If you go strictly by statistics, this was the best division in the league in 2024. If you go by what has happened the last few weeks to the three teams from the NFC North that reached the playoffs, you would be scratching your head to figure out how each of these clubs amassed such impressive win-loss records.
A rough postseason showing for the NFC North
The Detroit Lions finished 15-2, tied for the best record in the league while setting a franchise for wins in a season. Dan Campbell’s club wrapped up the top playoff seed in the conference by defeating the Vikings, 31-9, in the NFL’s Sunday night finale. The Men from Motown totaled an NFL-high 564 points, the fourth-highest single-season total in league annals, and their scoring differential was a gaudy plus-222. The Lions’ defense had some warts, but was also plagued by injuries late in the year.
The Minnesota Vikings doubled their win total from 2023, although their 14-3 mark was only good enough to claim a wild-card berth behind the Lions. Sam Darnold enjoyed a career year in his first season with the club, and the Purple Gang tied for the league lead with 33 takeaways.
The 11-6 Green Bay Packers made a two-win improvement from their 9-8 playoff showing in 2023, making progress on defense. Quarterback Jordan Love didn’t really recapture that late-season form of ’23, but the arrival of running back Josh Jacobs for a huge plus.
Three playoff-bound teams with a combined 40-11 regular-season record. However, before you could spit out the words “NFC title game,” all three were sent home in a seven-day span.
What went wrong?
Three losses by a combined 94-50 score. All three setback by 12 or more points. One of the winning formulas for all three of these teams was limiting mistakes, and forcing turnovers. Green Bay and Minnesota were a combined plus-12 in turnover differential, and the Lions weren’t too far behind those two rivals at plus-9.
In their losses to Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Washington, the Packers (4), Vikings (2) and Lions (5) combined to give up the football 11 times. However, there were zero takeaways by the three losing teams. Meanwhile, Darnold and Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff had turnovers returned for touchdowns.
You could point to other factors as well. Regardless, it was an inexplicable postseason showing for a trio of teams that all had more highlights than down moments in 2024.