Monday Morning’s News of the NFC North’s Dominance in the NFL
The NFC North is an absolute machine. A brief tour around social media will confirm as much.
The Vikings, of course, remain in the top spot due to their pristine 5-0 record. Beginning a season in a perfect manner has a way of putting a team in a nice spot. Right behind Minnesota, though, are three good football teams, so let’s take a look at the division.
The Vikings, The NFC North, & The Challenge Ahead
The antidote to the surging Lions, Packers, and Bears will be wins. At some point, though, these Vikings are going to falter. What will the division look like at that time?
Best guess: things will be pretty tight.
Detroit put together a huge win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, winning by a score of 47-9 (Mike Zimmer can’t be too pleased). The major downside is that they lost arguably their best player — edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who was up to 7.5 sacks — for the remainder of the season.
The word from Ian Rapoport: “#Lions star Aidan Hutchinson, who would have been a top candidate for defensive player of the year, suffered a broken tibia, coach Dan Campbell told reporters.” And then a more specific follow-up update: “While Aidan Hutchinson’s broken tibia is obviously season-ending, the early prognosis is that being ready for 2025 shouldn’t be an issue. All things considered, that’s good news.”
It remains to be seen how the Lions will respond without their top defender, but they’re sitting at 4-1 with the Vikings next on the schedule.
Meanwhile, the Packers and Bears each pulled off wins on Sunday. Green Bay took down Arizona by a score of 34-13; Jordan Love went 22/32 for 258 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Chicago took down Jacksonville by a score of 35-16; Caleb Williams went 23/29 for 226 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception.
Green Bay is sitting at 4-2 and so, too, is Chicago at 4-2. Typically, that kind of record could reasonably result in being in 1st place.
Several prominent analysts and writers sought to describe just how well the division is playing in 2024.
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak took a shot. Consider the point differential: “The NFL leader in point differential is the Minnesota Vikings at +61. Then the Detroit Lions at +60, the Bears at +47, and the Packers at +41. Every team in the NFC North has a better point differential than every other team in the league.”
Ben Goessling stepped back a bit further to underscore the collective record of the teams within the NFC North, noting, “The NFC North is about to be a combined 17-5 through six weeks.” And then a follow-up: “According to the NFL, this is the first time since division realignment in 2002 that all four teams in a division had at least four wins through Week 6.”
The broad takeaway is simply that there’s no room for error despite the perfect start. Kevin O’Connell’s crew needs to be sharp moving forward or they’ll lose their grip on the division.
The next game takes place on Sunday, October 20th. The Detroit Lions will be visiting U.S. Bank Stadium and kickoff is scheduled for 12 noon.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.