Bear Digest

Updated NFC North QB power rankings as playoff push begins

Caleb Williams was drafted to be a franchise-altering quarterback, but is he even the best in his division?
Pete Martuneac|
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Week 13 of the 2025 NFL season has come and gone, and two shocking upsets have launched the Chicago Bears to the top of the NFC. Yes, you read that right. A team that lost 10 of its final 11 games last season now stands atop the entire NFC, sharing a key connection with the 2006 Super Bowl squad of Bears. Expectations for the Bears have thus been adjusted accordingly, from being a merely competitive team to securing a home playoff game.

As the calendar turns to December and the playoff push begins in earnest, let's revisit the NFC North quarterback power rankings from earlier in the year and see where the four starters stand now. At the Chicago Bears' bye week, Bryan Perez of Bears on SI had Jared Goff at the top, followed by Jordan Love, Caleb Williams, and J.J. McCarthy.

For my rankings, I'll be considering how each quarterback has performed in 2025 while also taking into account future projections. How does this change the QB hierarchy? Let's dive in.

1. Jared Goff

One of the biggest questions in the NFC North this past offseason was how Goff would adjust to the post-Ben Johnson era, and we now have our answer. He's still a legitimate franchise quarterback, and at 31 years old, likely will be for years to come. His stats aren't quite as gaudy this year, but no other NFC North quarterback has done enough to unseat him... yet. Which brings us to No. 2 on this list.

Jared Gof
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2. Caleb Williams

This will cause some controversy, I'm sure. Many football fans will insist on Green Bay's Jordan Love taking the second spot, but I disagree. Remember that I'm also accounting for future projections of these quarterbacks, and Caleb Williams has the most potential of anyone in the division.

Williams has shown vast improvement in almost every facet of quarterbacking, especially sack avoidance. He's playing on time and in structure, something that many analysts doubted he could do. His accuracy is unacceptably low at the moment, but that's one of the more fixable things in NFL quarterbacks.

Simply put, Williams has already answered the biggest questions about how his game would translate to the NFL, and he's only just getting started. If he continues on this trajectory, he'll move to the top of this list by this time next year.

Caleb William
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

3. Jordan Love

I want to make one thing very clear: Jordan Love is a good quarterback. He doesn't suck, he's not a bust. He's good at what he does and will be a good quarterback for years to come. However, compared to Goff and Williams, his ceiling is lower, mostly due to inconsistency. Just look at his last two games as an example: zero touchdowns and a mere 139 passing yards against the Minnesota Vikings, to a dominant four-touchdown, 234-yard performance against the Detroit Lions.

But this is Love's sixth year in the NFL, all of which have been with the same team, the same coach, and the same offense. He even spent three years learning from the great Aaron Rodgers. Love is likely already at his full potential and has no room left to grow. Contrast this with Williams, who still has a sky-high ceiling above him, especially under the tutelage of Ben Johnson.

But for all the Packers fans who may stumble upon this, I want to reiterate that Love is a good quarterback. He just happens to play in a loaded NFC North division.

Jordan Lov
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4. J.J. McCarthy

I don't want to pile on a player who's already catching a lot of flak, but McCarthy is off to one of the worst starts of any quarterback I've ever seen, and I don't think it's fixable. In fact, he appears to be getting worse with each passing week. Unfortunately for the Vikings, McCarthy is their best option for the remainder of 2025, but they need to be prepared to move on from him as soon as this offseason.

Letting go of a quarterback too soon is bad, but hanging on to a bad quarterback for too long is even worse, and the probability of McCarthy suddenly becoming an NFL star next year is basically nil.

J.J. McCarth
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Pete Martuneac
PETE MARTUNEAC

A former Marine and Purdue Boilermaker, Pete has been covering the Chicago Bears since 2022 as a senior contributor on BearsTalk. He lives with his wife, two kids and loyal dog.

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