All-NFC North team winners
Numbers reflect votes of four executives in personnel for NFC teams. They were not permitted to vote for their own players or coaches from their own team.
COACH OF THE YEAR: Jim Caldwell (Det) and Mike McCarthy (GB), 2. It was the sixth award in 11 years for McCarthy, including two outright. Caldwell also won in 2014.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR OF THE YEAR: Jim Bob Cooter (Det), 3. Others: Pat Shurmur (Minn), 1. Cooter shared the award last year with Chicago’s Adam Gase.
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR OF THE YEAR: Mike Zimmer (Minn), 2. Others: Teryl Austin (Det) and Vic Fangio (Chi), 1. As head coach, Zimmer essentially serves as his own coordinator.
SPECIAL TEAMS COACH OF THE YEAR: Mike Priefer (Minn), 3. Others: Joe Marciano (Det), 1. Priefer has won three years in a row.
POSITION COACH OF THE YEAR: Brian Callahan (Det quarterbacks), James Campen (GB offensive line), Stan Drayton (Chi running backs) and Ben Sirmans (GB running backs), 1. Drayton was the Packers’ quality control coach from 2001-’03.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: QB Aaron Rodgers (GB) and QB Matthew Stafford (Det), 2. Rodgers was the winner outright in 2009, ’10, ’11 and ’14. Stafford joins WR Calvin Johnson (’13) as the only Lions winners in the award’s 21-year history.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: DT Mike Daniels (GB), DE Everson Griffen (Minn), DE Akiem Hicks (Chi) and CB Darius Slay (Det), 1. Only previous four-way ties were in 2003 and ’06.
OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: RB Jordan Howard (Chi), 3. Others: T Taylor Decker (Det), 1. The last Bears winner was RB Matt Forte (’08).
DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: LB Leonard Floyd (Chi), 3. Others: LB Kyler Fackrell (GB), 1. The last Bears winner was FS Chris Conte (’11). Chicago hasn’t swept both rookie awards since ’08 (RB Matt Forte, DT Marcus Harrison).
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: QB Aaron Rodgers (GB), 3. Others: QB Matthew Stafford (Det), 1. Rodgers also won in 2010, ’11 and ’14.
EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR: GM Bob Quinn (Det), 3. Others: GM Ted Thompson (GB), 1. Quinn’s predecessor, Martin Mayhew, won three times between 2010-’14.
IMPACT DECISIONS
Following are the opinions of the four personnel men on the decisions made by division teams in the last 12 months that most affected one of the teams positively or negatively.
• After firing GM Martin Mayhew, Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford played a role in the decision by new GM Bob Quinn to retain coach Jim Caldwell.
• If the Lions had fired Caldwell, they probably would have started over on offense and aborted the chemistry that was building between QB Matthew Stafford and coordinator Jim Bob Cooter.
• By retaining Caldwell, the Lions kept intact the coaching staff that proved instrumental in their winning season.
• Vikings GM Rick Spielman’s decision to trade first- and conditional fourth-round picks to Philadelphia for QB Sam Bradford on Sept. 3. QB
Teddy Bridgewater suffered a season-ending knee injury Aug. 30.