Bears rise as Packers, Lions, Vikings face uncertainty

Bears’ rise – Chicago’s momentum in the NFC North is coming at a time when the Packers, Lions, and Vikings are all trying to stabilize after major swings in coaching, quarterback decisions, and on-field performance—setting up a divisionwide fight with real pressure on every

For Bears fans, last season felt like the kind of break you don’t always get—momentum arriving right when the NFC North looked vulnerable.

Chicago didn’t just improve on its own. The division around it slowed. The Bears made gains primarily by hiring Ben Johnson. the consensus best coach available. but the timing mattered just as much: the rest of the NFC North fell into a lull that let Chicago reset its rivalries and reestablish itself in the division.

That’s a big deal in a division where being a power player isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s the first step toward contending for a championship. Before Johnson arrived. the Bears had finished third or fourth in the division nine times over the 11 seasons leading into his tenure. and they owned the NFL’s second-worst divisional record at 20-46.

Then the landscape shifted fast.

The Packers. who had beaten the Bears 11 straight times from 2019 to ’24. no longer look like the intimidating nemesis they were during Aaron Rodgers’ era. The Vikings whiffed on the No. 10 overall pick by taking quarterback J.J. McCarthy. And Chicago made a statement to Detroit’s offense and. in its own way. to the entire division by prying Johnson away—one that turned the Lions’ trajectory even as it fueled the Bears’ chase for a Super Bowl appearance.

Now the questions are hard and immediate. Will the other teams stay down? Or is this just a brief opening before the old order tries to snap back?

Packers: shaky ground

The Packers still have the pieces on paper. They have a quarterback—Jordan Love—who sits in the top third of the NFL in most key stats, and head coach Matt LaFleur has the third-highest career winning percentage among active peers.

But it doesn’t feel stable in Green Bay. Fans aren’t convinced, and pressure has only tightened. The doubts surged after Micah Parsons tore his ACL late in the season. When the Packers closed their year, they lost five straight, including two fourth-quarter collapses against the Bears.

Parsons’ status is already part of the uncertainty: he’s uncertain whether he’ll be back when the teams first meet in Week 5.

Still, the organization has locked in its core. The Packers kept Jordan Love under contract through 2028, and in January they gave LaFleur a multi-year extension. If Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson outdo that pairing, Chicago could control the rivalry for years.

That’s not a guarantee. Williams hasn’t yet reached some of Love’s career-highs in a season, and LaFleur has matched or exceeded the 11-6 season Johnson delivered—four times. The Packers also posted the No. 5 defense last season, while the Bears finished 29th.

The counterweight for Chicago is that the old intimidation doesn’t seem to carry the same force anymore. Lambeau Field doesn’t scare Williams. who won there as a rookie and is 3-2 against the Packers in his career. And Johnson brings something extra to the matchup as well: he has a little extra motivation in an icy. tense rivalry with LaFleur.

Lions: was that it?

In Detroit, expectations have never been allowed to settle into comfortable territory. The Lions went 9-8 last season—just their ninth winning season of this millennium—and coach Dan Campbell gave himself a “freaking F” for his job performance.

The fear for Campbell isn’t only the record. It’s the pattern. The Lions’ trajectory includes 9-8 in 2022, 12-5 in ’23, and 15-2 in ’24. That roller-coaster means Campbell has to prove, again, that he’s more than mere bluster.

And skeptics have returned.

There’s also the question of whether Johnson was the secret to the Lions’ recent success. Campbell replaced Johnson with John Morton, who lost play-calling duties in November and his job at the end of the season.

Offense wasn’t Detroit’s biggest problem. Quarterback Jared Goff had another superb season, and the team was fifth in yardage and points. The Lions also leaned into optimism with the widely applauded hiring of new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. Johnson himself said, “He’s going to knock it out of the park.”.

Still, defense is where Campbell’s reputation has to show up as something more than talk. The Lions allowed the 11th-most points last season, one spot worse than the Bears. If Campbell is going to be the CEO-style coach he’s been touted to be, that’s the area where he’ll have to deliver.

Vikings: prove it (again), O’Connell

Bears fans don’t need a refresher on what it looks like when a team burns a high draft pick on the wrong quarterback—especially after the recent struggles of Justin Fields and Mitch Trubisky.

That’s the mess the Vikings are trying to clean up now.

Minnesota drafted McCarthy at No. 10 overall and has been trying to recover ever since. McCarthy is the only 2024 first-round pick who has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns. and he was a disaster last season with a 72.6 passer rating. Neither Fields nor Trubisky ever posted a season rating that low for the Bears.

The disarray contributed to the chaotic firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. It took the Vikings until June to hire his replacement, Nolan Teasley. So even with a new quarterback plan in motion, the rest of the organization has plenty to sort out.

The plan now is coach Kevin O’Connell—the so-called quarterback wizard—to straighten out the wayward career of two-time Pro Bowl pick Kyler Murray.

O’Connell has made it work with far less talented players than Murray. Two teams already had written off Sam Darnold as a bust before O’Connell coached him to a Pro Bowl season in 2024. Darnold had the support of a wider plan that included letting him walk in free agency to clear the way for McCarthy.

O’Connell’s record is built on that sort of development approach: he has gone 43-25 and never been worse than 7-10, relying on players like Darnold, McCarthy, Carson Wentz, Josh Dobbs, and late-career Kirk Cousins.

If O’Connell can bring out the best of Murray, the Vikings could flip the conversation quickly. Minnesota has Brian Flores as one of the league’s best defensive play-callers, and the Vikings posted the No. 3 defense last season. They’ll also protect Murray better than the Cardinals’ “atrocious offensive line” did. and they’re supplying him with top wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

Own the throne

The Bears aren’t necessarily holding stronger cards than everyone else. They may think they are, but the questions in Chicago are real—Williams still a work in progress, a defense full of question marks, and an offseason where, on paper, the Bears lost more talent than they acquired.

The point of laying out the doubts around the rest of the division isn’t to declare the Bears own the NFC North after winning it last season. It’s that control of it for the near future is there for the taking—by anyone.

In other words: the Bears might be in the driver’s seat, but they’re also in a window. The division is more even than it has been for years, and that’s progress all by itself.

The next step is for Chicago to force everyone else to earn their place again, the way the Bears did through years of being pushed aside. Winning the NFC North shouldn’t be the end goal. The goal is to rule it.

And right now, having the best coach and quarterback could be the difference. If Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams definitively establish themselves as the standard in this division, the recent hierarchy could get overturned—putting pressure on every other NFC North team to measure up.

Chicago Bears Ben Johnson Caleb Williams NFC North Jordan Love Matt LaFleur Packers Dan Campbell Jared Goff J.J. McCarthy Kyler Murray Kevin O'Connell Brian Flores Micah Parsons Drew Petzing Jordan Addison Justin Jefferson