NFC North 2025

[formerlybis]

To be honest, I haven’t watched much of the Bears this season. I see that uniform and assume they suck as they have for the better part of multiple decades. They have to earn my respect yet.

 

[El Guapo]

Just for fun I plugged in a bunch of data* into a couple of different AI engines and got the following results:

Wow, nice work. Looking at your runs and Tynimillers' prediction, it probably comes down to a few things:

- do the Packers sweep the Bears or do they split
- can the Packers win on the road at the 10-2 Denver Broncos

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Bears win out

 

[El Guapo]

I added the team records for the remaining schedules:

Current Standings
Bears 9-3
Packers 8-3-1
Detroit 7-5
Vikings 4-8

Bears Remaining Schedule
@ Green Bay 8-3-1
vs Cleveland 3-9
vs Green Bay 8-3-1
@ San Francisco 9-4
vs Detroit 7-5

Packers Remaining Schedule
vs Chicago 9-3
@ Denver 10-2
@ Chicago 9-3
vs Baltimore 6-6
@ Minnesota 4-8

Lions Remaining Schedule
vs Dallas 6-5
@ Los Angeles Rams 9-3
vs Pittsburgh 6-6
@ Minnesota 4-8
@ Chicago 9-3

Vikings Remaining Schedule (who cares?)
vs Washington 3-9
@ Dallas 6-5
@ NY Giants 2-11
vs Detroit 7-5
vs Green Bay 8-3-1

Final Standings & Record??
1st
2nd
3rd
4th

 

[milani]

Bears win out

Hard to bet against them.

 

[Krabs]

I'm just having a hard time believing in the bears. Yes, they are beating the teams they should beat. However, it has been ugly. Sure, they just beat the Eagles, but the Eagles are floundering. Hurts has been playing awful and Barkley isn't the same. I also understand the Packers lost to them, but I feel they should have won. The offense wasn't able to get going. I feel since that time they have gelled much better. The bears are pretty mid on defense and give up a lot of yards on the ground. They have basically lived off of turnovers, which is a hard place to live. That well will dry up. I just feel like the Packers are the better team.

It will be a pretty hard go for the Lions to get back in it to win the North. I do think it is basically the Packers and bears right now. MN is out of it. I feel good about the Packers.

 

[milani]

I'm just having a hard time believing in the bears. Yes, they are beating the teams they should beat. However, it has been ugly. Sure, they just beat the Eagles, but the Eagles are floundering. Hurts has been playing awful and Barkley isn't the same. I also understand the Packers lost to them, but I feel they should have won. The offense wasn't able to get going. I feel since that time they have gelled much better. The bears are pretty mid on defense and give up a lot of yards on the ground. They have basically lived off of turnovers, which is a hard place to live. That well will dry up. I just feel like the Packers are the better team.

It will be a pretty hard go for the Lions to get back in it to win the North. I do think it is basically the Packers and bears right now. MN is out of it. I feel good about the Packers.

Belief does not matter. Lining up and trying to beat them does. And until we do, we should regard this as the toughest test we have had all year. And even if you get by this one you play them in another 2 weeks. Fans should forget the " not as good and not as bad " here. Why? Because this is the oldest rivalry in the NFL. Like the Army-Navy game. You can throw all the scripts out the window. 100 plus years of Bear-Packer football and we know anything can happen.
In 1963 the Packers lost only 2 games, both to the Bears. In 2007, the Packers lost only 3 games, 2 of which were to the Bears. Last season the Bears had us beat twice but for a finger nail. When we beat them two more times then I will say I am not sold.

 

[OldSchool101]

Well said..... but we're a sledge now.

While the Bears are improved over 2024, I’d much rather be playing Chicago this week than The Vikings or Detroit teams from 2024. We’re talking 2 or 3 loss teams who played a bunch of playoff caliber contests.

The only thing that remotely concerns me is Wyatt missing time. Plus we have about 3-4 dynamic players returning but likely not ramped up until our 2nd meeting in 3 weeks. If GB does Win? I think you guys will lose both contests. If you are going to Win imo it’ll have to be at Lambeau in December. Not an easy task even for a playoff caliber opponent.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Meh...... it's not like it's any secret whichever one of our offensive lines runs the ball better and whichever defensive line stops and run better probably gonna win the game.
I put our quarterbacks wide receivers and offensive scheme battle on the same level or there abouts.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I mean, I'm just happy to be battling for first place and come on even in that dark place you don't like to talk about you know you want it to be the Bears you beat for first place over any other team.....
This is the way it should be.

 

[tynimiller]

The obvious keys are apparent to all....basketball last night and two die-hard Bears fans and I talked about the game...the one guy had some hilarious takes on what he thinks has to happen for Bears to get the dub:

- Caleb Williams needs to not suck outside of the final couple possessions...his accuracy is abysmal until late in games.
- Force GB into turnovers and since Love doesn't do that a lot, the Bears need to get a couple Tillman fumble punches to land.
- Our OL needs to triple team Parsons EVERY snap.

Do that and Bears win LOL

The three of us agree it feels like we are heading towards splitting the series this year...but we shall see.

 

[Krabs]

Belief does not matter. Lining up and trying to beat them does. And until we do, we should regard this as the toughest test we have had all year. And even if you get by this one you play them in another 2 weeks. Fans should forget the " not as good and not as bad " here. Why? Because this is the oldest rivalry in the NFL. Like the Army-Navy game. You can throw all the scripts out the window. 100 plus years of Bear-Packer football and we know anything can happen.
In 1963 the Packers lost only 2 games, both to the Bears. In 2007, the Packers lost only 3 games, 2 of which were to the Bears. Last season the Bears had us beat twice but for a finger nail. When we beat them two more times then I will say I am not sold.

I just think a lot of what they have done is smoke and mirrors. They can't keep relying on turnovers from playing bad QBs and bad offenses. Hoping that the other team makes mistakes. I don't think Williams is that good and has been a benefactor of playing bad defenses. We all know they should have more losses than they do. But hey, they got the job done. I'll give them credit for that. Regardless, they sit a top and I don't believe that they Packers are looking past them by any means. Just my two cents on it, which probably only worth one cent due to inflation.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I just think a lot of what they have done is smoke and mirrors. They can't keep relying on turnovers from playing bad QBs and bad offenses. Hoping that the other team makes mistakes. I don't think Williams is that good and has been a benefactor of playing bad defenses. We all know they should have more losses than they do. But hey, they got the job done. I'll give them credit for that. Regardless, they sit a top and I don't believe that they Packers are looking past them by any means. Just my two cents on it, which probably only worth one cent due to inflation.

They said the same thing about the 2006 bears that Devon Hester and the defense and everything was smoking mirrors and it wasn't sustainable and yes, Peyton Manning did beat us in that Super Bowl but I honestly feel if it hadn't rained and Rex Grossman didn't have little woman hands we would've won that game so I just think 270+ yards on the ground against Phillies D line.......that would make me worried

 

[rmontro]

2010, Bears won the division, Packers won the Super Bowl, just saying...

 

[Magooch]

I just think a lot of what they have done is smoke and mirrors. They can't keep relying on turnovers from playing bad QBs and bad offenses. Hoping that the other team makes mistakes. I don't think Williams is that good and has been a benefactor of playing bad defenses. We all know they should have more losses than they do. But hey, they got the job done. I'll give them credit for that. Regardless, they sit a top and I don't believe that they Packers are looking past them by any means. Just my two cents on it, which probably only worth one cent due to inflation.

That's kind of what I'm saying.

I mean, any given Sunday and all that, but I dunno. Even with all the turnovers they've generated...who thinks the Bears defense is better than ours? Would anyone swap defenses? I know I wouldn't. Yes, they're generating more turnovers, but even with more than double the takeaways, our defense is still ultimately allowing less points (roughly 80 less points actually allowed, and about a +40 advantage in expected points contribution)

In fact, for all the talk about how the Bears defense is a turnover-machine... I'd argue that if you're comparing the Packers and Bears it's the offense where the comparison's closer and arguably a greater point of strength in their favor. They've scored more than us and racked up more yards, but to be fair we're about identical in yards per play overall (And we have nearly double the expected points on offense. Our "potential" is much higher).

If anything, it's not that the Bears defense is superior to ours (they're not), or that their offense is head-and-shoulders better (they're not) or that Williams is better than Love (Love is far, far, far ahead)...it's just that the Bears' defense generates more opportunities for their offense and their offense is great at going run heavy and slowing things down.

And I said it before, but they're just a weird team to watch. I've seen just about all of their games this year, and yes, they're improved. But it's still like...for the majority of most of their games this year, they have NOT looked like a good football team. Their defense is not good at preventing opponents from moving the ball consistently, and Caleb is amongst the least-accurate passers in the league (The only guys who are worse are guys like Dillon Gabriel and JJ McCarthy). Overall in spite of having some great weapons their passing game is mediocre. To their credit, they have a really good running game, and a great turnover ratio. Caleb doesn't give the ball away too much (though you could argue that's because when he misses throws they're not catchable by ANYONE. He has the lowest on-target throw percentage in the whole league), but he turns it up late in games. Overall though, just a weird watch. They can look really bad for 55 minutes but keep it close enough to be dangerous and are great at stealing a win in those scenarios.

so, it's very much a game that we "should" win, but you never know. A lot of that stuff goes out the window in rivalry games I reckon.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Wow, nice work. Looking at your runs and Tynimillers' prediction, it probably comes down to a few things:

- do the Packers sweep the Bears or do they split
- can the Packers win on the road at the 10-2 Denver Broncos

I'd be happy with a sweep of the Bears, one game at a time, and another victory over the queens. The Denver game isn't that important in this context, but a W would sure go a long way to securing the bye. Right now that's the Bears, but think it will come down to GB, LAR, and Seahags.

 

[gopkrs]

I'm not concerned about having a bye this year. I actually don't know if home field is an advantage for us. But I do think we should play great football from here on out. So I guess bye and home field here we come.

 

[milani]

I mean, I'm just happy to be battling for first place and come on even in that dark place you don't like to talk about you know you want it to be the Bears you beat for first place over any other team.....
This is the way it should be.

Sometimes a good thing can get a lot better. When they give you an inch, just take a mile. In 2010 the Packers somehow limped into the playoffs on the final day of the season and won the SB as a 6 seed. Stranger things can happen.

 

[rmontro]

Sometimes a good thing can get a lot better. When they give you an inch, just take a mile. In 2010 the Packers somehow limped into the playoffs on the final day of the season and won the SB as a 6 seed. Stranger things can happen.

I was strangely confident that year. We had been to the Super Bowl as the #1 seed and with steady improvement, and I figured we were due to "come out of nowhere" and win it as a wild card. Also, for some strange reason when I heard that the B-52s were playing the halftime show, I heard a voice saying that the Packers were winning the Super Bowl. What the B-52s had to do with it, I have no idea, I've never even had any of their records.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Sometimes a good thing can get a lot better. When they give you an inch, just take a mile. In 2010 the Packers somehow limped into the playoffs on the final day of the season and won the SB as a 6 seed. Stranger things can happen.

Lovie Smith getting us the first overall pic as the interim head coach for Houston.... is what allowed me to forgive him for that day.......

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I was strangely confident that year. We had been to the Super Bowl as the #1 seed and with steady improvement, and I figured we were due to "come out of nowhere" and win it as a wild card. Also, for some strange reason when I heard that the B-52s were playing the halftime show, I heard a voice saying that the Packers were winning the Super Bowl. What the B-52s had to do with it, I have no idea, I've never even had any of their records.

Pass dat my way brah.......

 

[Calebs Revenge]

That's kind of what I'm saying.

I mean, any given Sunday and all that, but I dunno. Even with all the turnovers they've generated...who thinks the Bears defense is better than ours? Would anyone swap defenses? I know I wouldn't. Yes, they're generating more turnovers, but even with more than double the takeaways, our defense is still ultimately allowing less points (roughly 80 less points actually allowed, and about a +40 advantage in expected points contribution)

In fact, for all the talk about how the Bears defense is a turnover-machine... I'd argue that if you're comparing the Packers and Bears it's the offense where the comparison's closer and arguably a greater point of strength in their favor. They've scored more than us and racked up more yards, but to be fair we're about identical in yards per play overall (And we have nearly double the expected points on offense. Our "potential" is much higher).

If anything, it's not that the Bears defense is superior to ours (they're not), or that their offense is head-and-shoulders better (they're not) or that Williams is better than Love (Love is far, far, far ahead)...it's just that the Bears' defense generates more opportunities for their offense and their offense is great at going run heavy and slowing things down.

And I said it before, but they're just a weird team to watch. I've seen just about all of their games this year, and yes, they're improved. But it's still like...for the majority of most of their games this year, they have NOT looked like a good football team. Their defense is not good at preventing opponents from moving the ball consistently, and Caleb is amongst the least-accurate passers in the league (The only guys who are worse are guys like Dillon Gabriel and JJ McCarthy). Overall in spite of having some great weapons their passing game is mediocre. To their credit, they have a really good running game, and a great turnover ratio. Caleb doesn't give the ball away too much (though you could argue that's because when he misses throws they're not catchable by ANYONE. He has the lowest on-target throw percentage in the whole league), but he turns it up late in games. Overall though, just a weird watch. They can look really bad for 55 minutes but keep it close enough to be dangerous and are great at stealing a win in those scenarios.

so, it's very much a game that we "should" win, but you never know. A lot of that stuff goes out the window in rivalry games I reckon.

Sundays gonna hurt.
I'll be here regardless.....but we're gonna run up and down Lambo.
Next year they're gonna talk about how trading for Joe Tunney Was the move of the off-season.
Come on......did you really think it was gonna go on for four decades?!?!?!?
Y'all remember the 60s and 70s right??well, we remember the 90s through today....
Goonies never say "go Pack go"
LoL.
I do love y'all.
But Sunday is "Da Game...part 1"

 

[Heyjoe4]

I mean, I'm just happy to be battling for first place and come on even in that dark place you don't like to talk about you know you want it to be the Bears you beat for first place over any other team.....
This is the way it should be.

Well hell yes CR - this is the biggest game of the season for both teams. I'm just happy it will be at Lambeau. (Although I personally like it better when the Packers beat the queens, a team most Packer fans truly hate. When it comes to the Bears, there is more mutual respect than any fanbase would admit - but it's there.)

And it is going to be mid-winter cold on Sunday. This was always going to come down to the run game, and the cold ensures that.

It's gonna be a great game. I think the Packers D makes the difference against an average Bears D and win 27-20.

I have a these two teams will meet again in the playoffs.

 

[milani]

Well hell yes CR - this is the biggest game of the season for both teams. I'm just happy it will be at Lambeau. (Although I personally like it better when the Packers beat the queens, a team most Packer fans truly hate. When it comes to the Bears, there is more mutual respect than any fanbase would admit - but it's there.)

And it is going to be mid-winter cold on Sunday. This was always going to come down to the run game, and the cold ensures that.

It's gonna be a great game. I think the Packers D makes the difference against an average Bears D and win 27-20.

I have a these two teams will meet again in the playoffs.

The 2010 NFC Championship was played in January with the weather much like this and the turf was not the best. These teams have played many a cold weather game against one another.

 

[Heyjoe4]

The 2010 NFC Championship was played in January with the weather much like this and the turf was not the best. These teams have played many a cold weather game against one another.

That game was played at Soldier Field, right? That was the SB season for the Packers. They started from the lowest seed and put together three road wins, the last in Chicago. Great game. I think Julius Peppers was still a Bear.