The inferior NFC North teams are all in a sort of quandary right now. They're all good enough to taste success. But they all have obvious holes and a lack of capital to use on them. Let's focus on the holes in this article.
Bears
The offense isn't bad - especially with Ben Johnson calling the plays. I could say they need a QB (tongue in cheek), but no one would believe that. Caleb Williams' highlight plays late in games are good enough that Bears fans have been talking s for a year now about him being better than Jordan Love. We'll see if there's any regression this year.
The real needs on offense come at WR3 and on the offensive line.
The line will almost certainly take a big step back from last year. They have no left tackle, Joe Thuney will be playing left guard at age 34, and center Garrett Bradberry just isn't good. Right guard Jonah Jackson had the best year of his career last season, sandwiched between a pro-bowler at center and a plus tackle at right tackle. Will he play up to that standard with worse guys around him? And, finally, Darnell Wright is on the last year of his rookie deal - though the team could pick up his fifth-year option.
If the Bears use three or four picks on o-line in this draft, it wouldn't shock me. Johnson's offense depends on a strong o-line; last year, they invested in one immediately, and right now, they just don't have one.
On defense, they need a better second edge (bad after they spent big on one just last off-season), both safeties, and they could upgrade at corner, but I would only do that if someone falls to them in the first.
A lot of people think the Bears will sign Taylor Decker to play left tackle. If they do that, I could see an edge rusher in the first, o-line in rounds two and three, and miscellaneous d-back in round 4 type scenario.
Lions
The Lions have more holes than you probably think. Their starting left tackle, right now, is Larry Borom, whom I also had never heard of. Left guard Christian Mahogany was meh to bad last year. Center Cade Mays is at least a free agent signing. Right guard Tate Ratledge had a rough rookie year. Like the Bears, the Lions base their identity and offense around a strong offensive line. While some of these guys would be fine for other teams, the Lions whole thing is that their offensive line is amazing. They have needs on the o-line.
The Sun God, Jameson Williams, and electric car Jeff Janis are good at wide receiver, and Jahmyr Gibbs with Isiah Pacheco is probably the best running back tandem in the NFL. We all know my thoughts on Jared Goff.
The defense is where it gets real rough, real quick.
Both corners were not good last year, and this is a man-coverage scheme. To make matters worse, they spent a first-round pick on one and signed the other to big money in free agency. So it's a need, but how much capital can they really allocate to it?
At safety, they may have picked the wrong guy. Brian Branch is one of the best safeties in the league and will need new money soon. Kerby Joseph had one good year, and they paid him big money. Now Joseph is coming off a season where he was either hurt or bad the whole year, and they don't have cap space for Branch.
At Iinebacker, they let Alex Anzalone (who wasn't great) leave in free agency, but they have a lot of capital dedicated to that spot too. Jack Campbell was a first-round pick and will probably come close to resetting the off-ball linebacker market when his new contract comes due, and Derrick Barnes is a jack of no trades and master of none type linebacker who is good on special teams and cosplays as a useful hybrid linebacker/edge on defense. They signed him to an $8.5mm per year deal last off-season.
The line might be the worst spot of all. Aidan Hutchinson just signed a massive contract, and we are only a few years away from a $50mm cap hit from him. Meanwhile, no one else on the line carried their weight last year, including Alim McNeil, who got a big money deal and then failed to perform.
The Lions screwed up by throwing out new contracts like Oprah does cars based on vibez. They were feeling so good after their first big post-season run in decades or whatever (spoiler alert they lost in their first game) that they gave money to everyone who asked for it and now they have an overpaid veteran at every level of the defense. They need to spend this whole draft on o-line and defense. So, of course, they'll take a tight end in the first round and a running back in the second.
Vikings
The Vikings are in a transition year. If they can make it work with Kyler Murray this season, they'll keep Kevin O'Connell and reset. Next off-season, they'll have a ton of cap space, even if they keep the big five (Justin Jefferson, Jonathan Greenard, Christian Darrisaw, Byron Murphy and Will Fries), who add up to a $150mm cap hit. Remove two or three of those guys and restructure Jefferson, and you're looking at nine figures of cap space.
If it doesn't work out, the new GM will be able to handpick his new coach with a ton of draft capital and salary cap space. Burn down the team and remake it.
By the way, we need to talk about how dumb it is that the Vikings fired their GM in January and they won't hire a new one until after the coming draft. What? Either the guy making the draft choices isn't getting the job (and probably knows it), or he is, and they're not giving him the title now for no reason? NFL GM is a hard job, and you need a lot of confidence in your decisions. If you can't handle interviewing for a job because you'll only have three months to prepare for the draft (which you'd be doing anyway, by the way), maybe they should cross you off the list.
Onto the players. There are very obvious needs at QB, RB, and various offensive-line spots. Kyler Murray is a good bet at a league-minimum salary, but I wouldn't want to commit to him long-term anytime soon. Aaron Jones is the lead running back, and the running attack has been lackluster for the past few years.
On defense, the edge rushers are good, the corners are good, the linebackers are passable, and the interior d-line and safeties are horrendous. If they trade Jonathan Greenard, the edge room becomes bad pretty quick.