NFC North Round-Up: Lions Lose on Controversial Calls, Bears Defense Leads to Win, Packers Blow Past Vikings
Josh Frey
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Week 17 is in the books, and all four NFC North teams were in action once again.
This weekend saw the Detroit Lions travel to Dallas for a potential playoff preview while Chicago hosted the Atlanta Falcons, and Green Bay traveled to Minnesota in a divisional matchup against the Vikings. Here is a look at how the division fared this past weekend.
Bears Cruise Past Falcons
It may be too little too late in terms of a playoff push for the Chicago Bears, but this is a team that is absolutely clicking on all cylinders right now.
The Bears came into the weekend winners of three of their past four games, and once again, the defense led the way to a dominant 37-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Chicago’s defense came away with four interceptions of Taylor Heinicke, and the Bears won the time of possession battle by nearly 15 minutes.
Offensively, Justin Fields continues to progress as a passer and made virtually no mistakes throwing the ball. D.J. Moore caught nine passes for 159 yards and a touchdown while Khalil Herbert led the way in the rushing attack with 18 carries for 124 yards and a TD.
The Bears will try to conclude their season with an 8-9 record, a five-game improvement from 2022, with a matchup against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Lions Fall in Dallas
The Detroit Lions clinched the NFC North last weekend with their win over the Minnesota Vikings, so they were riding high into Saturday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. However, the good times would not last as they fell to Dallas by a score of 20-19, though it was not without plenty of controversy.
Trailing by seven points late in the fourth quarter, the Lions had one more chance to get back in the game. Jared Goff promptly led a nine-play, 75-yard drive in under two minutes and hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for an 11-yard TD, cutting the score to 20-19.
Seeing as the Lions were on the road, Campbell opted to run a two-point try, and at first, it seemed successful. A funky play call resulted in LT Taylor Decker catching a pass from Goff in the end zone, but at the end of the play, a flag was thrown for being an ineligible receiver.
Detroit moved back to the seven-yard-line, but Campbell was intent on ending this football game. He again trotted the Lions offense out on the field for a two-point try, and Goff’s pass to St. Brown fell incomplete.
However, yet another penalty by Dallas moved the Lions closer to the goal line for a third try. Unfortunately for Detroit, Goff threw a bad pass to James Mitchell, and the Lions were unable to convert, thus ending the game in a 20-19 loss.
Packers Put a Beating on the Vikings
Green Bay and Minnesota both came into Sunday night at 7-8 and needing a win to get back to .500 and improving their playoff hopes.
Ultimately, this game was over just about as quickly as it started as the Packers cruised to a 33-10 victory. Jaren Hall could not put together consistent drives for Minnesota in the first half, and Nick Mullens came back into the game during the second half to lead the Vikings offense.
Defensively, Minnesota had no answers for Jordan Love and the Packers offense. Love threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns while Green Bay totaled nearly 200 yards of rushing offense as well. Green Bay hopes to sneak into the playoffs as they host the Chicago Bears in Week 18 while Minnesota’s hopes are just about dashed following the loss.
Saturday Night Threw Salt in the Wound for Vikings
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.