NFC North Weekend Roundup – Week 10

The Lions started the 2011 campaign red-hot, flying through the preseason and winning their first five regular season matchups. The Bears, however, started off 2-3, losing to the Lions 24-13 in Detroit in Week 5. Since then, the Lions have cooled off and the Bears are starting to pick up momentum as they usually do moving into the second half of the season. Defense was the name of the game for Chicago as they managed to pick four Matthew Stafford passes and hold him to only one passing touchdown. The Lions' rushing attack was also held to only 80 yards with Jahvid Best sidelined with an injury. The Bears' offense wasn't all that potent either, offering just over 200 total offensive yards. Outside of one rushing touchdown, the rest of the Bears' 37 points were racked up on defense and special teams. Next week San Diego (4-5) comes to Soldier Field to face the Bears and Carolina (2-7) head to Ford Field to tangle with the Lions.

Border Battle II was set on the national stage Monday night in Green Bay, as the Vikings looked to unseat the unbeaten Packers. The Pack narrowly escaped losses against the Vikings in week 7 and Chargers in week 10, while the Vikings seemed to be picking up momentum with rookie quarterback Christian Ponder at the helm. The Packers defense has been plagued with issues containing the passing game all season long, despite their unbeaten record. Coming into Monday night's game, Dom Capers and Mike McCarthy knew this has been a worrisome issue and apparently made some changes to fix this problem. The Pack held Ponder and Peterson scoreless in the first half, with the only legitimate opportunity at first half points for the Purple coming on a long field goal that was negated due to an offensive penalty. After a muffed punt, Adrian Peterson was able to find the endzone in what looked like a momentum shift in the game. With the score 24-7, the game wasn't completely out of reach for the Vikings; but failed offensive drives by the Vikings and an inability to contain Aaron Rodgers, and eventually Matt Flynn, led to the game getting opened up to 45-7. Christian Ponder threw for 190 yards and an interception and Adrian Peterson was held to 51 yards, while Aaron Rodgers threw for 250 yards and 4 touchdowns. Randall Cobb also returned a punt for a touchdown and Matt Flynn rushed for another. Next week the Packers play host to Tampa Bay (4-5) and the Vikings welcome Oakland (5-4) to the Metrodome.