It was opposite day on Sunday in the NFC North. The Bears dominated a team that had just beaten the Packers and the Lions got the crap kicked out of them. It's all par for the course in the new more depressing NFL where the Packers are horrendous. 

Lions

The Ravens gave the Lions the business, winning 38-6.

Game Notes

• The Ravens don't have an alpha edge rusher who can get pressures on 40% of his snaps and change the game by himself, but they do have a creative defensive coordinator who can keep the opposing QB guessing and worried about pressure all day. This week, they held Jared Goff to 5.4 yards per attempt, no TDs, and a QB rating of 68.4. The Lions' success on offense over the past year has come mostly because the offense line has been able to keep Goff clean. If you try to line up and play them straight, like Green Bay did, they'll carve you up. 

• The Lions did do a little better running the ball, Jahmyr Gibbs had 68 yards on over 6 YPC, but basically all of those yards came after they were down several score. At one point the Ravens had 325 yards and the Lions had 13. 

• The Lions defense was just as bad. Lamar Jackson was 21 of 27 for 357 yards, 3 TDs, and a near-perfect QB rating. Lamar had 73 more yards on 26 fewer attempts that Goff. 

• And that's not all! The league's best run defense gave up 146 yards and 2 TDs to the Ravens. 

• For how much it felt like the good ole days before the GD Broncos game, don't count the Lions out. They're still 2 games up in the North and almost every time has some sort of weird loss like this. At least it happened against a good team. 

Next Week

It's the Lions turn to take on the Raiders on Monday Night. 

Bears

The Bears embarrassed the Raiders 30-12. 

Game Notes

• In a battle of backup QBs, the D2 son of an arm wrestling champion got the better of the 62-year-old journeyman. Tyson Bagent had an impressive game, going 21 for 29 for 162 yards and a TD. DJ Moore had 54 of those yards on 8 catches and the Bears added 173 yards on the ground. 
• The Bears looked even better on defense, probably because Brian Hoyer was QB for the Raiders. Hoyer had just 4 yards per attempt, which was still more than Josh Jacobs averaged on the ground. The team forced 12 targets to Davante (still one less than Jacoby Meyers, LOL) after a week full of him complaining and he had just 57 yards. 
• Jaylon Johnson (2 INTs and a TD) and Jaquan Brikser (10 tackles and 2 PDs) were the leaders for the Bears defensively. They'll be the backbone of the Bears' secondary for a long time if they don't randomly get traded so that the Bears can overpay a worse version of them in free agency.
• The main takeaway from this Bears' game should be the same as the Lions': this was a freak occurrence that probably doesn't mean much for the rest of the season. 

Former Packers

• TJ Edwards and Jack Sanborn had relatively quiet games, combining for just 3 tackles. 

• Marcedes Lewis had one catch for 16 yards and Davante Adams had the aforementioned 57 yards. 

Next Week

The Bears play the Chargers on Sunday Night to make for a pair of horrific primetime games.  

Vikings

The Vikings pulled off a 22-17 victory against the 49ers. 

Game Notes

• The Vikings won this game because of three main things: The 49ers were beaten up following a game against the Browns, Jordan Addison went crazy, and the pressure differential. Let's start with Addison. The rookie wide receiver took over where Justin Jefferson left off with 7 catches for 123 yards and 2 TDs. 
• Addison's good game along with TJ Hockenson having a strong night (11 for 86) despite looking injured 4 or 5 times, allowed Kirk Cousins to throw for an insane 378 yards against the vaunted 49ers defense. Of course, we have to take that with a grain of salt because the 49ers just played one of the more physical teams in the league last week. 
• The pressure differential was surprising. We've talked a lot about how Brian Flores has had to blitz like a madman to get pressure this season, against San Francisco he eventually decided to lay back and rush three on a lot of plays -- and they still got pressure. When you're going against a young QB who drilled blitz looks all week, it makes sense to switch it up sometimes. On the other side of the ball, the 49ers didn't get a sack. it was the most pass snaps played without a sack this season.  
• While I recommended patience with both the Bears and Lions' results, I think the Vikings are legitimate. They have four one-score losses and just beat the best team in the NFC. 

Former Packers

• Dean Lowry had 3 tackles and a fumble recovery. 

Next Week

The Vikings likely become the next team to depressingly beat the Packers.