5 Burning Questions Facing the NFC North
Can the Lions fend off the Injury Bug, and loaded rosters being built around young quarterbacks in the NFL's most competitive division?
There is little doubt that the NFC North was the most competitive division in football last season.
Sending three teams to the playoffs, heralded by the Detroit Lions’ 15-2 finish to the regular season, before the wheels careened off thanks to the roster succumbing to an insurmountable set of injuries, this division is loaded with talent and teams ready to take their best shot at the champion.
Here’s a look at five burning questions facing the NFC North, continuing our series breaking down where things stand within each division, ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
1. Can Culture Overcome Attrition and Turnover in Detroit?
No one is doubting, for even half a second, the talent across the roster that general manager Brad Holmes has built or the culture that is the envy of the league that Dan Campbell has established with the Lions.
The injury bug, though, would like several words.
Detroit was cruising last fall, the team to beat in the NFC, the No. 1 seed with Ford Field expected to be rocking for two playoff games. And then, the Lions’ second string defense pressed into action by myriad injuries to their brightest stars was sucker-punched by Jayden Daniels and the upstart Commanders in the Divisional Playoffs.
It’s tough to stop an oncoming express train, even tougher when upwards of 20 players land on injured reserve. The list of Lions players who missed significant time reads like a list of Pro Bowl selections and alternates.
Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, David Montgomery, Kyle Pecko, Marcus Davenport, Mekhi Wingo, Carlton Davis, Ennis Rakestraw, Kalif Raymond, just to name a handful.
Already this summer, rookie safety Dan Jackson’s season is over after landing on injured reserve, and Rakestraw is among the injured from a grueling start to Lions camp. Terrion Arnold and Dan Skipper both have missed significant practice time, as well.
How well the Lions are able to fend off another historic outbreak of injuries while also breaking in two new coordinators will become the defining questions of Detroit’s season.
The talent at the top of this roster is built to challenge for a Super Bowl, and Detroit should be considered a heavy favorite to challenge Philadelphia out of the NFC.
But, the Lions’ chances of marauding their way to Santa Clara come February may hinge on who’s actually on the field September through January.
2. Can the Packers Piecemeal a Pass Rush?
General manager Brian Gutekunst and the Packers have done a masterful job of building a young and ascending offense around 26-year-old quarterback Jordan Love, who they have already secured with a long-term contract, in hopes that the quarterback and offense’s development carry them into a lengthy Super Bowl window.
There’s a problem.
Green Bay’s pass rush, one of the most vital positions for success across a roster seems to be held together by hope, prayers, and optimism that homegrown talent makes a major leap.
Lukas Van Ness looks nothing like even the shell of a top-15 NFL Draft choice, posting seven sacks through his first three seasons.
Meanwhile, boots on the ground reporting suggest Rashan Gary is primed to make a leap, but the 27-year-old has only touched 9.5 sacks once, back in 2021.
Only seven teams had a worse pressure rate than the Packers’ 27.4 percent, which feels suboptimal with Green Bay housed in a division that features explosive offenses in Detroit, Minnesota, a rapidly improving group in Chicago, and with sights set on dethroning the Eagles.
So, it becomes fair to wonder if defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley can manufacture a pass rush. Hafley can always draw up unique blitz packages and create personnel mismatches by deploying the likes of ascending playmaking linebacker Edgerrin Cooper or veteran Isaiah Simmons as heat-seeking missiles at opposing quarterbacks and if even that will be enough to generate the kind of pressure necessary to prop up a secondary in its own state of flux.
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This is my favorite time of year.
3. Is J.J. McCarthy a Franchise Quarterback?
The Minnesota Vikings watched as Sam Darnold’s Cinderella Carriage turned to a blitz-induced pumpkin in Week 18 and in an NFC Wild Card loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and proceeded to toss the keys to the offense to J.J. McCarthy off a right knee injury that ended his rookie preseason.
Kevin O’Connell’s system is as quarterback friendly as there is at any level of the sport, and the Vikings’ offense is a turnkey operation with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Aaron Jones, and newcomer Jordan Mason buttressing a young quarterback, but even the Vikings’ quarterback caccoon can’t hide McCarthy if he isn’t ready to be the guy.
There have been videos of plenty of throws from McCarthy this summer where his timing is impeccable, with the ball getting out of his hands and hitting a spot before his receiver even makes his break at the top of the route, turning into big completions. That’s all well and good, but how will McCarthy fare when the game speed gets cranked up to 11 in September?
McCarthy is undoubtedly going to benefit from going up against Brian Flores’ blitzkrieg carnival of a defense every single day in practice, having to diagnose complex pressure passes and throwing against an elite secondary.
This is all a learning curve for a quarterback whose stock surged into the top of the first round ahead of last spring’s draft because of his acumen and how he handled pre-draft meetings with coaching staffs and diagnosing plays on the video board.
If McCarthy is even replacement-level Darnold, the Vikings are going to be one of the toughest outs in the NFC because of the defense and the explosive potential of their pass catchers. Minnesota is betting its future and its chances in 2025 on McCarthy being much, much more. We’ll find out pretty quickly if he’s up to task.
4. Can Caleb Williams be The Guy?
It’s almost unfair to draw any real evaluations or conclusions about Caleb Williams from the former Heisman Trophy-winning No. 1 overall pick’s rookie season.
After all, Williams had to withstand two subpar playcallers, and his former head coach was fired on Black Friday after having to toss his final timeout into the TSA bin before boarding the Bears’ chartered flight from Detroit back to Chicago despite the Bears’ offense’s furious comeback into position for a game-tying field goal try that never was.
Even before the disastrous final 60 seconds at Ford Field, there were momentary glimpses where Williams flashed the upside the Bears saw when they chose him first overall, especially in a victory over the Jaguars where the game seemed to slow down for him and his timing finally seemed to get right with Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze.
But, Williams’ 3,541 yards with 20 touchdowns to six interceptions felt like just scratching the surface, bordering on Herculean efforts given the turmoil lurking around every corner throughout the season.
Anyway, the clock starts now on Williams.
That’s just the reality when general manager Ryan Poles and the Bears land the most coveted quarterback whisperer of the past two hiring cycles, new head coach Ben Johnson, and surround Williams with the likes of rookie pass catchers Colston Loveland and Luther Burden early in the draft after fortifying the offensive line by adding All-Pro Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, and top free agent center Drew Dalman.
No excuses, now.
There is a legitimate reason to be optimistic that the Bears surge from worst to the postseason, because of Williams’ traits now being complemented by a system, scheme, coach, and supporting cast built to accelerate his development. Whether Williams makes the leap is going to determine Chicago’s ceiling in 2025 and the franchise’s outlook well into the future.
5. Will the Detroit Lions’ Reign Continue?
The three teams vying to unseat Detroit are approaching this mission with three wildly different blueprints.
In Green Bay, it’s a bet that young players develop into superstars in the immediate future and that the defense builds on some momentum sparked by Hafley’s and All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney’s arrival in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Vikings hope to strangle the life out of opponents both relieving the pressure on its young quarterback and as some sort of testament that a 1980s brand of football can still barnstorm its way to a championship.
Finally, Chicago’s nearly complete organizational makeover has —at least on paper, forged a roster that has talent sprinkled across the entire roster, with one of the brightest play-callers leading the offense and some unheralded defensive talent primed to make a big leap.
This brings us to the biggest storyline of all in the NFC North in 2025; will any of these blueprints prove capable of decimating Detroit, which seems forged by iron and steel in the image of its head coach, its city, and elite homegrown talent collected over the past handful of draft classes?
If Detroit stays healthy, there’s little reason to believe the Lions won’t be in the mix, but just how close any of these teams are to biting the defending champion’s kneecaps and pulling off their own Washington stunner not only remains to be seen but will be a compelling storyline to watch across the league in 2025.
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At Packer training camp a week ago I sat by the defensive line drill area. Gary is ripped. Barryn Sorrell looks interesting. Van Ness looks like a big tight end. The pass rush specialists like Engabare (SP?) and Colliers are undersized guys. I don't see a big leap from Van Ness.
Can Caleb Williams conquer the pocket? He took a ton of sacks at USC and last year in Chicago. That strongly suggests a lack of pocket presence and that could derail the season for the Bears.
Interestingly, the shiny happy Vikings people are expressing their JJ doubts now on YouTube channels. Rumors of JJ's struggles and errant throws are dimming the early season glow. I watched the tape of McCarthy's pre-draft throwing sessions and wasn't that impressed. Sam Darnold had the benefit of a half-dozen years in the league before throwing to Jefferson and Addison. JJ is coming in cold. Growing pains will be had.
Editor notes: Piecemeal, not peacemeal. Also, glad to see you only used the word elite twice. Based on previous articles I was under the impression you fell that about 30-40% of NFL players are elite.