Midseason Division Breakdown: NFC North

The Midseason Division Breakdown continues today with the NFC North. If I am being honest, I have been looking forward to writing about his division. Finally, a division where none of the teams are terrible. This article will be a lot more positive than the last one about the NFC South.

The Detroit Lions won the NFC North last season for the first time since it became a division in 2002. The Green Bay Packers finished second and earned a Wild Card berth. The Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears are much improved from last season. There is a scenario where all four teams make the postseason. It’s been 30 years since all four of these teams made the playoffs in the same season.

Things have changed in the Motor City. The Lions not only won the division in 2023 but made it to the NFC Championship game. The last time the Lions won a playoff game before this, George Bush was President. It wasn’t George W Bush but his father George HW Bush. It was a rough 30 years in Detroit. But General Manager Brad Holmes has built one of the best rosters in the NFL, and the Lions are the favorite to win the division.

The Lions have few weaknesses. They have one of the best wide receivers and tight ends in the league and two playmakers at running back. You can also argue they have the best offensive line in the NFL. Their safety duo of Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch may be the best in the game. Despite an early season loss at home to the Buccaneers, the Lions have the best record in the NFC at 7-1.

Although it has been mostly great for the Lions, I can’t help but play devil’s advocate. They lost edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson for the season to a gruesome broken leg. He is one of the best players in the NFL regardless of position. They did add Zadarius Smith in a deadline trade with the Browns. He is a good player but cannot impact a game the way Hutchinson can.

Looking at the stats, the Lions may also be overachieving a bit. They are ranked 7th in offense but 24th in defensive yards per game. Cornerback continues to be their biggest weakness with two rookies playing a lot of snaps. They are tied for first in the NFL with a plus-11 turnover ratio.

The Lions are one of the best teams in football. There’s no doubt about that. Their defense forces turnovers and they rarely turn the ball over on offense. Coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn have done an outstanding job and look like future head coaches. However, stats suggest they haven’t been as dominant as the scores have indicated. They have done a terrific job of taking advantage of other team’s mistakes.

The Minnesota Vikings are one of the biggest surprises in the NFL this season. Picked last in the division by most pundits, the Vikings were the last undefeated team in the NFC. Now 6-2, the Vikings find themselves just one game back of the Lions.

After losing quarterback Kirk Cousins in free agency, the Vikings used the 10th overall pick to draft JJ McCarthy. They also signed journeyman Sam Darnold to be the starter until McCarthy was ready. Unfortunately for the Vikings, McCarthy tore his meniscus in the preseason and will miss his entire rookie season.

It’s gone much better for Sam Darnold at quarterback than anyone expected. He is having his best season, and the Vikings find themselves 8th in the NFL in points per game. They have lost two of their last three, and Darnold has not been as efficient in those games. He has always been productive early on and has faded throughout the season. Darnold is hoping to reverse this trend and fight for the division title.

The main reason for Viking’s terrific start though has been the improvement on defense. In my opinion, Brian Flores is the best defensive coordinator in the NFL. He does an outstanding job at disguising coverages. He will show you one thing and then back out of it at the last moment. Quarterbacks may think a blitz is coming but then the safeties or linebackers drop into coverage. This has led to an increase in incompletions and interceptions for the Vikings.

Looking forward, the Vikings have an excellent opportunity to be 8-2 ahead of their Week 12 matchup against the Bears. Their next two games are on the road but against the two-win Jaguars and Titans. If the Vikings want to win the division, you have to take care of business against bad teams.

It’s been an up-and-down year for the Green Bay Packers. Jordan Love finished strong in 2023 and there was a lot of optimism coming into the season. Love looks like an MVP candidate at times and other times looks like a backup. He is tied for the league lead in interceptions with 10 despite missing two games with injury. He threw just 11 all of last season.

I have watched every interception Love has thrown and most of them are just poor decisions. He is trying to make a play that isn’t there. He didn’t make these poor decisions in the second half of last season so hopefully, for the Packers, he can get back to that. Love is still fairly inexperienced, having made just 25 career starts. The talent and upside are there. He just needs to limit the mistakes.

If the Packers do not win the division, it will be because of their home losses to the Lions and Vikings. The Packers did not play well in the first halves of those games. They turned the ball over and committed penalties at inopportune times. The Packers played much better in the second half, but it was too little too late to get the victory.

The Packers have a talented roster. They are the youngest team in the NFL and therefore make some big mistakes in big games. The defense is much improved from last season under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley. Their pass defense has been especially good, ranking 8th in the NFL. If they can fix the mistakes and stop beating themselves, they can get back in the division race.

Things have not gone well the last few seasons in Chicago. They have won the division once since 2018. But Bears fans had a lot of hope coming into this season. The Bears used the first pick on quarterback on 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Most draft analysts loved the selection. The defense has also improved, and some people thought the Bears could compete for the division title.

The defense has carried the Bears this season. They are eighth in the NFL in yards per game allowed. The offense is another story. Caleb Williams has looked like a rookie in some of their games. He has played well against bad teams but struggled against the better teams. Some draft analysts compared Williams to Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. That’s insane in my opinion and sets unrealistic expectations for the rookie. We are talking about two of the best quarterbacks of all time.

The Bears have done a great job this season at Soldier Field. They have won all three games there (they also won a home game in London as well). The bad news is they are 0-4 on the road which included a Hail Mary loss in Washington. Since Matt Eburflus took over as head coach, the Bears road record is 3-18. If they want to become serious division contenders, they must play better on the road.

The NFC North is a combined 23-10, the best division record in the NFL. All four teams could easily make the playoffs. The Lion’s roster is absolutely loaded. The Vikings are way better than anyone expected. The Packers are young but super talented. The Bears need to be patient while Williams develops. I could see all four of these competing for the division title for years to come.

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