Packers, Vikings, Lions are crushing Bears in NFC North, and those powerhouses are built to last
As the Bears dream of a world in which they hire the perfect coach, quarterback Caleb Williams ascends to stardom and they finally get everything right, the rest of the NFC North is already there.
Nearly three years after general manager Ryan Poles declared his intent to “take the North and never give it back,” the Bears have never been further away from doing so. They’re about to finish fourth in the division for a third consecutive season under Poles. If they lose to the Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field, they’ll finish eight games behind the rest of the pack as the Lions and Vikings battle for the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC. Since the NFL created the current four-team divisions in 2002, the Bears have never been this deep in the basement.
All their hope is rooted in developments that are yet to take place. They’re banking on a yet-to-be-hired coach who helps rather than hinders. They’re betting on Williams to become a quarterback who shores up weaknesses rather than succumbs to them. They’re counting on overhauling the roster with ample salary-cap space and valuable draft capital.
OK, great, but guess what: The Lions, Vikings and Packers already have answers at coach and quarterback — not to mention strong offensive lines and excellent defenses — and similarly have stacked future assets to maintain their momentum.
The NFL is a zero-sum game, especially within the division. Rebuilding is competitive. Every success outside Halas Hall hurts the Bears, who not only have to solve their own problems but have to solve them better than their rivals do.
That’s not going well so far.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” tight end Cole Kmet said Monday. “That’s just being honest about where we’re at and where the division’s at — three really good teams right now, and they’re all playing their own style, their own really good brand of football.”
The Vikings enter the final week at 14-2. The Lions were 13-2 heading into their game Monday night against the 49ers. The Packers are 11-5 and could beat either of them.
The Lions and Vikings already have swept the Bears this season. If the Packers — a nine-point favorite Sunday — follow suit, the Bears will go winless in the division for the second time in three seasons under Poles. That happened just twice before in franchise history.
Each of the other three North teams has its answer at head coach for the foreseeable future: the Packers’ Matt LaFleur (67-32 career record), the Lions’ Dan Campbell
(42-35-1) and the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell (34-16). The Bears don’t even have a coach yet for 2025, which is still better than if they’d kept Matt Eberflus (14-32).
The other three teams all have a quarterback, too. And although those QBs’ long-term viability varies, they’re all well ahead of Williams as he wraps up his rookie season.
“I still stand by Caleb being super talented, and he’s got all the tools that you need, but . . . all of those teams have experienced guys who have kind of been through it, so they’ve definitely got a jump start on him,” Kmet said. “But you see the biggest jumps in guys from Year 1 to Year 2, and I’m sure Caleb is gearing up for that.”
Lions quarterback Jared Goff is having a career year with a 112.2 passer rating. He’s signed through 2028. The Packers’ Jordan Love has thrown 57 touchdown passes over the last two seasons — fourth-most in the league — and also is signed through ’28. The Vikings are getting MVP-worthy production out of journeyman Sam Darnold, who’s top-five in several categories, and have No. 10 overall draft pick J.J. McCarthy waiting his turn while injured.
Williams, who is 23rd in passer rating at 87.4 and threw for just 122 yards in the loss to the Seahawks last week, might get there eventually, but that notion requires faith. The other three starters in the North are delivering concrete proof every week.
And here’s the most brutal part for the Bears: Although they have a great opportu-nity ahead in April with three draft picks in the first two rounds and the fifth-most projected cap space, that doesn’t make them special. They could find instant starters with picks currently slotted at Nos. 9, 37 and 40 overall and fix deficiencies if they spend their $82 million well. But the other three North teams all will still have their first-round pick and are top-11 in projected cap space.
In other words, the Vikings, Lions and Packers haven’t gone for broke to get here. The Lions did it by hitting it out of the park in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 drafts and have a ton of good players on cheap rookie contracts. The Packers have been on a similar run in the draft and carried out a flawless transition from Aaron Rodgers to Love. The Vikings are spending next to nothing at quarterback and paired a brilliant offensive mind in O’Connell with arguably the NFL’s smartest defensive coordinator in Brian Flores.
It’s one thing to set your sights on taking the North. It’s a whole other thing to make the climb. And while the other three teams are at or near the summit, possibly for years to come, the Bears have yet to find a foothold.