NFL Opening Night

Tonight's the night! The NFL is back. What a great matchup too! The Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl Champions last year, against the Tennessee Titans, best regular season record in the regular season last year at 13-3. It has been seven long months since the Super Bowl ended in February and the wait is over. Another exciting season of National Football League football is about to begin. Even though neither team is my favorite, (that spot is filled by the Minnesota Vikings), I am still extremely excited to see this opening night matchup matching two teams with intriguing story lines against each other. Can the Steelers repeat as NFL champions? Can the Titans build on their 13-3 record last year and make it to the Super Bowl? I, along with you all, don't know the answers to these questions as I am not physic, and I'm sure none of you are as well. But I sure want to stick around to find out the answers to these intriguing questions.

Then, after the game tonight is complete, NFL weekend will begin. The matchup I'm looking forward to the most is, of course, the Minnesota Vikings (my favorite team) against the Cleveland Browns. The Minnesota Vikings had an interesting offseason, as you all might have heard. Brett Favre is a Viking! Will this put them over the top and into the Super Bowl? I think so. They have a Hall of Fame quarterback, good wide recievers, the best running back in Adrian Peterson, a great kicker, and a beastly defense. Other contenders in the NFC North (the Vikings division) are the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, and the Detroit Lions. I think this is going to be the Vikings year.

The Chicago Bears made a big noise this offseason by bringing in Pro Bowl quarterback, Jay Cutler. This improves the quarterback position on their team by tenfold. And who did they give away? Kyle Orton, an incosistent middle of the road quarterback. Da Bears may have improved their quarterback situation, but they will not be on top of the division come the playoffs. In fact, I feel that they will finish in third, only ahead of the Lions, the laughing stock of the NFL last year with a 0-16 record. I'm not saying the Bears are bad, they're ok, but this isn't their year. The other major contender in the North would be the Packers. They are a very good team this year and will probably win the wild card, but they will not win the division. Aaron Rodgers is getting better and better, and they have a good running back in Ryan Grant, but I don't think they have enough to beat out the Minnesota Vikings in the North.

What a great weekend of football to kick off this 2009 NFL season.