The NFC North Round-Up: Vikings Emerge as Sole Leaders
Josh Frey
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Following the action in Week 5, the NFC North has one team atop the division for the first time this season. In a truly surprising turn of events this early in the season, that team is the 4-1 Minnesota Vikings, who defeated the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Here’s how all the action across the NFC North went on Sunday morning and afternoon.
Bears, Vikings Battle to the Bitter End
The Minnesota Vikings jumped out to an early 21-3 lead over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and it seemed like they were going to cruise to a victory. Instead, after a series of poor special teams plays from the Vikings, the Bears got themselves back into the game.
Between the Vikings setting up the Bears with good field position and some good plays from Justin Fields, Chicago took a 22-21 lead in the fourth quarter, and when Kirk Cousins needed to lead his Vikings on one final drive, he did just that. The Vikings capped off their afternoon with a 15-play touchdown drive in which they converted five third downs.
Cousins also hit Justin Jefferson, who set career highs in single-game receptions and most receptions through three seasons in Vikings history, for a two-point conversion, putting the game at its final score of 29-22.
Minnesota finished the game with an 80% third-down conversion rate and scored touchdowns on all four of their red zone drives. This is a great improvement over what we’d seen in the prior four weeks, so hopefully the trend continues.
Trouble in Titletown
The Green Bay Packers once again failed to score 25 points in a game, marking three occurrences in the first five games. They are also yet to score 30 points in a single game. Compare that to 2021’s Packers offense, and this group may be in some trouble. Through five weeks last year, they scored 25+ in four games and had broken the 30-point threshold twice.
Meanwhile, the New York Giants had no trouble putting points on the board in the second half, scoring 17 unanswered in the second half to erase a 20-10 halftime deficit. For some reason, the Packers ran the ball just 19 times despite having a double-digit lead for large portions of this game.
Making this even more confusing, Green Bay averaged 5.1 yards per carry when they did run, so they conceivably could have won this game fairly easily if Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers didn’t insist on throwing so often. We’ll see if they can get back on track against the Jets this week, but for now, they’re in chase mode for the NFC North title.
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Detroit’s High Octane Offense Stalls Out
After being the offense with the most points and yards through four weeks, the Detroit Lions completely stalled out in Week 5. The Lions were shut out for the first time since Week 11 of the 2020 season against the Carolina Panthers, losing to Bailey Zappe and the New England Patriots, 29-0.
In his first career start, Zappe completed 17-of-21 passes for 188 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Rhamondre Stevenson also rushed for 161 yards. The Lions had a great chance to make up some ground with two teams in the division losing, but instead, they remain buried in a 1-4 hole heading into Week 6.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys training for marathons, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his takes, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken