevan Barlow. He's got athleticism and decent size. Both the Packers and Lions have big, imposing FB's in Kleinsasser and FuamuMafala, but both of them aren't great athletically. The Vikings have gone on the cheap with a converted rookie RB turned FB in Carnell Williams. Athleticism won't be a huge problem but his size is less than ideal.
NFC North WR's 
Analysis: Now we get to positions where there are multiple players to evaluate. The first of these multiples is the WR position. It's clear to me that all four teams desire to have a difference maker at the position. The Bears drafted 6'5" Vincent Jackson, who they hope will be a star in this league. The Packers acquired Laveraneus Coles from the Cardinals during the 2004 season for you guessed it, a first round pick. This offseason they gave Coles a seven year contract extension. The Lions, like the Bears, just drafted Braylon Edwards, a 6'3" WR with high end attributes prior to his first year progression. And the Vikings have Randy Moss, the best attribute WR in the league. They also added Plaxico Burress, a big-bodied WR with good hands and relatively good awareness. So all four teams see the value at the WR position.
When you breakdown the numbers you can see that the Vikings followed very closely by the Packers, and then the Lions with the Bears needing a little upgrade. When you look at height, the Vikings are again the leaders with a combined 6'4" average, followed next by the Bears at 6'3", and then the Lions and Packers are tied with an average of almost 6'1". The final area to evaluate is the attributes that can be progressed. Here the Vikings WR core also holds a decided advantage with the Lions in second and the Packers and then the Bears.
When you take all of this into account, the Vikings have a decided edge then the Packers and Lions are pretty close with the Bears young WR's fourth in the group.
NFC North OL 
Analysis: It's pretty amazing when you look at the offensive linemen comparison in the division, you see remarkable similar qualities across the board. I can't tell yet if this is true with teams outside the division but it's for sure true with teams inside the division. We start by looking at the physical attributes. In this case SPD, STR, AGI, and ACC. All four teams are remarkably similar but the Bears hold a slight advantage overall. They have the best performance over all four attributes. The Vikings are next, then followed by the Lions and then the Packers. When you look at the attributes that progress you will notice that the Packers show strong here. What they lack in athleticism, they make up for in AWR and blocking. The Lions are right behind them, followed next by the Bears and then the Vikings bring up the rear. The Vikings, prior to both training camp and the preseason need more awareness as they are significantly behind the other two teams.
Taking a step back to look at the overall offensive picture, I think the Packers still get the nod mainly because of Favre. When you have a generational star QB you tend to have the highest expectations. The Vikings are next on the list. They have the second best QB and the the best WR core. They are young at OL, but overall are very solid. Following the Vikings are the Lions. The addition of both Vick and Edwards is huge. They have legit talent on the offensive side now. The Bears bring up the rear primarily because of a young QB and a lesser talented WR core. The Bears have potential but within the division this where I think they land.
