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How do you come to that conclusion? If Cutler is a better QB than Favre, that means the Bears improved more than the Vikings in the offseason. There was only one game of difference between the two teams last year. Little separation between the teams plus the Bears being more improved than the Vikings leads to Minnesota being more likely to win this year? I don't understand.

Prying Volek from the Chargers (I think he's still there) would be a solid move. He's not an ideal QB, but there's a good chance he's improved since going to San Diego and he'd be better than anybody there.

Ok, not Frerotte then. None of the current QBs on the roster are the answer right now, but Jackson at least has the upside to perhaps eventually get there. Without a franchise QB, I think a game manager would be better than Favre.

Sure, but they will still need to experience the actual games too. You can't totally substitute game experience with practice. The Vikings receivers will have that same adjustment period with either Favre or Rosenfels. Honestly, I'd go with Tarvaris Jackson over either of them. He has the most upside and probably won't be significantly worse than either. Let him try to develop or pull a Titans and bring in a decent veteran who won't do anything great, but also won't make major mistakes (Gus Frerotte perhaps?). Tarvaris Jackson is horrible. He could be the worse QB in the league and im not even kidding. And right behind him would be Sage Rosenfels. At least Jackson has the upside to perhaps become a good QB. Like I said, though, going with a steady vet like Frerotte wouldn't be awful with as much talent as he'd have around him.

Oh he is? Jay Cutler's a much better quarterback than Favre is right now. Don't let your Favre love get to your brain that much. Did I ever say Favre is a better QB? What did you mean by your question then?

Sure, but they will still need to experience the actual games too. You can't totally substitute game experience with practice. The Vikings receivers will have that same adjustment period with either Favre or Rosenfels. Honestly, I'd go with Tarvaris Jackson over either of them. He has the most upside and probably won't be significantly worse than either. Let him try to develop or pull a Titans and bring in a decent veteran who won't do anything great, but also won't make major mistakes (Gus Frerotte perhaps?). They had Frerotte last year. That's why I brought him up. He's not exciting, but I think he could serve a similar role to Kerry Collins - manage the game enough to let the rest of the talent win games.

Sure, but they will still need to experience the actual games too. You can't totally substitute game experience with practice. The Vikings receivers will have that same adjustment period with either Favre or Rosenfels. Honestly, I'd go with Tarvaris Jackson over either of them. He has the most upside and probably won't be significantly worse than either. Let him try to develop or pull a Titans and bring in a decent veteran who won't do anything great, but also won't make major mistakes (Gus Frerotte perhaps?).

Oh he is? Jay Cutler is a top 10 or better QB in the league. I don't see any way Favre is that anymore. And the fact that Favre was injured last year is a reason to worry about his health this year. A torn biceps tendon that hasn't been surgically repaired is likely to nag at him this year as well. It's unlikely to be fully healed. Keep in mind as well that he'll be 40 years old and that only increases the likelihood that he sustains more production-decreasing injuries this year.

It makes Minnesota better, but I still think the Bears are the favorites for the division. And I'm a Titans fan. Im a Packer fan and im saying the Vikings with Favre are head and shoulders the fav in the division. Maybe im biased but im not buying this Bear hype at all. But thats just my opinion. They barely beat the Bears last year. Vikings get Favre, Bears get Cutler, I don't see how Vikings vault to head and shoulders status. Favre will lose them games. There is no doubt. Right, and Cutler won't lose any games for the Bears? He's likely to lose fewer and win more. Cutler is a great QB entering his prime, while Favre is a once great QB well out of his prime.

It makes Minnesota better, but I still think the Bears are the favorites for the division. And I'm a Titans fan.

I was shocked when I read that this morning. I don't know anything about Pete Metzelaars - the guy who's apparently taking over- but it's hard to imagine he'll be as good as Mudd was. And if you lose Tom Moore as well, that could really hurt.

What ever happened with that gun charge thing he had going on? I know his production has been way down the last 1 1/2-2 years and he has noticeably gotten slower/less athletic/not as good, but I wonder if teams are expecting some sort of charges to come down and he might have to serve some jail time or something. Also a situation like that can bring unwanted attention to a locker room, training camp, and pre/post game stuff. It's actually really shocking to me how quickly he had fallen from 99-06 he had gone over 1000 yds and 10 TD's in every season. Then the last two years he just completely lost it, he always seemed like a guy to me that could last longer because he had such good hands, body control, ran good routes, and had a really good QB throwing to him. I don't think much will come from the gun charges. It may well be a concern for some teams, though. I'm a little surprised by Marvin's sharp decline as well, but between injury issues and his speed/agility declining as he ages, it's understandable. Marvin always has had good body control and hands, but he's also been reliant on his speed, athleticism and agility and those have definitely deteriorated in the past few years. I think he could be serviceable for a WR hungry team, but will likely cost more than he should. He was probably the best WR in the game in his prime, though.

A couple interesting rumors out there: Colts' offensive line coach Howard Mudd is apparently retiring immediately. Mudd is easily one of (if not the) best offensive line coaches in the game, but the new NFL pension plan is apparently forcing him out. Also, Football Outsiders is reporting that Marvin Harrison is likely to just retire.

Nevada also has a very interesting offense to watch. I really like the Pistol formation.

I'd take Cutler any day of the week for pretty much anything. I was just saying that Russell has the purely strongest arm in the league.

The big difference between Carson and Favre is that Favre is regressing due to age. Palmer has had injury issues. The former is not reversible, the latter is. And Palmer's 2007 season was just as good as Cutler last year (similar QB rating, similar yards/completion and better completion percentage). His 05 and 06 are seasons that Cutler will get to in time, but isn't there yet. Palmer's only had one bad year due to injury - last year. If he's over his injury from last year there's no reason to think he can't be as good as Cutler, if not better. Keep in mind, Palmer is just going to be 30 this year, 3 years younger than Peyton. Palmer also played a full 16 game schedule in 2007. He's only missed time in one season in his career (outside of his first season when he was learning behind Kitna). Yeah, Romo has been better than Cutler to this point in his career (though very slightly), but I don't expect him to remain that way. At best Romo has likely hit his ceiling, while Cutler is still getting better. It's very easy to underestimate Rivers for some reason. I did until last year, but he's on his way to being one of the best QBs in the league - if he's not there already. Very true, and exactly the reason I think he'll be better this year for the Bears than he was last year for Denver. Chicago has a significantly better defense, which will help Cutler not press as much and will likely improve his numbers. It wouldn't surprise me much if Cutler was unquestionably a top 5 QB by the end of the year.

Has there been any word that Ricketts is going to slash payroll? If he's not - which I haven't heard anything saying he will - then we should be able to stick around a $130 million payroll.

QFT Jamarcus Russell has a better arm. But it hasn't done him any good. Russell has, undoubtedly, the strongest arm in the NFL. Cutler may well be the second best, though.

It was actually me who referred to him as a "top 10-15 QB". And by that I mean he's definitely one of the top 15 best QBs and probably one of the top 10. As for the QBs I'd put ahead of him: Peyton, Brady, Brees, Rivers, Romo, McNabb and Warner. Carson Palmer is better if he recovers fully from his injury (if he gets back to old form, he's a top 3 QB in the league). Marc Bulger, Matt Schaub and Ben Roethlisberger are comparable, though I'd say Cutler is better than all three. Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers are close, but need another great year or two. Now obviously, I'd take Cutler in a heartbeat over guys like Romo, McNabb, Warner and Bulger because of age and future expectations. But if you're talking about production, Cutler is probably right around top 10. It won't be long until he's top 5, though.

My biggest question about the Packers is how quickly will they adjust to running the 3-4? It's a pretty major change and could result in some early struggles. Yup, which is going to suck at times next year. But if they adjust quickly enough they do have a chance of winning the division as well. Definitely. I'm also interested to see what impact Marinelli will have on the Bears d-line. If he can get solid improvement out of the linemen, that defense could become very good again.

My biggest question about the Packers is how quickly will they adjust to running the 3-4? It's a pretty major change and could result in some early struggles.

But he is top 10-15 right now and that kind of an improvement at QB from a team that finished just a game back of the Vikings is pretty major. You have two teams who were virtually even last year, one made a significant improvement at a position and one basically stayed the same. The one that made the significant improvement is likely the favorite to win the division.

That's not what I saw.

Who do you think are? They beat the Bears by 1 game last year and the Bears added one of the best QBs in the league. Ok I thought about it, and Cutler is a good QB. But im not ready to call him one of the best in the league yet. He's probably top 10-15 in the league and is only going to get better - he's 25, keep in mind.

It didn't look like it to me. The ball hit off the top of his glove. He might've been able to stretch a little more, but the throw was definitely too high.