Week 17 Highlighted How Wrong We All Were about the NFC North
Have you, like me, been waiting for the NFL to straighten out and put the normal teams at the top? It never happened, and it won’t.
The results didn’t clarify the pecking order so much as fracture it, leaving every NFC North contender with strengths undermined by visible flaws.
Maybe next year, things will be more dependable when it comes to figuring out which teams are the best and which are the worst. The NFC North finally got things locked in for the postseason, starting with Christmas Day. Some people were happy with the outcomes, and others are bemoaning their team’s failure or its success, which seems contradictory.
The NFC North Pecking Order Still Doesn’t Hold
Who’s tops in the NFC North for the last week that really matters in 2025?
Bears at 49ers
I’m still not entirely convinced of the Bears’ ascension in the NFC as a whole. Regardless, they have won the north and last night went toe-to-toe with another team that feels like they shouldn’t be in the same position.
The young Bears team, with a still-developing quarterback, got itself figured out as the year went on. Caleb Williams still isn’t perfect, but he is definitely showing why he was the first pick in the draft last year. He started with a bit of a “sophomore slump” look, but quickly started playing like a “senior”.
Brock Purdy and the 49ers should have been playing for the 1st pick in the draft this year after a bevy of key injuries and poor play early on. Head Coach Kyle Shanahan should be the top pick for NFL Coach of the Year for keeping that team together and having a great record against a tough division. Sunday night’s game was not a defensive battle at all.
It was a shootout between two gunslingers trying to prove they belong among the NFL’s top quarterbacks, even as many doubted their abilities. The first play of the game started with viewers expecting a Chicago-led beatdown, as they picked off the first pass for a pick-six. The 49ers didn’t blink and went right down the field and put up six themselves. Back and forth it went with each team matching the other.
The only slip-up by the Bears was having to kick a successful field goal. Imagine that being the only time they couldn’t match San Francisco, and that being their downfall. Chicago showed why they should be at the top and why Ben Johnson may have been the straw that stirred the drink in Detroit.
Chicago’s final game hosting Detroit can still affect their playoff seeding, but they seem destined to get at least a win or two.
Packers vs Ravens
Injuries have even caught up with the Packers. Jordan Love is in concussion protocol; Tucker Kraft is on injured reserve, as is Micah Parsons.
Facing the Ravens without Lamar Jackson was something the Packers and their fans were happy about, but it was without their own starter. I didn’t think Green Bay was that bad off with Malik Willis as the backup, as he is more of a threat running the ball and can throw the ball downfield efficiently. I also thought the Packers would lose this game because they had dropped home games this year when I thought they wouldn’t against lesser opponents.
In the first quarter, the Tyler Huntley-led Ravens and the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers seemed evenly matched. Then, in the second quarter, the Ravens showed they were the better team. They ran up the score behind Derrick Henry, who has suddenly shown signs of his younger self by running for over 200 yards in this contest. Henry has had some trouble running this year and has had some terrible game-changing fumbles early in 2025.
The Packers fought back in the third quarter and surprisingly got within three points, but the Ravens decided that was close enough and shut them down while scoring two more touchdowns. The Ravens turned over the Packers twice with a fumble and an interception, rushed for a team total of 307 yards, and held the ball for 40 minutes of the game. It was a win I saw coming, but not in that manner.
Green Bay is locked into the 7th spot in the playoffs, no matter what happens the rest of the day or next week. They are a threat from that spot, especially if they face the Bears, who barely beat them last week.
Vikings vs Lions
This game was only one thing to most Vikings fans: play spoilers. Kevin O’Connell knows what the team was facing: his starting quarterback down, with a rookie backup coming in for his second start of the season. What could go wrong? The answer was a lot, but not for the Vikings.
JJ McCarthy was out (again), and Max Brosmer took the reins, trying not to win the game necessarily but not to screw it up while getting Justin Jefferson a bevy of yards so he can once again get over 1000 yards for a 6th consecutive season. Many fans were looking at the offensive side of things and hoping it would be just enough of a failure to secure a better draft position.
The offense did its best to make that happen. How bad were they? Jordan Addison was the leading rusher with one attempt for a 65-yard touchdown, and Brosmer threw for … checks notes … 51 yards. That became a net total of 3 yards after all the sacks were accounted for, for a total of 7. No way did Minnesota win this game based solely on those stats.
The defense had other plans. Brian Flores confused the Lions a few weeks back, and they continued to flummox Detroit at US Bank on Christmas Day. Jared Goff and his teammates became like the Three Wise Men bearing gifts of four fumbles and two interceptions. The Lions never felt they had control of much of the game, with only two scoring drives all day.
The Vikings sacked him five times as well, making it embarrassing for the Lions. Had McCarthy played, I think the offense would have run up the score even more. It stings only to be able to stare at the silver lining when we all expected them to be in the playoffs this year. It was fun to play spoiler to the Lions, but after the Packers lost last weekend, it would be even more fun to be the spoiler this week instead of Green Bay resting most of its starters.
Division Standings
- Bears
- Packers
- Lions
- Vikings
I know the Vikings beat the Lions twice this year. But looking at all the games and the fact that the Vikings were out of the playoffs early, it says to me they are still the team that is worse off.
The Bears played well against the 49ers and could have possibly squeaked out another win. They will face more challenges now in the postseason than they’ve had all year. They aren’t an easy out, but most of their wins came against a 4th-place schedule and catching teams at the right time with key injuries.
If they have to play the Packers in the first playoff game, it wouldn’t surprise me if they lost, even though it’s on their home turf. They barely beat them at home without Jordan Love at the helm. He may be the catalyst to get the win.
The Packers are going to be a dangerous 7th seed, no matter who they play against. The Bears, Eagles, and Rams have all stumbled at times when they shouldn’t have. Green Bay knows how to capitalize on mistakes or turnovers to keep them in the game.
If they get to the next round, the 49ers have shown their defense has some holes, and the Seahawks are one meltdown game from Sam Darnold away from blowing their opportunity.
If the Packers lose, most will point to Parsons being out, but there’s more to it: Matt LaFleur has made some questionable coaching decisions late in games, and Love has made some poor passing decisions under pressure.
The Lions absolutely folded on Christmas Day. They had no answer for the way the Vikings were scheming against them and never took advantage of Minnesota’s terrible offensive play.
They were the best offense in the league, giving up only 6 turnovers all year, with 1 of those being the first time they played the Vikings. They matched that in this loss alone. Last year, the piled-up injuries were the cause that got them bounced in the first round, while this year, it was that, plus a team that had seemed to lose its identity, that kept them out altogether.
They now get to be the spoilers for the Bears’ playoff seeding if they go to Soldier Field with a chip on their shoulders and come out victorious.
Where has this Viking’s defense been all year? Many asked that question after the Lions’ dismantling. Brian Flores deserves a large bag of money for what he has accomplished over the last few years. This was what we expected to see all year, but I don’t blame the defense.
If the offense had merely been productive rather than a constant mess of injuries and bad play, this might have been unleashed more often when teams played the Vikings from behind. They took care of the Lions twice and have a 4-game win streak going with the Packers coming to town Sunday, but the game is meaningless unless McCarthy is playing and feeding Jefferson to get to the 1000-yard mark.
Not everyone will be back on defense next year, but the core seems solid with a few tweaks and younger players added to the mix. The biggest question will once again be whether McCarthy is the quarterback of the future and whether O’Connell can once again whisper a successful player to life.
Most of us are in offseason mode along with the Vikings. Should they lose this final game, no one will be too upset, as it keeps the draft picks closer to the top rather than the middle. Not by much, though.
If the Vikings win against their hated rivals, most fans will look at how they won and performed. If they dismantle a bunch of backups, that is good because that’s what they should do if most of the starters are in. If they look bad in the win or completely flop and lose, that doom-and-gloom will hang over the fanbase until training camp.
There will be voices complaining about a win no matter what, because they only care about draft-pick seeding, but current coaches and players don’t. They have bonuses and pride to play for, and they’re putting good work on tape. There’s no guarantee they will be with the Vikings next year. For the most part, this is a lost season, but some things may look a little better for next year. We’ll just have to look for those positives.
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