“Black and Blue Division” is back. That's the gold standard in the NFL at this point.
The NFC North, nicknamed during the golden era of Green Bay's Vince Lombardi, Chicago's Dick Butkus, Minnesota's Purple People Eaters, and later Detroit's Barry Sanders, is known as the most competitive and difficult division. It was getting worse. NFL.
Glory is back this year, with all four teams in the division posting an impressive combined record of 17 wins and 5 losses. All four divisions have winning records that none of the league's other seven divisions can boast.
The Vikings are 5-0, the Lions are 4-1, and the Bears and Packers are 4-2.
Only two of the other seven divisions have a combined record above .500: the AFC West (13-9) and the NFC East (12-11). Even the worst division in the NFC North is good enough to lead or tie for first place in five other divisions.
The first six weeks in the NFC North have been fascinating, reaching the most fascinating point yet with Sunday's battle between the Vikings and Lions in Minneapolis.
“Everyone in our district is playing well, so these district games are going to be very important,” Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said this week.
“What a test this week is going to be,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “They're playing really good soccer.”
All four teams are playing good soccer. Coming off their bye week, the Vikings are the only undefeated team in the NFC and one of only two teams in the league, along with the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. The Packers host the Texans on Sunday with a 5-1 record, and the Bears are in their bye week.
The Lions last played in Minnesota last season when they defeated the Lions to win their first district title in 30 years. Detroit won last week in Dallas, defeating the Cowboys 47-9. The Lions come into this game having won three straight against the Vikings and four of their past five games.
A major key to the NFC North's return to dominance across the board was the Lions' return to competitiveness after decades of stagnation. Before reaching the NFC Championship Game last season, the Lions had not recorded a playoff win since 1991.
Detroit is led by a rejuvenated quarterback, Jared Goff, who found a new life after leaving Los Angeles, and one of the league's top running backs in David Montgomery and Jahmil Gibbs.
“If you look at all the running backs in the league, I don't know if you'll find a guy who's playing better,” Goff said of Montgomery, who just received a contract extension. “It's fun to have him on our team, and Gibbs is right there as well.”
Leading all of that is Campbell, currently the most popular among NFL coaches for his personality and unabashed expression of emotion, not to mention a talented staff of assistants.
The Bears have also struggled most of the last few years (one playoff win since 2010). The main reason was the failure to acquire a franchise quarterback. Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 Draft, is playing more like a veteran than a rookie, completing 65.3 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and five interceptions.
Unlike the Bears, the Packers continued their strange way of finding the perfect succession plan at quarterback, with Jordan Love succeeding Aaron Rodgers as smoothly as Rodgers succeeded Brett Favre. (12 TD passes in 4 games this season as a starter).
The Vikings stumbled at quarterback over the summer as first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy suffered a knee injury, leaving veteran Sam Darnold in the starting role.
All Darnold (1,111 passing yards, 63.5 percent completion rate, 11 TDs, 4 interceptions) has done is be talked about as NFL MVP with his performance. It's not bad to have Justin Jefferson at receiver, who has 26 receptions, 450 yards, and 4 TDs.
Jefferson has 62 catches for 1,073 yards in eight career games with the Lions.
The Vikings have held their opponents scoreless in 10 of 20 quarters and have the best scoring differential in the NFL at plus-63, followed by the Lions at plus-60.
Black & Blue is back.
