The first week of the NFL season is in the books, and the league wasted no time taking everyone on an emotional rollercoaster ride.
The Green Bay Packers lost in brutal fashion on the road to the Minnesota Vikings, and while it's important to learn what you can after a loss like that, it's also equally important to keep the big-picture perspective in mind, especially at the quarterback position.
Now that one week of the season is in the books, we're going to do our best to rank every quarterback in the NFC North heading into Week 2. Throughout the season, these rankings will be fluid and may sometimes even feel reactionary, but we'll do our best to slot each QB based on what we're seeing this season while also making sure not to ignore their body of work over the course of a career.
One bad game won't land you at the bottom of the list, and one great game won't vault you to the top. And this may be the most difficult part of the season to rank each quarterback, but let's take a look at where things stand after just one game in 2026.
Power ranking the NFC North quarterbacks after Week 1
After being pressed into action following the Kyler Murray injury against the Packers, Carson Wentz (annoyingly) did a fantastic job for the Vikings.
Wentz threw 19 passes after coming on for the injured Murray, completing 12 of them for 133 yards and three touchdowns. He was set up with some short fields, but you have to give credit where it's due: Wentz did a great job with the opportunity he was given.
Was it good enough to earn him the starting job when Murray is back healthy? Not after just one game. The nice thing for Wentz against the Packers was that all he really had to do was make sure the ball got somewhere near Justin Jefferson, and No. 18 was ready to make plays.
We'll see how he does with a more extended opportunity if Murray has to miss time, but Wentz's reputation as a high-end depth piece is holding true for now.
Jared Goff had himself a very interesting Week 1 performance for the Detroit Lions.
Of course, the primary focus for Lions fans is going to be the touchdown drive Goff engineered in the close win against the New Orleans Saints, where he threw the go-ahead touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown. But the rest of the NFL world is talking about a seemingly obvious fumble that was overturned and had a huge impact on the game's outcome.
Goff was one of the least-pressured quarterbacks in Week 1, but it still didn't feel like he had the best connection with his top receivers. He targeted the trio of St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta a total of 31 times but was only able to connect with them 17 times.
You expect the timing to get figured out because Goff is one of the most accurate QBs in the league, and he's capable of loading up the stat sheet week after week.
There isn't an official statistic to prove it, but Jordan Love's average time to throw against the Minnesota Vikings was roughly the blink of an eye.
The Brian Flores blitz brigade spares nobody.
Despite only being able to complete 50 percent of his throws against the Vikings, Love finished Week 1 with a rather staggering 387 passing yards, a pair of touchdowns, and given the amount of pressure he was under, he played very well.
Even though Love finished the game against the Vikings with an interception and a pair of fumbles, the lion's share of blame for the offensive collapse in the fourth quarter has to go to the offensive line.
There's genuine concern over Love's well-being with the way that offensive line looked against the Vikings.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was one of the league's top breakout stars in the 2025 season, and he picked up right where he left off in Week 1.
Williams is one of the most naturally gifted playmakers at the quarterback position in the entire NFL, but it's been really something to see the marriage of his talent along with the offensive genius of Ben Johnson.
And Packers fans hate it.
Williams completed 72.4 percent of his throws in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, throwing for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also added 65 yards and two touchdowns as a runner as the Bears' offense absolutely gashed Carolina to the tune of 59 points.
One week into the 2026 season, and it's impossible to deny the MVP potential of Williams in the Ben Johnson offense. If he keeps climbing the proverbial ladder, he's going to entrench himself atop not just the NFC North quarterback rankings, but maybe the NFC or NFL as a whole, before too long.
Add us as a preferred source on Google