The NFC North race just got a whole lot tighter. The Minnesota Vikings won a squeaker over the woeful Detroit Lions 12-10 on a Ryan Longwell field goal in the waning seconds. This puts Minnesota at 3-3 and tied for first with the Chicago Bears who lost a 22-20 heartbreaker to the Atlanta Falcons. The Green Bay Packers improved their record to 3-3 by besting the Seattle Seahawks 27-17 at Seattle’s Qwest Field.

Week Seven will paint a clearer picture of divisional leaders. The Vikings travel to Soldier Field to take on the Bears while Green Bay takes on Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts at Lambeau Field. Don’t go giving the Colts a win just yet. The Colts are mainly a passing team - well who can blame them with Peyton taking snaps? If the wind is whipping in Green Bay that afternoon, there could be a lot of knuckeballs floating around the tundra, putting extra emphasis on the ground game. Plus the Colts didn’t look any too impressive in the first three quarters when they edged the Vikings 18-15 in Week Two.

The Minnesota-Chicago clash will probably be a low scoring affair.  Adrian Peterson is due for a big game and the Minnesota front four will shut down the Bears’ Matt Forte. On the Bears side of the ledger, Kyle Orton is gonna have a lot of fun riddling the Vikes secondary. Brian Urlacher and Adewale Ogunleye will spearhead a charged up defense that will be determined to shut off the Minnesota running game, in other words Peterson. Neither team will blow out the opposition and this one could well be decided on sheer determination.