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Minnesota has a gleaming new stadium. The Vikings are division champions for the first time in six years. Now theyre reeling from the loss of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater for the entire season.The headlines around the division sure have a purple shade.Theres still plenty of green, or rather Green Bay, left to repaint the NFC North horizon.Aaron Rodgers and the proud Packers have wide receiver Jordy Nelson back from the right ACL injury that kept him from playing in 2015, aiming for repossession of the title.Rodgers came back leaner after some dietary changes, recharged for another run at a Super Bowl trophy hes touched once -- five-plus years ago.My 12th season, all with the same team, its exciting, said Rodgers, who will turn 33 on Dec. 2. It actually gets a little sweeter I think every single year.Dethroning the Vikings would sure be delicious. Fittingly, the Packers will be Minnesotas opponent on Sept. 18 for their regular-season opener at U.S. Bank Stadium in front of a crowd of 66,000 and a Sunday night national TV audience.Bridgewater, who dislocated his left knee and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in practice last Tuesday, will be relegated to inspirational pregame speaker for that one.Were not looking for excuses. Were going to go out and fight like we always do, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said after Bridgewater was hurt. Everybody can count us out if they want, but I think that would be the wrong thing to do.While it appears Shaun Hill will step in for now, the Vikings also acquired quarterback Sam Bradford from the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday for a pair of draft picks, including a first-rounder in 2017.Keeping up with Minnesota and Green Bay will be a challenge for Detroit and Chicago, with the Lions trying to avoid replicating that 1-7 start in 2015 and the Bears burdened by a five-year absence from the playoffs.Heres a quick glance around the NFC North as this Great Lakes states quartet gets ready for the regular season:UNDER COVERThe Vikings have moved back inside after a two-year stint at the University of Minnesota while their $1.1 billion, ship-shaped, see-through venue was being built. The gawking will go on all season, with the translucent, space-age roof and the ground-to-ceiling glass on the front side giving the enclosed stadium an outdoor feel.The controlled climate ought to help a passing game that has lagged near the bottom of the league, but losing Bridgewater sure wont. Hill, a 15-year veteran, and Bradford will be aided by the additions this season of left guard Alex Boone and wide receiver Laquon Treadwell.DIGGING INTo take back the division title theyve won eight times in 14 years, the Packers need some improvement on defense. Linebacker Clay Matthews has moved back outside to his natural position, after a solid performance playing inside to fill in.That has put the spotlight once again on the men in the middle, a position that has often been in flux during the past decade under coach Mike McCarthy.Jake Ryan and Sam Barrington are the expected starters for now. Ryan cracked the starting lineup down the stretch as a rookie fourth-round draft pick, and Barrington has been working his way back from a foot injury that cost him most of the season. The Packers ranked 21st and 23rd in yards rushing allowed in the NFL the past two years.AIR BEARSAlshon Jeffery was the only player who topped 500 yards receiving for the Bears last season, and calf, hamstring, groin and shoulder problems limited him to nine games. The seventh pick in the 2015 draft, Kevin White, missed his rookie season because of a stress fracture in his left shin. That left Jay Cutler without much to work with in the passing game.With stalwart running back Matt Forte and talented tight end Martellus Bennett gone, therell be even more onus on Jeffery and White to not only stay healthy but produce like a top-flight tandem. Jeremy Langford will be the featured runner, now that Forte has joined the New York Jets.GETTING GROUNDEDDetroits replacement of Calvin Johnson, following the star wide receivers surprise retirement at age 30, will be under scrutiny all fall. Newcomers Marvin Jones, Anquan Boldin and Andre Roberts, who have 25 seasons of experience in the league between them, are getting settled with quarterback Matthew Stafford to supplement Golden Tate.Running back Ameer Abdullah, along with third-down standout Theo Riddick, is really the one to watch, though. The Lions ranked last in the league in rushing yards last season when Abdullah was a rookie. Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, under whom Stafford thrived after a midseason change, has been tasked with establishing better balance.PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISHPackers, Vikings, Lions, Bears.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL coverage on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Al Oliver Jersey . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Erik Gonzalez Jersey . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/1862e-jameson-taillon-jersey-pirates.html . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Gerrit Cole Jersey . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. Kevin Newman Jersey . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants will be looking to close more ground on the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers when they open a week-long homestand with a three-game series against the fourth-place San Diego Padres on Monday night.The Giants trimmed two games off what had been a five-game deficit in the West by sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday through Sunday while the Dodgers were losing two of three at Miami.Once again, the week begins with the Giants enjoying the more favorable of the matchups. The Dodgers wrap up a trip with a three-game series in New York against the Yankees, beginning Monday.The Giants (77-65) and Dodgers (80-62) still have six head-to-heads on the schedule, including three next Monday through Wednesday in Los Angeles.The Giants hope to go into that series with Hunter Pence swinging the same hot bat he packed for the flight home from Arizona on Sunday night.Pence had a historically good series in Arizona, highlighted by back-to-back, four-run games Friday and Saturday.He became just the fifth Giant ever to total eight runs in consecutive games, and the first major-leaguer since the New York Mets David Wright in August of 2015 to have consecutive four-run efforts.C.J. Cron of the Los Angeles Angels recorded the 2016 season high of five runs scored on July 2 against the Boston Red Sox.A player has scored four runs in a game 35 other times this season, including three times by the Cubs Kris Bryant and twice over a three-day span by the Blue Jays Josh Donaldson.But Pence is the only player to have achieved the feat on back-too-back days this season.ddddddddddddThe veteran sandwiched those efforts with a 3-for-5 outing with a double and an RBI in the series finale Thursday at Colorado, and a 1-for-3 outing with a two-run double Sunday to cap the sweep over the Diamondbacks.He will take an 11-for-16 streak (.688) into the San Diego series. Hes owned the Padres this season, going 11-for-23 (.478), with at least one hit in all six of his starts against them.The Giants roll into the homestand in more ways than one.They were able to rest most of their much-maligned bullpen Sunday with starter Matt Moore completing seven innings in a 5-3 win.He did a nice job, assessed Giants manager Bruce Bochy. The seven solid innings allowed us to use the bullpen the way we wanted.Jeff Samardzija will get the ball for the Giants on Monday. Hes gone 3-0 with a 3.91 ERA in four starts against the Padres this season, improving his career mark against them to 6-1 with a 3.29 ERA in eight starts.Hell be facing a Padres offense that San Diego manager Andy Green thought failed to show up for Sundays 3-2 home loss to the Colorado Rockies.The Padres were no-hit by Chad Bettis for three innings and totaled only five hits in the game.That was not our sharpest game offensively, Green observed. Over those first innings, I thought we lacked fight during our at-bats.The Padres will open the series with Paul Clemens on the mound.The right-hander has never faced the Giants among his first 16 career starts. ' ' '