Week 10 NFC North Power Rankings and Previews

Here are the latest NFC North power rankings and a look at this week’s matchups, with the Packers on their bye and the Lions visiting the Texans on Sunday night.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) gestures after earning a first down against the Detroit Lions. / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Detroit Lions lead the powerful NFC North and maintained their place atop our division power rankings after beating the Green Bay Packers.

The NFC North is the only division with three teams with at least six wins. It’s also the only division in which every team is at least .500.

Here are this week’s NFC North power rankings and looks at those games, including the Lions facing another big test at the Houston Texans.

On SI NFC North Rankings

As selected by the On SI team publishers: Bill Huber from Green Bay, John Maakaron from Detroit, Gene Chamberlain from Chicago and Joe Nelson from Minnesota.

1. Detroit Lions: The Lions are the favorites to reach the Super Bowl in the conference and are the new No. 1 team in Packers On SI’s Consensus NFL Power Rankings.

2. Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings received three of the four second-place votes after being tied for second last week. They are No. 5 in the On SI NFL Power Rankings.

3. Green Bay Packers: Green Bay received one second place votes and three third-place votes after losing 24-10 to Detroit.

4. Chicago Bears: Chicago once again received all the fourth-place votes. Its four wins have come against teams with 10 victories. The Bears are 4-0 at home – they will host the Packers next week – and 0-4 on the road.

Bill Huber’s NFC North Rankings

1. Detroit Lions: Detroit has won six in a row and has the NFC’s best record at 7-1. It’s 4-0 on the road. If Jordan Love were playing anywhere close to the level of Jared Goff, the Packers probably would be 8-1 and on the way to the No. 1 seed.

2. Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings are 6-2. What will their record be by the end of the night of Dec. 16? Their next six games are at the Jaguars (without Trevor Lawrence), Titans (their two wins are against two-win teams) and Bears (winless on the road) and against the Cardinals, Falcons and Bears at home.

3. Green Bay Packers: It blows my mind that the Packers are 20th on third down and 29th in the red zone with Jordan Love and young playmakers everywhere on offense. Unless we’re all guilty of overrating those playmakers.

4. Chicago Bears: What would the Bears do for an encore after Tyrique Stevenson and Co. lost on a Hail Mary at Washington? They lost 29-9 at Arizona with receiver D.J. Moore walking off the field in the middle of a play.

Best team in the NFL: Detroit Lions. The Lions addressed their one and only weakness by acquiring former Packers star Za’Darius Smith. They pretty easily could finish 15-2.

Worst team in the NFL: New Orleans Saints. New Orleans won its first two games by 37 and 25 points but has lost seven in a row. Given the Saints’ salary-cap problems, they are going to be bad for quite a while.

NFC North Week 10 Games

As written by our NFC North team publishers.

Green Bay Packers

Bye

Midseason Evaluation: It’s amazing how a bad performance can skew things. Green Bay is 6-3 and on its way to returning to the playoffs. But a 24-14 loss to Detroit in which the Packers utterly failed to handle the elements and repeatedly shot themselves in the foot was a kick in the gut for a team that’s supposed to be a Super Bowl contender. Unless Jordan Love stops throwing stupid interceptions and the Packers find a red-zone offense and a pass rush, this looks like a one-and-done playoff team.

Key to Victory in Week 10: The Packers are off this week but the keys for the rest of the season are obvious. Last year, after a 3-6 start, the Packers went 6-2 down the stretch to get into the playoffs, then crushed the Cowboys in the wild-card round. What, if anything, can be taken away from that experience to build off this year’s 6-3 start? As coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday: “I think a lot of it just started with our approach to practice, how much competition we had in practice. I thought it made practices have more energy and I thought it reflected in our play, quite frankly.”

Detroit Lions

At Houston Texans (7:20 p.m. Sunday)

Midseason Evaluation: The Lions are Super Bowl contenders. On a six-game winning streak, the Lions have proven to have very few holes. Their biggest weakness, pass rush, was addressed at the trade deadline with the addition of Za'Darius Smith. Now, the responsibility falls on the Lions to ultimately make good on the situation they've created and continue building momentum.

Key to Victory in Week 10: Win the turnover battle. This strategy has proven to be golden for the Lions across their winning streak. With quarterback Jared Goff avoiding interceptions and the defense creating them, the Lions have created fortuitous situations for themselves across the last several weeks. This formula should remain key against the Texans in the primetime showdown.

Chicago Bears

Vs. New England Patriots (noon Sunday)

Midseason Evaluation: The Bears appear to have squandered an opportunity to compete in the second half of the season in the NFC North by failing to beat the Colts, Commanders and Cardinals on the road. They have the NFL's toughest remaining schedule based on winning percentage and really needed to be 6-2 or 5-3 at this point to have a realistic playoff chance. Matt Eberflus' 3-18 record in road games is dragging them down, and no team with this deficiency can be considered a contender for anything other than coaching regime change, even if they have won nine straight as the home team.


Key to Victory in Week 10: Two basics of football can put the Bears back above .500. They need to run it and stop the run. Stopping Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson is a real problem with defensive tackle Andrew Billings out for the season with a torn pectoral, especially after they allowed Arizona 213 rushing yards last week. Running it themselves has been hit or miss all year and their offensive line could be missing tackle Darnell Wright, but running it can allow Caleb Williams to execute play-action passes and avoid being a tackling dummy again.

Minnesota Vikings

At Jacksonville Jaguars (noon Sunday)

Midseason Evaluation: The vibes are very positive. The Vikings are 6-2 and hitting the road for three consecutive games against the Jaguars, Titans and Bears. They could be 9-2 headed into December, which should keep them in contention not only in the NFC North but also for the top seed in the conference. Blake Cashman is going to return from a toe sprain. So long as Sam Darnold doesn't throw games away, the future is bright. 

Key to Victory in Week 10: Honestly, it's all about Darnold not throwing the game away. If he takes what the defense gives him and doesn't force footballs into coverage, like he did last week against the Colts, he's destined to have a monster game against a Jags defense that is one of the worst against the pass in the NFL. Jacksonville is banged up and, if quarterback Trevor Lawrence doesn't play, it'll be Mac Jones. That should make Brian Flores and the Vikings defense drool. 

More Green Bay Packers News 

I've got the #Packers finishing 12-5 (and here's how I got there). What's your prediction? https://t.co/hZZd2e5r1W

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 8, 2024

Predicting every game on rest of Packers’ schedule | How good are Packers after the bye? | Packers midseason awards | Wild half-season at QB for Packers | Updating the NFC playoff picture | Where’s the pass rush? | Edgerrin Cooper among midseason All-Rookie picks | Winners and losers for Packers at NFL trade deadline | On SI NFL power rankings | Packers trade Preston Smith | Packers at the NFL trade deadline | Consensus NFL power rankings | Dontayvion Wicks’ historically bad numbers