SI:AM | NFC North Is Off to a Historically Great Start

It’s easily the best division in football.

Detroit crushed Dallas on Sunday, 47–9. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

In today’s SI:AM:

🦁 Lions flex their muscles
🦅 Sirianni’s sideline antics
⭕ Ohio State’s Playoff chances

Who will come out on top?

Six weeks into the NFL season, there’s no doubt about the best division in the league. In fact, the NFC North has been better to this point in the season than any division in the past two decades.

The Minnesota Vikings are in first place at 5–0, followed by the Detroit Lions at 4–1 and the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears at 4–2. That makes the NFC North the first division since the NFL adopted the current four-team division format in 2002 to have every team win at least four games through the first six weeks of the season.

As impressive as that stat is, it might not be the most compelling illustration of how strong the division has been. NFC North teams haven’t just been winning games—they’ve been winning them convincingly. The top four teams in the NFL in point differential are all NFC North teams: the Vikings (+63), Lions (+60), Bears (+47) and Packers (+41). No other division has more than one team ranked in the top 10 in point differential.

The biggest reason why all four teams in the division have won as many games as they have is that there has only been one intra-division matchup this season: a 31–29 Vikings win over the Packers in Week 4. The Lions and Bears have yet to play a division game. But while they haven’t been playing each other, the division’s teams have been able to prove their mettle against the rest of the league.

The most dominant performance this season by an NFC North team came on Sunday when the Lions smacked the Dallas Cowboys, 47–9. It was the Cowboys’ worst home loss since November 1988, three months before Jerry Jones bought the team. Detroit had its way on offense, scoring on its first nine possessions of the game (excluding a kneel-down at the end of the first half), and bottled up the Cowboys defensively, allowing just 3.9 yards per play.

It was exactly the kind of well-rounded performance that has shown that the Lions should be one of the favorites in the NFC. And it sets the stage for a showdown next week in Minnesota between reigning division champion Detroit and the upstart Vikings. It’s a game fans have had circled on their calendars for a few weeks now, and it just got a little more interesting after the Lions lost star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson to a broken leg in Sunday’s game. Next weekend’s game will be an opportunity to see how Detroit’s defense responds to losing its best player.

The Packers also have a big game looming next weekend: a home date with the 5–1 Houston Texans. Green Bay has lost two games this season: the season-opener in Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles when quarterback Jordan Love hurt his ankle and a tight one against the Vikings. But the Packers’ four wins have come against teams with a combined record of 7–15. A win against Houston would say a lot about how seriously to take the Packers.

The Bears have a bye next week, followed by a fascinating matchup against the Washington Commanders that will pit the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, Chicago’s Caleb Williams, against the No. 2 pick, Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels. The Bears have beat up on two of the NFL’s worst teams the past two weeks (the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars) but have a very difficult schedule down the stretch. After the Washington game, Chicago has two games against bottom-dwellers (the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots) before finally playing its first division game in Week 11 against the Packers. That begins a stretch of six division games in eight weeks to close the season, with a road game against the San Francisco 49ers and a Thursday night game against the Seattle Seahawks mixed in. It’s a challenging series of games that will make or break the Bears’ season.

Under the NFL’s current 14-team playoff format that was implemented in the 2020 season, it is possible for all four teams in a division to qualify for the playoffs, although it hasn’t happened yet. With the NFC North’s hot start, it’s possible that this could be the year.

How will Oregon’s win over Ohio State impact the College Football Playoff picture? / Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Albert Breer led his Week 6 takeaways with—who else—the Lions, writing that they “absolutely smothered” the Cowboys.

• Eagles coach Nick Siranni turned heads with his behavior as Philadelphia eked out a close win over the Browns. Conor Orr writes that Sirianni is just being himself, for better or worse.

• Nick Selbe broke down the Dodgers’ win over the Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS.

• The Mets will turn to Sean Manaea to turn things around in Game 2. Tom Verducci has more on how Manaea will be pitching with a heavy heart following the death of his aunt.

• Pat Forde thinks Ohio State is still in prime position to make the College Football Playoff, but Saturday’s loss to Oregon showed why the Buckeyes’ season is on the brink.

• Here is Clare Brennan’s game story from Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, where the Liberty bounced back to even the series.

The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Joe Burrow’s 47-yard touchdown run.
4. The Jets’ gutsy decision to pull the goalie in the first period, leading to a game-tying goal.
3. KaVontae Turpin’s equally gutsy decision to return a kickoff from nine yards deep in the end zone. He sliced through the Lions’ coverage team for a 79-yard return. It was the best play the Cowboys made all day.
2. Courtland Sutton’s one-handed touchdown catch.
1.The Lions’ tricky flea flicker for a 52-yard touchdown.