It was revenge week in the NFC North for the inferior teams. Dennis Allen against the Saints. Carson Wentz against the Eagles. And the Lions against the football gods. 

Bears

The Bears beat the 1-6 Saints, 26-14.

Game Notes

• It was the Dennis Allen revenge game, but not with much help from Caleb Williams. Williams had a QB rating of 61.7. No TDs. Stars DJ Moore and Rome Odunze combined for five catches and less than 80 yards. 
• The Bears won, as they have been winning in this four-game streak, because of the rush attack and defense. D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai combined for over 200 rush yards. 30 more yards than Caleb Williams had passing. The Bears' o-line is totally in sync, and both running backs average over three yards before contact. You can take it with a grain of salt because it's the, now, 1-6 Saints and Brandon Staley (current Saints DC) is sort of famous for being bad at run defense, but it certainly feels like the Bears have figured out the run game. 
• Williams has the ability, and the Bears have the weapons. If they can get the passing game to link up with this run game, they will be hard to beat. 
• The defense is putting it together, too. Tremaine Edmunds had 9 tackles, a sack, and a pick. Kevin Byard and Nashon Wright also had picks; Byard now has four on the season.  

Vikings

The Vikings lost to the Eagles, 28-22. 

Game Notes

• Carson Wentz gives, Carson Wentz takes away. In his revenge game, Wentz threw for 313 yards and led the Eagles down the field several times. He also didn't throw a TD but threw two picks. You have to wonder if the Vikings would've won this game with Sam Darnold or even Daniel Jones, who were both on the roster last year, and what's going on with JJ McCarthy. How often do QBs miss a month with an ankle injury?
• The run game couldn't really get much going either, with Jordan Mason putting up just 57 yards on 15 carries. 
• Defensively, the Vikings were victim to several big plays. DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown combined for over 300 yards with longs of 79 and 45. When the Eagles needed it, they were to go to one of these receivers.  
• Perhaps the most interesting part of the game was that the Vikings became the first team to truly try something new against the tush push, having a d tackle literally lie on the ground opposite the center. I don't know if that's going to be the solution, but I'd rather see the tush push go away because of good defense than legislation. 

Lions

The Lions beat the Buccaneers, 24-9.

Game Notes

• Remember how everyone was worried about the Lions replacing two coordinators this season. That seemed like a justifiable worry and I wrote about it 40 or 50 times. Turns out it didn't matter. Not only is Kelvin Sheppard probably a better coordinator than Aaron Glenn (who I made fun of for years on this page and who doesn't have a single win as Jets head coach) but it might not even matter who the OC is on a team with the best o-line in football and weapons like Jahmyr Gibbs, the Sun God, Sam LaPorta, etc.  
• In this one, Gibbs was the key weapon. He had 17 carries for 136 yards and two tuds and 82 yards receiving on just three catches. David Montomgery had just 21 yards on 13 carries - this game wasn't one for a power run game, but I'm sure that will come. 
• On the defensive side, the Lions were doing what we want the Packers defense to do - aggressively pursuing the ball and causing turnovers. They forced two fumbles and had another (very questionable) interception on a maybe tie with the receiver. 
• We can only hope that Sheppard will be poached and the cap will break up this offense.