Around the NFC North: 2025 Week 8
Best week ever.
By Mike Price
I'm sure you're still buzzing about the Packers' second-half beatdown of the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers on Sunday, but guess what? The Vikings and Bears sucked this week, too! And we don't have to even think about the Lions who were on bye. Maybe the football gods are real.
Bears
The Bears lost to the Ravens and Tyler Huntley, 30-16.
Game Notes
- Imagine being a Bears fan right now. You seem to have a good head coach and defensive coordinator. The o-line is gelling and for the most part, you're killing it in the run game with a strong defense to boot. But you still suck! The Bears lost by two touchdowns to a 1-5 team quarterbacked by a backup who signed with the team less than two months ago. The can't miss QB you drafted a year ago is struggling to run an offense, while the guy who went next looks like a top-5 QB. It's all gross, for them, great for us.
- Williams was 25/38 for 285 yards and a pick. It was his second straight game with no touchdowns and an interception. The game before that, he threw one TD. In the six games where he didn't get to play the Cowboys' defense, he has five touchdowns and four picks. Not great! He has a great run game supporting him, three first-round picks and two second-round pick catching balls and maybe the best play caller in the league running the offense. And he still looks bad halfway into the season. We're coming up on bust territory here. Though looking at the current NFL QB landscape, would it shock you if Williams was a pro-bowl QB for the Cowboys or Rams five years from now?
- D'Andre Slow was fine in limited touches and Rome Odunze had 114 yards. The weapons are good! Even Colston Loveland has been doing stuff. Although I wouldn't be surprised if DJ Moore was on the trade block.
- The defense sort of fell apart in this one. Tyler Huntley had a very efficient 8.5 yards per attempt and 53 rush yards and Derrick Henry added another 71 yards, though it took 21 carries to do it. Montez Sweat and Gervon Dexter both had sacks.
Vikings
The Vikings were beaten up, 37-10, by the Chargers on Thursday Night.
Game Notes
- The Vikings' situation might be worse than the Bears. They flirted with Aaron Rodgers all off-season and stuck with JJ McCarthy. So there are now three teams with winning records and worse receivers than the Vikings while having a QB the Vikings should have right now: the Steelers with Rodgers, the Seahawks with Sam Darnold, and the Colts with Daniel Jones. Rodgers probably could've been had for a minimum deal this season, and Darnold and Jones were literally on the team last year. Instead, the Vikings are now 3-4, have lost two straight, their starter, Carson Wentz, is out for the year, and the other starter, who they quiet fired, JJ McCarthy, has to come back against the Lions coming off a bye. Three weeks ago, we believed the North was the best division in football and that the Packers could finish in third place. Now, I would be shocked to see the Bears and Vikings end up with winning records.
- Wentz had pretty bad numbers, 15/27 for 144, 1/1, and the Chargers are a great defense, and Wentz only got 74 yards off 11 targets to Justin Jefferson and 26 yards total from Jordan Addison. The Lions' defense has been great this year, too. We'll see what McCarthy can do against them.
- Aaron Jones was leaned on the most for the running game in his first game back, but that only means he had 5 carries for 15 yards.
- The defense couldn't handle the Chargers' run-first mentality, giving up 207 yards on 43 carries. The Chargers also had 212 pass yards, almost perfectly balanced. The Vikings blew their load on pass rush only defensive tackles after having a meh run defense last year and now they can't get a lead against anyone this year. I know we're supposed to hate PFF grades, but the Vikings spent a ton of money on Hargrave and Allen (combined cap hit of over $43mm next year with $28mm dead cap if they're cut) and they're the 96th and 88th-ranked defensive tackles, respectively. Bad! Yikes!
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Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved from Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
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Comments (18)
T7Steve
October 28, 2025 at 10:02 am
"The Lions' defense has been great this year, too. We'll see what McCarthy can do against them."
I didn't know this. I thought the Lions were banged up in their secondary. I hope McCarthy learned to fly while he was "resting" and can take it to them. I do hate these inter-NFCN games because it makes you have to root for one or the other if you care about the outcome of the game.
LambeauPlain
October 28, 2025 at 10:49 am
"I do hate these inter-NFCN games because it makes you have to root for one or the other..."
I have simplified my selection process for inter NFCN games, Steve. For me, every Sunday two teams have to win...the Packers and whoever is playing the Ugly Purple."
I note the recent evidence of another ugly purple decision:
"Rodgers probably could've been had for a minimum deal this season, and Darnold and Jones were literally on the team last year."
That's almost slapstick funny...
T7Steve
October 28, 2025 at 11:09 am
LOL!
I do the same thing. However, wouldn't it hurt the purple more to win and help us while hurting their draft position at the same time?
dobber
October 28, 2025 at 01:45 pm
A couple years ago, the Vikings could've resigned Case Keenum at a below market contract who was a perfect fit for their offense and just had a lights out season...instead, they blew their wad bringing in Kirk Cousins on a fully guaranteed contract that was an albatross around their neck for years.
Fast forward to 2024 where Sam Darnold played lights out for O'Connell for virtually the whole season (fading at the end, but their OL petered out, too) and was a great fit for their offense. Did they learn from their mistake and sign him at what would likely be a below market contract? Nope.
BuckyBadger
October 29, 2025 at 08:31 am
You don't want Case Keenum as your full time starter. Moving on from him was the correct move. Cousins played well for them. They where too quick with Donald but that is what happens when you draft a QB in the 1st round, you aren't going to spend money on a starter when you have that cheap rookie contract.
Bearmeat
October 28, 2025 at 10:04 am
The Bears will always find a way to Bears it up. The Vikings screwed the pooch on the QB and the Lions couldn’t field a good secondary right now if it hit them in the ear. Great weekend indeed.
Coldworld
October 28, 2025 at 11:03 am
The Bears looked better because of who they were playing. Then they played a good, well organized team, albeit one with a back up QB. The result was ugly.
The Vikings are in a mess. They just aren’t good, or at least 80% of them. Now they have a choice of throwing an, in effect, rookie back in the fire or just jumping into it completely. It is a distraction that Jones and Darnold are playing so well. The fact is they probably wouldn’t be if still on that roster.
Is that the coaches? No, I don’t think so. I think the coaches, while not perfect, have done quite a lot with little. Both teams have simply made too many mistakes for too long off the field (pretty much forever in the case of Chicago). Both need new GMs and perhaps owners, who hired them and retained them. I hope they get lifetime contracts, personally.
Doug_In_Sandpoint
October 28, 2025 at 10:19 am
You lost me at, ”Imagine being a Bears fan right now.”
PackOwnerMT
October 28, 2025 at 11:27 am
The Bears Still Suck
Leatherhead
October 28, 2025 at 11:30 am
The Vikings are in last place, and they're going to tighten their grip on that this weekend when they lose, badly, at home in front of their fans, to the Lions. 3-5 at the halfway point. Maybe OConnell is so freakin great that he can win this, or at least make it close, or else he's going to take his second hard pounding in a row. In his 4th season, he's never won a playoff game and I don't think it's going to happen this year.
The Bears have a tough road in the second half of the season: Vikings, Packers, Packers, Lions, 49ers, Steelers, Eagles. Ouch. If they finish the season with a winning record, they'll have earned it.
After our Thanksgiving game, Detroit only has one bad game, at the Rams. The only tough game they have leading up to that game is at the Eagles. They could legitimately finish the season 13-4. Can the Packers finish 13-3-1? We're going to find out.
We have 4 games before Thanksgiving: @Giants, and at home against Philly, Carolina, and Minnesota. Obviously, Philly is the toughest game. If we could win these 4 games, we'd be 9-1-1 on Thanksgiving Day.
Ya_tittle
October 28, 2025 at 11:46 am
I think that Philly game has the potential to be another "statement game" like the first Lions game was and the Steeler game we just saw.
Get ready for it.
bjkdad44
October 29, 2025 at 07:33 am
🤞🏻🙏🏻🤞🏻
dobber
October 28, 2025 at 01:53 pm
"The Bears have a tough road in the second half of the season: Vikings, Packers, Packers, Lions, 49ers, Steelers, Eagles."
With their bad defense, the Bears go to Cinci this weekend and to try to beat Flacco and his really, really, good group of pass-catchers. Cinci's defense is bad, too, but so was Baltimore's and Chicago couldn't do much of anything against it. They lose this week, and then they get a better-than-their-record-indicates Giants team at home. They could conceivably lose out.
Game after game, the Bears are good for about two drives. Otherwise, they need their defense to stake the offense to some gimme points by forcing TOs. They can't keep forcing TOs at the rate they have so far (they were -1 against the Ravens)...and when they don't force TOs, they lose.
bjkdad44
October 29, 2025 at 07:33 am
🤞🏻🙏🏻🤞🏻
Ihappydirt
October 28, 2025 at 04:17 pm
"The can't miss QB you drafted a year ago is struggling to run an offense, while the guy who went next looks like a top-5 QB. It's all gross, for them, great for us."
It's worse than that. The 2nd (Daniels), 3rd (Maye) and 12th (Nix) picked QBs all look better than Williams, and Penix (8th) may be better, too. Maye may be the best of them all, now, especially with Daniels' injury issues.
Leatherhead
October 28, 2025 at 04:40 pm
I think that we're going to see Williams improve. I think you're way better off to let a guy spend a year on the sidelines, in meetings, at practices, in the gym, etc. That's what we did with Rodgers and Love. The Bears would be smart to take some of the load off of Williams and put some better players around him.
How about the 2020 draft, with Burrows, Tua, and Herbert in the Top 6? How many playoff wins in 5 years? Then, of course, Love and then Jalen Hurts, who has had more success than the other 4 put together.
Ihappydirt
October 29, 2025 at 01:15 pm
I agree with letting Williams sit, although I wouldn't have taken him just on personality alone. He wanted the entire team or the offense to get their nails painted with him, among many other quirky things. If you read the Tyler Dunne expose about him, it's kind of incredible. The process of him being picked and his idiosyncrasies, like walking away from upset coaches in the middle of a sentence. Dumbing down their count.
OTOH, da Bears did significantly spend draft capital and FA money on WR, TE, and OL to help him out.
Bitternotsour
October 28, 2025 at 05:37 pm
They could have cashed in on that first pick, still had the 9th and access to Nix, trading the first pick would have netted them a boatload of picks and probably another one in the top ten. HILARIOUS. Not only that, but they could have passed on Ben Johnson, that twit tough-talk head coach and thrown the bag at Vrabel who would have brought discipline and culture into the building. That entire franchise is a walking joke. Maybe they're the punch line.
The Vikings had both Daniel Jones AND Sam Darnold on their roster waiting for contract offers and they chose to go with JJ McCarthy, boy quarterback, who still probably hasn't entered puberty. Someone should be getting fired in that front office, like tomorrow.