NFC North Round-Up: Vikings Creeping Back into the Race after Losses from Division Frontrunners
The NFC North was hyped up as one of the best in football with all four teams having playoff aspirations in 2025.
So far, it has lived up to the billing as the division entered Sunday featuring the NFC’s No. 1 seed and three teams with winning records while the Minnesota Vikings were not far behind them at 3-4. After Week 9’s action though, chaos has been thrown into the divisional race as we enter the second half of the season. Here is a recap of everything that happened across the division this season.
Bears Escape a Wild Game with the Bengals
The Chicago Bears pulled out a wild win in Cincinnati against the Bengals on Sunday in a game where Ben Johnson decided to pull all the aces out of his sleeves. Four different Bears players attempted passes in this game, and Caleb Williams was fantastic, finishing with 280 yards and three touchdowns as a passer, 53 yards as a rusher, and 22 yards and a touchdown as a receiver.
After a back-and-forth affair in the first half, it seemed like the Bears had taken control of things down the stretch of the fourth quarter, taking a 41-27 lead with less than five minutes left in regulation. However, the Bengals came storming right back with a touchdown, two-point conversion, onside kick recovery, and another touchdown in a matter of about one minute and 21 seconds of gametime to take a 42-41 lead.
Chicago got the ball back with less than a minute remaining in the game, but Williams connected with rookie tight end Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown. A Joe Flacco interception on the ensuing last-ditch-effort drive meant the Bears came away with a 47-42 victory, improving to 5-3 on the season.
Packers Lose At H0me to the Panthers
At 5-1-1, the Green Bay Packers entered Sunday with the best record in the NFC and the clear-cut favorite in the NFC North considering their head-to-head tiebreaker over the Detroit Lions. However, that could be changing in a hurry after Sunday.
Green Bay could not get anything going offensively against the Carolina Panthers throughout the entire afternoon, resulting in a 16-13 loss. Carolina did their best to just drag this thing to the finish line all afternoon, having four drives of at least eight plays or more. This included a 15-play drive at the end of the first quarter/start of the second quarter that ate up over eight and a half minutes of gametime. Albeit, that drive ended in an interceptions, but it was a great example of what Carolina did all day to just chip away at and exhaust Green Bay’s defense.
The loss was worse than just the end-of-game result too as Tucker Kraft went down with what is feared to be a season-ending torn ACL. The tight end has been the top receiver in Green Bay’s offense all season, and now, the Packers likely will have to figure things out without him in the lineup.
Vikings Stun Detroit
The Minnesota Vikings are starting to crawl their way back into the NFC North race after shocking the Detroit Lions on the road this weekend. Minnesota is now just one game behind both Detroit and the Chicago Bears who are tied for second in the division, and they have a head-to-head tiebreaker over both of those teams.
The Vikings were led by a strong defensive effort as the return of Andrew Van Ginkel and some outstanding play from Eric Wilson proved to be difference makers for Minnesota. Meanwhile, J.J. McCarthy made some very nice plays throughout the course of the game, including the game-sealing pass to Jalen Nailor.
For Detroit, the loss comes as the team is dealing with a number of injuries across the offensive line as Minnesota was able to get pressure on Jared Goff just about whenever they wanted. With both Detroit and Green Bay losing this weekend, things are starting to heat up across the division.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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