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It's back. A new Icebreaker! You know the drill rescue the ice-bound Vikings.

Rescue the ice-bound Vikings and return them safely to their ship.

In this ESPN Insider piece, Matt Bowen identifies two NFC North players among five projections of second-yearmen destined for breakout years. You'll need an Insider subscription to read the entire post, but I can sneak you the gist of it below. Just...

Texas Christian receiver Josh Boyce, whom the Patriots selected with the early fourth-round pick acquired in a trade with the Vikings, signed the standard four-year deal with the team today, a source confirms. The Patriots selected Boyce 102nd ove...

A New York City lawyer for two massage therapists who sued retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre over claims he sent racy text messages says the case has been settled.

How does each NFC North team look at running back, and what still needs to be done? Chicago Bears: If you were drawing up plans for an experienced but diverse backfield, you could do a lot worse than modeling after the Bears. Starter Matt Forte is...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Thursday, we broached the topic of whether the Chicago Bears would retire the number of middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. As it turns out, the team is dealing with a backlog on that issue. Almost a half-century af...

To this point of the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings have elected to carry untouched the largest salary-cap hit for a non-quarterback in the NFL. Despite his cap charge of $17.063 million, defensive end Jared Allen told the Star Tribune recently tha...

Welcome to SportsNation! On Tuesday, ESPN.com NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert will drop in to chat about the NFL. Seifert joined ESPN.com in 2008 after covering the Minnesota Vikings for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for eight years. He lives in the T...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Now that we've dissected Brian Urlacher's retirement and assessed his chances at enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we should ask the next question: Will the Bears retire his No. 54? That issue might b...

It never seemed likely that the Minnesota Vikings would pursue Brian Urlacher in free agency, given their sharp turn toward youth over the past two years. And now it seems clear that Urlacher had little interest in a mercenary-style role with the Vik...

As rosters shake out this summer, you'll hear a fair amount about the "youngest" and "oldest" teams in the NFL. Sometimes those figures and rankings can be skewed by aged kickers or an exceptionally youthful set of reserves, so I like what colleague ...

We're Black and Blue All Over: The Green Bay Packers lost a promising rookie -- perhaps for the season -- on the first day of their organized team activities (OTAs), according to multiple reports. Offensive lineman J.C. Tretter, a fourth-round dra...

Matt Bowen examines five second-year players poised for breakout seasons, including Alshon Jeffery and Harrison Smith.

Story | Conversation | May 22, 2013

As you might have noticed, ESPN and ESPN.com will begin counting down the top 20 coaches in NFL history later this week. Trey Wingo provides the basic parameters in the video, and from an NFC North perspective, this list is going to boil down to wher...

When the Detroit Lions hired Jim Schwartz as their coach in 2009, hope emerged from the sports analytics industry. Had it gained a patron saint? Schwartz, after all, had acknowledged his interest in the subject during his time as the Tennessee Titans...