NFC North Overrated? 45 Wins, 3 Playoff Teams, 0 Playoff Wins

The Green Bay Packers and their NFC North colleagues will face a much bigger challenge in 2025. Just look at the quarterbacks on the schedule.

Bill Huber | Jan 23, 2025

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) and Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts shake hands after their playoff game. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The NFC North’s dominance this season was historic. So was the flameout.

The four teams combined for a 45-23 record, with the Detroit Lions (15-2), Minnesota Vikings (14-3) and Green Bay Packers (11-6) earning playoff berths. By winning percentage (.662), scoring differential (plus-384) and turnover differential (plus-41), they were the highest numbers since the NFL moved to eight four-team divisions in 2002.

Ultimately, it didn’t mean a thing. Sunday’s NFC Championship Game will feature two NFC East teams with the Washington Commanders playing at the Philadelphia Eagles.

All three NFC North teams were one-and-done in the playoffs, with the Packers bounced by the Eagles and the Vikings beaten by the Rams in the wild-card round and the top-seeded Lions trounced by the Commanders in the divisional round. Detroit’s loss marked the first time since the 2011 Packers that a 15-win team failed to win a playoff game.

So, was the NFC North overrated?

There’s probably something to it.

As part of the NFL’s schedule rotation, the NFC North benefitted from playing the AFC South and NFC West.

The AFC South’s four teams combined for a woeful 25-43 record. Green Bay, Detroit and Minnesota swept those four games and Chicago split. All four teams gave up more touchdowns than they scored and none of the teams had a winning record outside of their division.

The NFC West’s teams were better, combining for a 34-34 record, though the division’s 500-pound gorilla, the 49ers, crashed to 6-11 after reaching at least the NFC Championship Game in four of the previous five seasons.

The Rams won the NFC West with a 10-7 record. Their losses included Week 1 at Detroit, Week 4 at Chicago and Week 5 against Green Bay. They played without premier receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua and three-fifths of their starting offensive line against the Bears and Packers.

The challenge will be bigger in 2025, with the NFC North slated to face the NFC East and AFC North.

The NFC East’s four teams combined to go 36-32. The Eagles, who swept the Packers on the way to the NFC Championship Game, went 14-3 this season. The Commanders, led by elite rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, went 12-5. The Cowboys finished 7-10 even with Dak Prescott missing nine games.

The AFC North’s four teams combined to go 34-34, but the Ravens (12-5), Steelers (10-7) and Bengals (9-8) had winning records. Baltimore has won 10-plus games six of the past seven seasons, Pittsburgh hasn’t had a losing season since 2003 and Cincinnati has four consecutive winning records and reached at least the AFC title game in 2021 and 2022.

By strength of schedule based on 2024 records, the Bears and Lions will face the second-toughest schedules (.571) and the Packers and Vikings will face the fifth-toughest schedules (.557).

Critically, the NFC North teams will be taking a step up in terms of quarterbacks. So long, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson. Hello, MVP candidates.

In terms of passer rating, these are the top 10 quarterbacks who the NFC North teams faced in 2024 and will face in 2025.

AFC South: Zero.

NFC West: Zero.

AFC North: Two (Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, first; Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, third). Both are among the five NFL MVP finalists.

NFC East: Two (Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, fifth; Washington’s Jayden Daniels, 10th. Plus, Prescott was second in 2023 and third in 2021).

Green Bay’s home schedule will be especially challenging from a quarterback perspective. Along with the Lions (Jared Goff, second in rating, fourth in touchdowns, one of five MVP finalists), Vikings (Sam Darnold – maybe – sixth in rating, fifth in touchdowns) and Bears (Caleb Williams with Ben Johnson), the Packers will host the Eagles (Hurts, fifth in rating, 20th in touchdowns but eighth in total touchdowns), Commanders (Daniels, 10th in rating, 10th in touchdowns), Ravens (Jackson, first in rating, second in touchdowns) and Bengals (Burrow, third in rating, first in touchdowns).

Latest Green Bay Packers News

The NFC North got even more interesting with Ben Johnson joining the Bears. https://t.co/tCGwmv4TlX
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) January 22, 2025

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Published Jan 23, 2025

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.