NFC North standings Week 9: Packers’ title hopes all but gone
The Green Bay Packers will not win the NFC North for a fourth consecutive season.
While not mathematically impossible, the Packers sit about three lightyears back in the division race.
In Week 9, the Packers lost their fifth straight game with perhaps their worst performance to date. The division-rival Detroit Lions handed them a 15-9 defeat.
Elsewhere in the NFC North, the Chicago Bears lost their second in a row.
It allowed the Minnesota Vikings to pull ahead even further. They won their sixth consecutive game, moving to an impressive 7-1 record.
NFC North standings following Packers’ loss to Lions
- Minnesota Vikings (7-1)
- Green Bay Packers (3-6)
- Chicago Bears (3-6)
- Detroit Lions (2-6)
Vikings’ next five: at Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, New York Jets, at Detroit Lions
Packers’ next five: Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, at Philadelphia Eagles, at Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams
Bears’ next five: Detroit Lions, at Atlanta Falcons, at New York Jets, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles
Lions’ next five: at Chicago Bears, at New York Giants, Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings
The bad news for the division-leading Vikings is their upcoming schedule. They face a brutal stretch with games against the Bills, Cowboys, and Jets to come in their next five. But it’s also a chance to prove how good they are.
It also likely won’t matter much when it comes to winning the NFC North. Minnesota could lose every game between now and the end of the regular season and would still have a shot at winning the division.
Can Green Bay or Chicago close the four-game gap? Almost certainly not.
Barring a miracle, the Vikings will be NFC North champions in 2022. And, the way it’s going, the division won’t have any wild-card teams in the playoffs.
Green Bay’s recent dominance in the NFC North looks set to end this season.