It is no small coincedence that my rankings have the divisions of the Superbowl loser and the Superbowl winner ranked as last and second to last. Their respective divisions were not extremely challenging last year and it helped them secure better positioning in the play-offs.

However, unlike the Bears, I don’t see much drop off with the Colts. They have been a serious contender for years and have consistently been a favorite in most play-off games. Peyton Manning seems to get better each year, if that is possible. I figured that the loss of Edgerrin James would hurt this team in 2006, but Joseph Addai has proven that he is an elite back in this league as well. The running back depth is a bit suspect however. > more <

Coming in as the dreaded worst division on my list is none other than the NFC North. This division consists of the four powerhouses that are: the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers, and the Minnesota Vikings. While the reigning NFC champion Bears inhabit this division, the other three teams can be considered middle of the pack at best. In addition, I thought that the Bears were somewhat shaky last year and I was surprised to see them in the Super bowl. I personally thought that their were better teams to represent the NFC.

Taking a look at some of the personnel in this division required some searching. For example, the current starting running back for the Green Bay Packers? Vernand Morency. > more <

With training camps about ready to open around the NFL landscape, I thought it may be a good time to give my pre-season breakdown of the 8 league divisions. The way that the divisions are set up in the NFL create such great rivalries that I figured a good analysis of the league starts at the division level.

To begin with, 6 out of the 16 games played are against the foes in your division. In addition, with the current scheduling paradigm, all the teams in the division play the same people, save 2 games. And perhaps the coolest thing, is that the schedule lines up teams to play an entire division in the AFC and the NFC. In short the 16 games consist of: > more <