Four NFC North Teams Chasing History … and One Fun Coincidence

The NFL has never seen an entire division qualify for the playoffs, but we can look back to previous eras for groups that stack up to the best division in football.

Packers-Vikings in Week 4 is one of relatively few division games we have seen within the NFC North so far this season. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This NFL season, one division is looking to create history. It’s also looking to repeat its own. 

Since the NFL realigned the divisions in 2002, going from six to eight, an entire division has never qualified for the postseason. Until the league expanded its playoff format to seven teams per conference in ’21, it was impossible.

But with the latest format, there’s a world where an entire gaggle can get into the postseason. And this year, the NFC North might do it. 

Entering Week 8, the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are all in playoff spots. Detroit is the top seed in the NFC, while the other three, in the aforementioned order, hold wild-card spots. 

Should this hold, the NFC North would be the first division in NFL history to get all of its members to the playoffs. But it wouldn’t be the first time we saw a division send four of its teams. 

In 1994, back when the league had 30 teams, most divisions had five teams and six clubs from each conference made the postseason, the NFC Central turned the trick. Amazingly, it was the same four teams currently in position this year. The 10–6 Vikings won the Central and earned the third seed, with the other three teams qualifying as wild cards at 9–7. The No. 4 seed Packers beat the Lions on wild-card weekend, while the No. 6 seed Bears pulled an upset in Minnesota. The only NFC Central team that missed the playoffs was the 6–10 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (yes, kids, the Bucs were in the Central). 

In the end, none made it to the NFC title game, with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers knocking off the Packers and Bears, respectively, in the divisional round. 

But this isn’t the only time we’ve seen this division do this. Three years later, in 1997, the NFC Central once again put forth four teams. This time, it was the Packers winning the division with the Vikings, Lions and Buccaneers going to the playoffs. Green Bay ended up in the Super Bowl, losing in an upset to John Elway’s Denver Broncos. 

Finally, the only other division to ever have four teams qualify? The 1998 AFC East. That season, the New York Jets earned a bye as division champions while the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots earned wild-card slots. New York got to the AFC title game but lost to Denver, which eventually went on to win a second consecutive Super Bowl. 

When the reborn Cleveland Browns became the NFL’s 31st team in 1999, the league stuck with its six divisions. But with the Houston Texans joining the league in 2002, the NFL went to eight divisions with an even four teams apiece. At that time, with only six playoff slots per conference, along with the requirement of every division winner qualifying for the postseason, it became mathematically impossible for four teams in one division to qualify.

Now, a division must take up all three of its conference’s wild-card berths, something the NFC North is amazingly on track to do. 

But will it? The odds are stacked against the foursome.

There are still 10 games featuring two NFC North teams against each other on the schedule, with the Bears yet to play any of theirs. Obviously, barring an unlikely tie, that will add five losses to the group, while other playoff contenders such as the Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, Buccaneers and 49ers can gain ground. 

According to The Athletic’s NFL playoff projection model, the Lions have the best odds within the division at 92%. The Vikings are close behind at 87% with the Packers at a robust 70%. However, the Bears are only at 39%, sitting eighth in NFC percentages.

In Week 8, expect the NFC North to get stronger. On Thursday night, Minnesota is laying 3.5 points against the Los Angeles Rams. Detroit is an 11-point favorite over the Tennessee Titans. In Jacksonville, Green Bay is a 4.5-point favorite over the Jaguars, while the Bears are three-point favorites against the Washington Commanders, who might be without rookie sensation Jayden Daniels due to a rib injury. 

There’s more than a half season ahead. Plenty can happen. The NFC North will need to continue collectively playing great football. It will also need some luck from outside the division, with certain results breaking right.  However, playing the NFC West and AFC South divisions won’t hurt, with only one of the eight teams more than a game over .500.

But through seven weeks, the NFC North is in a historic position—though a position its participants have been in before.