The NFC North is the strongest division in the NFL, according to Eric Edholm of NFL.com.
Edholm’s rankings were not only on the strength of the contenders in each division, but looked at the competitiveness of the weaker teams. All four NFC North teams have legitimate playoff aspirations.
The Detroit Lions are a serious Super Bowl contender, the Minnesota Vikings won 14 games in 2024, the Green Bay Packers have Jordan Love and won 11 games last time around, and the Chicago Bears are set to be rejuvenated with Ben Johnson at the helm.
The division was widely tipped as the NFL’s strongest in 2024, but the Bears went almost three months without a win after their 4-2 start. Caleb Williams was sacked at a historic rate, forcing Chicago into drastic changes.
Explaining his decision, Edholm wrote, “If Chicago can avoid going nearly three months without a win this coming season, this truly could be the strongest division — pound for pound, one through four.”
He believes the Bears are capable of making a playoff run, though notes they are in a loaded division and have their work cut out.
Daunting Schedules
Teams in the NFC East and AFC North are matched up with the NFC North for intra-conference and interconference games in 2025. If the division proves to be the strongest in the NFL as Edholm expects, this could be very significant from a fantasy perspective.
This becomes a factor to consider when drafting Malik Nabers, Zach Ertz, David Njoku, Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, DK Metcalf, and others.
Top-end talents like Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley, Ja’Marr Chase, and Lamar Jackson are unaffected by four matchups with NFC North opponents. Their schedules don’t stop them being top picks at their respective positions.
It’s the fringy draft assets that are harder to evaluate. No one really knows how Metcalf will fare as a Pittsburgh Steeler with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Andrews could be anywhere from TE5 to TE15. Nabers could be in for some low-scoring weeks if the New York Giants are repeatedly blown out by NFC North opposition. When it comes to drafting defenses, facing four NFC North teams lowers a team’s floor, given the offensive talent in the division.
The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are likely to be below-average defenses. These could be favorable matchups for players like Flowers, Njoku, and Ertz. On the other hand, the Lions and Vikings were in the top seven in points conceded per game last season, and both project to be top-10 defenses in 2025.
