After disappointing seasons for each team in the NFC North, it's time to move on and start planning the future. Let's go through each team and do a quick evaluation of the current roster and thenlook at how much cap space and draft capital they have to improve next year. 

Chicago Bears

The Bears' roster is rough. The defense had one starter with a PFF grade over 70, safety Eddie Jackson who graded out as the 13th-best safety despite having the 7th-highest contract. Jackson, safety Jaquan Brisker linebacker Jack Sanborn, Corner Jaylon Johnson, and maybe corner Kyler Gordon are the only defenders who will likely be on this team in a few years. Sanborn was a rookie UDFA linebacker (from Wisconsin) who flashed in several games, Johnson had a down year, and Gordon didn't even grade out in the top 100 among corners. 

The offense isn't much better. Tevin Jenkins, drafted to lay tackle and then almost traded after one season, was one of the best guards in the league and Justin Fields was a true game-changer as a runner. Otherwise, there's a whole lot of meh. Equanimeous St. Brown is the number 2 WR and bust Chase Claypool is the number 3. Running back David Montgomery could be on the way out as his contract is up after this season. 

The Bears have one of the sparsest rosters in the league, so it's a good thing they have a ton of capital to rebuild. 

Cap Space and Draft Capital

The Bears have an insane $90 million plus in cap space. Depending on how they structure contracts, they could potentially sign a mid-range free agent at every single position of need (remember there are like 17 of those). The problem is that there aren't many quality free agents likely to be available. Look at PFF's list, The Bear's top targets at crucial positions could be Allen Lazard, Lavonte David, Mike McGlinchey, Marcus Davenport, and Ethan Pocic. Talk about a whole lot of meh. The Bears could unload a ton of cash on all of these JAGs and improve to 6 wins next year and then what? They become progress stoppers with too much-guaranteed money to cut a few years from now? It's not a great position. 

As far as draft capital goes, the Bears lucked out and ended up with the first overall pick. That probably makes up for setting their second-round pick on fire in a trade for Chase Claypool. After that the team has seven more picks, including the Ravens' second, two 4ths and two 5ths. There's plenty of ammunition to get some more actually NFL players on the field but likely not enough to make more than marginal improvements next season. 

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings' roster is similar in some ways to the Bears'. Two of their three corners had PFF grades below 65 and the third is like 50 years old. At safety, Bynum is bad and Smith is even older than Patrick Peterson. At linebacker Jordan Hicks had a typical year for him (just OK), and Eric Kendricks had the worst season of his career. On offense, KJ Osborn and Adam Thielen are bad, Kirk Cousins is bad like 70% of the time, and TJ Hockenson isn't close to worth the draft pick and contract the team will end up giving up for him. 

The difference between the two teams is the stars. Edges Danielle Hunter and Za'Darius Smith are one of the top 5 pairs in the league when they're on. Four of the team's offensive linemen are top 10 at their position. Dalvin Cook could go for 200 yards any week. Justin Jefferson is the best wide receiver in the league and it's not even an argument anymore. 

The Vikings are one of the most top heavy teams in the league and it shows. In close games, those stars can pull out wins, but against great balanced teams, they get their ass kicked. The team needs to make a decision this off-season. Do they try to reload and give it another shot next year? Do they dump Za'Darius, Harrison Smith, Kendricks, and Cook and start the rebuild now? 

Cap Space and Draft Capital

Dumping Za'Darius may be a foregone conclusion at this point. The former Packer was a fan favorite the first 8 weeks of the season before turning into a massive disappointment the second half of the year with several no-shows. The team has -$21 million in cap space and letting Za'Darius go would save more than $13.5 million. This is the problem with loading up on aged stars. The Vikings have basically no space now to try to fill out their roster with more depth and in the draft they have the 23rd overall pick and then no second-round pick. They had the worst defense in the league last year and fired the DC. If they bring in Brian Flores now, what's he gonna do with this roster? How can he run his cover 0/1 scheme with no corners and no ammo to get some? If they hire another guy to run the Fangio scheme, how are they going to get pressure without blitzing? On offense, who is going to be the second target in the pass game? Thielen is washed and KJ Osborne is good once a month. 

It's not a good picture for Vikings fans right now. The team went all in on a Kirk Cousins led roster and is capped out. 

Detroit Lions

Lions fans are the only ones in the division with legitimate optimism going into next season. The team won 8 of their last 10 games, had a top offense with Jared Goff at QB, and has reason to expect the defense to improve. Of course, the defense isn't exactly filled with world-beaters right now. Rookie Aidan Hutchinson was the clear best performer and safety Tracy Walker was the only other defender with a good PFF grade and he did it in under 150 snaps. If the Lions don't take Anthony Richardson in the first, don't be surprised if they pull a Lions and spend every draft pick on the defense. 

The offense is in better shape. The Sun God is a top-ten WR, Jameson Williams has top-ten potential, and some combination of DJ Chark or free agent signing could round up a pretty sound WR corps next season. The o-line is great and D'Andre Swift took a step forward. The questions are tight end and what to do with Goff. 

Goff was the 20th-ranked QB via PFF and, like on those great Rams teams, the offense seemed to do well despite him not because of him. OC Ben Johnson turned down head coaching interviews, but you can't expect him to do that forever. Look for the Lions to make some level of investment in their future at the position. 

Cap Space and Draft Capital

The upside of having Goff at QB is that his cap hit is just $30 million. as much as $20 million below some QBs. Despite that, the Lions have a surprisingly low amount of cap space, with just $13.8 million available. They may need to let Romeo Okwara, Michael Brockers, and other assorted JAG veterans to get enough space to make some respectable investments in the free-agent market. 

The team does have plenty of draft capital. They have the 6th pick and 18th pick in the first round and the 48th and 59th in the second. The Lions took a huge step forward this season and whether they will next season likely depends on their ability to turn three of those four top-60 picks into impact defenders right away.