First of all, apologies for the late posting, as I know how many people here set their day around the arrival of it. I spent most of the morning in court as a witness in a case about a neighbor who caught a possum in a trap and let it starve. Turns out the case was moved to another day and nobody told me. 

I wish I was kidding at all about that, but it really was a thing that happened.

It's hard to believe we're barreling into Week 11 already but here we are. The Packers managed a critical win last week and Brett Hundley actually looked serviceable. I have no idea if it's going to be enough to make the playoffs, but it's nice to have had this team surprise us for the right reasons for once, right?

All four NFC North teams have had their byes, so now the rubber hits the road. No more breaks where the Packers can gain a game, no more time to rest and reboot. 

Here's where the other three teams in the division are right now.

Lions at Bears

After a nasty three game skid, the Lions have won two in a row, though how impressed you are with wins over the Browns and Packers, especially given how much harder Detroit seemed to have to work to get wins than anyone expected.

I mean, they trailed Cleveland.

Twice.

They do run into a Bears team which is going the opposite direction —a two-game skid after a two-game win streak—although neither the Packers or Saints blew them out. 

The Lions passing offense finally seems to be healthy, with Kenny Golladay pitching in last week while Marvin Jones had an off game, and Golden Tate healthy and producing again. Even often disappointing Eric Ebron played well against the Browns. That may be in part because left tackle Taylor Decker played 69 percent of the offensive snaps, finally securing the left of the line. Unfortunately, TJ Lang is hurt, so the line is still not 100 percent healthy.

It will be interesting to see what they can do against a Bears defense which has allowed just 16.7 points a game this season, though they have allowed 43 points total over the last two. Stafford has started off slow during some games, and if Chicago can take advantage of a slow start, things will get interesting.

Of course, taking advantage of anything given the limitations of Mitch Trubisky and the offense is an issue. 

The Bears aren't averaging a ton of points per game (just 16.6 a game), so while the Lions allow 27.1 points per match, Chicago doesn't have a history of taking advantage of that.  

I expect the Bears to stay conservative, not ask much of Trubisky (which is a mistake - he has to learn sometime), and run the ball with Jordan Howard, Benny Cunningham and Tarik Cohen.

Interesting subnote, regarding Trubisky. Last week he had to throw a lot more than usual and posted 297 yards and a touchdown. No interceptions. And that was with a ton of drops via his receivers.

If the Bears unleashed him a bit more against a secondary that is spotty, would he have success? Would the Lions struggle against him? 

Food for thought. What have they got to lose?

Rams at Vikings

More than likely this looked like a garbage game before the season. The Rams were assumed to be bad and the Vikings were a question mark along the offensive line and under center.

Now both teams are sitting at the top of their respective divisions with 7-2 records. The Vikings have won 5 games in a row, the Rams have 4.

The Vikings are staying with Case Keenum for at least another week and while I'm a pretty big Teddy Bridgewater honk, I'm all for it. Listen, if you're winning and Keenum is doing well, why rock the boat? 

The Vikings were reportedly tempted to make the switch, but i think that's an iffy move right now. Keenum is synced up with Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, and I would not want to mess that up. It will take time for Bridgewater to rebuild that chemistry and there's too much at stake.

They may do something different next week and in no way is Keenum the long-term answer. And hell, he may implode against a pretty darn good defense out of Los Angeles. 

But to me, right this second, there is no upside in making a switch.

Especially given that, as good as the Vikings defense is, they will be very tested by Jared Goff and his receivers through the air, with Todd Gurley hammering at them on the ground. They don't want a let down in case the defense has issues, which almost ever defense has had with the Rams this season.

On paper, I would say that the Minnesota secondary should be able to handle Sammy Watkins, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, but that group has been a pain all season long. 

If there is one thing worth pointing out about the Rams' success, it's that their last three wins —and five out of their seven—have been against some real yams. The Giants, Houston, Arizona, the Colts and San Francisco are not good teams. I'm not saying that makes the Rams paper tigersespecially as the Vikings have beaten such powerhouses as Tampa Bay, Chicago, Baltimore and Cleveland (we might put Green Bay here as well, as it was the game Rodgers went down in).

It's just that I wonder—are the Rams as good as they appear? Or do they just look like it?

I supppose we can ask the same of the Vikings, as well.