Around the NFC North: 2025 Week 4
Why do good things happen to bad people?
By Mike Price
This isn't how it was supposed to happen. The Lions are good again for sure. The Bears are winning games???? The Packers tied. At least the Vikings are bad. Let's get it.
Lions
The Lions beat the Browns 34-10.
Game Notes
- Let's get it over with. We'll start with some explaining. The Lions aren't that much better than the Browns, who just beat the Packers last week. They only had 277 total yards on offense; 28 more than the Browns. Jared Goff's QB rating, yards, YPA, completion percentage and long pass were all worse than Jordan Love's were in week 3. So what were the differences?
- Starting with the QBs, it was sacks taken. Love took five sacks (he took 14 in all of 2024, the best number in the league) and Jared Goof took none. The Browns had 15 total pressures against the Lions and 22 against the Packers, on fewer dropbacks. The run game was better for the Lions. Both teams forced about 30 carries and neither team averaged over 4 YPC, but the Lions got 30 more yards than the Packers. No sacks and an extra yard per carry mean something: the Lions' o-line is substantially better than the Packers'. Ugh.
- The Lions also got a return TD from special teams and forced three turnovers from the Browns' offense. The turnovers will come for the Packers' defense but it's more likely that Bisaccia himself starts returning punts than the Packers will have a return TD this season.
Bears
The Bears held off the Raiders 25-24.
Game Notes
- Things are looking up for Ben Johnson who spent a weird amount of time creepily looking down at sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwalla when she asked an innocuous question at halftime.
- It wasn't an especially exciting game for Caleb Williams, who had 212 yards and one touchdown and one interception on 37 attempts, while D'Andre Slow wh had just 38 yards on 14 attempts. Like the Lions, the Bears won because of forced turnovers and special teams.
- The Raiders, who had almost 100 more yards than the Lions, had four total turnovers in the game, three picks and a fumble. Two of the picks came from veteran safety Kevin Byard and one from Tyrique Stevenson. It may not surprise you to learn that Al Harris is coaching the Bears secondary, which is playing better than ever despite some bad injuries.
- The turnovers allowed the Bears to withstand a breakout game from rookie RB Ashton Jeanty, who had 155 total yards and three tuds.
Vikings
The Vikings luck ran out in a 24-21 loss to the Steelers.
Game Notes
- The Vikings, who will stay in Great Britain after this game to play another international game next week, almost came back against Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. Rodgers was 18/22 for 200 yards and, most notably, an 80-yard TD to DK Metcalf. He did just enough. Carson Wentz, former savior, was 30/46 for 350 yards with two TDs and two picks and, coincidentally, an 80-yard pass of his own, to Jordan Addison.
- The Vikings moved the ball well enough through the air, Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson both had over 110 yards, but they couldn't get anything going on the ground in the second game without Aaron Jones. Jordan Mason had 57 yards on 16 carries.
- The weakness of Flores' defense, at times, has been teams with veteran QBs who can stand in against the blitz and complete passes when it matters while leaning on the run game. That's exactly what the Steelers did here—averaging 4.5 YPC for over 100 yards rushing and moving the chains with the pass when necessary. Have to think the Packers could do this too.
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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 (42)
Lphill
September 30, 2025 at 10:09 am
Packers lead the NFL in false starts and third in offensive holding , better get this fixed .only the Packers seem to think an offensive lineman can play anywhere .
splitpea1
September 30, 2025 at 10:25 am
.
splitpea1
September 30, 2025 at 10:25 am
"The Lions aren't that much better than the Browns...." Preceded by a lopsided score and followed by a couple of bullet points as to why they are indeed much better than the Browns. ???
Bears: Johnson handled the pushy sideline reporter just fine. I don't know what the big deal was. Coaches are fired up coming out after halftime, and really shouldn't be expected to give more than cursory responses in these situations.
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 10:55 am
Did you watch that game? It was close. The Lions just got the breaks we couldn’t force. Turnovers and Special Teams gaffes by the Browns instead of by themselves. That was the difference. It was a close game in the 4th quarter. Plus it was in Detroit.
splitpea1
September 30, 2025 at 11:18 am
34-10 is not close. The Lions led 20-10 after three quarters, so that's not an upset in the making, either. The Lions 'got the breaks" because they earned them with a long TD punt return and a strip sack in the fourth quarter to increase their lead. So I'm lost at whatever point you were trying to make.
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 01:48 pm
Yeah and 10-3 with 3 mins left and the ball isn’t an upset brewing either. Then DET got the breaks we didn’t. And then they ran up the score because they’re a bunch of dBags.
Sorry. Not impressed.
splitpea1
September 30, 2025 at 03:02 pm
Likewise...I'm never impressed with you and your usual childish homer comments. You act as through the football gods were handing out "breaks" instead of one team making the plays. Go back to playing your trombone or whatever it is you do and clean the confetti out between your ears.
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 03:27 pm
LOL!
Ms Split Pea: This is a Packer site. If you want to attack the Packers, and praise the Lions, go to Pride of Detroit. They’re all about running up the score late in games to make themselves look good in some kind of twisted BCS style point race.
More to the point. Your response, in just three sentence fragments, contains an ad hominem, a red herring and a post hoc ergo prompter hoc fallacy. Impressive (fallacious) reasoning indeed!
Normally, I’d give someone I’m discussing things with a few reasons why I believe I am correct, while being open to learning more myself. But in this case, it’s pretty clear you don’t want to learn. You want to make yourself look smart…. You’ve now made Bearmeat’s “scroll on by” permanent/personal block list. Not because of your thoughts about football, but because you can’t take someone disagreeing with you impersonally.
Yes. You are being called… an AHole.
SO: You’re doing great and I’m confident you’ll continue to be a VERY smart fan! Have a great life! 🤔 😂
splitpea1
September 30, 2025 at 03:42 pm
Learn from you? What, how to be a pathetic little pussy and be as unobjective as humanly possible ? Where in these posts did I ever say a bad thing about the Packers? Look at the script. You're just making stuff up there, homer boy. The only thing "open" about you is the vast empty space between your ears. GFY.
Bearmeat
October 01, 2025 at 05:01 am
Hey CHTV:
This is a perfect example of what a block button is for. SP is way out of line and clearly delves into personal attacks on my mental acuity and career. If it were up to me, it would be a ban. But at the very least. Please consider a personal block button.
This person doesn’t deserve my time or thought. And people like this make others want to come here less
splitpea1
October 01, 2025 at 05:40 pm
You're nothing more than a whining little schoolgirl. Whine about Taryn. Dump on Taysom Hill because he found success with another team, Pout about the Super Bowl match-up because one of the teams beat the Packers. And you're equally "out of line" for calling me an unpleasant name--first.
Poor little Bearmeat, the only poster who has ever had detractors. Good luck to you. Maybe Teacher will help protect you in these trying times....
Bearmeat
October 02, 2025 at 01:27 am
Or perhaps something will happen that will force you to grow up or find a different platform. It’s sad, really. Attacking people who disagree with you shows a real lack of intelligence and maturity.
For an old person, you sure do need to grow up. I imagine either you or the people around you are often quite miserable with your life.
I feel bad for you, honestly.
Starrbrite
September 30, 2025 at 02:23 pm
Split—absolutely right re the sideline reporters. Their questions are nearly always stupid and the coaches answers are always the same drivel.
dblbogey
September 30, 2025 at 02:48 pm
Women sports reporters need jobs too. Yea, the halftime interview thingies are pointless and I bet the coaches hate it.
Packerlifer
September 30, 2025 at 10:39 am
The Lions played the Browns in Detroit and had the benefit of game film from their Green Bay game. Yeah, they're better than Cleveland. The Packers are, too, but they beat themselves in that game.
Cheezehead72
September 30, 2025 at 11:48 am
The Packers are not better than the Browns because they lost to the Browns. You are only as good as you play.
Coldworld
September 30, 2025 at 10:53 am
The Raiders aren’t good. The Vikings aren’t either and Detroit’s OL is better than ours but primarily because our beaten up one was ill thought out and prepared and was execrable. The Lions protected Goff and still struggled.
The Lions aren’t a bad team by any means and Goff with time is a proven commodity, yet struggled to out do Loves performance under pressure. So in a sense we just saw what we already knew being proved. Our OL and its coaching cost is the Browns Game.
Overall, one could take those results as largely positive indicators of respective merits. If beating the raiders, just, is the yardstick for improvement then it’s probably not worth measuring.
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 10:57 am
Yeah. It is looking like our OL was ill thought out. But there is time yet. Titles aren’t won in September. Gute’s free agent pickups look bad right now. But again, there is time. And he has had a good track record.
In theory, it should work. In practice, largely because of health? Not so much yet.
LambeauPlain
September 30, 2025 at 11:32 am
And 2 of 4 games weren't won in September.
With the tie, the Packers are showing what a .500 team can look like.
Were the first two weeks a mirage for 2025 Glory or the last two weeks a harbinger of deep fault lines?
NFLfan
September 30, 2025 at 11:17 am
I'm a woman so I'm giving myself permission to say the following: The only field reporters (men or women) who should be interviewing coaches at half-time should be knowledgeable, possess gravitas and understand the stress of the moment for coaches.
There is currently too much focus on inclusion or female sexiness. It is a superficial and clumsy attempt to virtue signal political correctness by including women in pivotal media roles-many of them unimpressive.
So many of the women on football shows are lacking basic football knowledge. The screechy voice of Molly Qerim is off-putting. There are too many female' hosts' who look more like Escorts, etc. I blame media execs for trotting out these uninformed women.There are plenty of knowledgeable, properly-dressed women who understand the stress of the moment @ half-time and ask interesting, brief questions. I do not blame Johnson-he was likely scolded by some dumb media guy.
Starrbrite
September 30, 2025 at 02:26 pm
Superficial—good word!
dblbogey
September 30, 2025 at 02:57 pm
That is a really good post. What works better and is actually not discriminatory - merit based hiring, - or hiring quotas based on sex, race, or whatever? There are quality women sports reporters, but this stuff is just fluff. NFL players jobs are merit based - why shouldn't everything be?
Starrbrite
September 30, 2025 at 05:42 pm
Yes!
egbertsouse
September 30, 2025 at 08:26 pm
Sheesh. Lighten up, Francis. Take deep breath, the world will still be here tomorrow. Attractive women won’t destroy it for awhile.
13TimeChamps
September 30, 2025 at 11:56 am
I guess it all comes down to interpretation, but it sure seems to me that she was TELLING him what he needs to do in the 2nd half as opposed to asking him what he was planning to do. I didn't realize that was what sideline reporters were out there for.
NFLfan
September 30, 2025 at 12:24 pm
She was unpolished and inappropriate.
Brewcity_BearsFan
September 30, 2025 at 12:27 pm
Maxx Crosby was in the Bears backfield so often, Williams may as well as worn his jersey. He almost single handedly won that game on defense.
However, when Williams had to have a drive, he came through. The Bears need to be much better at converting turnovers into TDs. Byard literally picked off Smith twice, on the same route, on the same play.
The schedule coming out of the bye looks favorable for Chicago.
Detroit is still the team to beat. Sorry Packer fans, but I put as much stock in week 1, as I do the pre season.
This division may very well end with 4 plus .500 teams.
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 01:51 pm
The bears are better. They have along way to go.
The Vikings have a qb problem.
The Packers beat the shit out of Detroit in a game that counted. Then beat the shit out of the team than ended Detroits season four days later. That counts. The packers have better players overall than Detroit but they are not as polished.
The division is not Detroits. Not even close. That book is yet to be written.
Brewcity_BearsFan
September 30, 2025 at 02:06 pm
I am not convinced the Packers have better players.
I would take Goff, and St Brown over Love and Doubs.
Jacobs over Gibbs, yes, but the running game as a whole? Advantage Detroit. O Line, Detroit.
TE, arguably a push.
Pass Rush, you can't convince me Parsons and Hutchinson don't cancel each other out.
I think the Packers have better Safeties, and Cooper is a better LB than anyone in Detroit.
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 03:52 pm
Packers front 4 is better than DETs, maybe not at NT. But the rest of the DL.
Packers LBs are all better
Packers CBs are all better
X is better than either of the Lions safeties.
Sure. The Lions can have safety #2.
Packers OL has been beat to hell since week 1. Yes, DET has been better overall, but it’s pretty tough to compare TBH.
Yes, ARSB and Jamo are better than any WR the Packers have. Packers WR3-5 are better, but that doesn’t really move the needle.
Kraft is better than LaPorta.
Jacobs and Gibbs are a wash IMO.
I’d take Love over Goff without a second’s hesitation.
Point is, out of 22 starting spots, you’re probably going 11 to 11 or so. Maybe 14-8 one way or the other if you’re really a partisan. I’m a partisan, but I think 14-8 GB is about right.
But you can’t argue that DET has been the cleaner team. GB under MLF shoots itself in the foot far too much.
BuckyBadger
September 30, 2025 at 08:58 pm
No one is taking Goff outdoors over Love. He is good at home in his dome but not very so much when pressured or if its windy. What he throw in his last playoff game? 4 ints.
barutanseijin
October 01, 2025 at 03:51 pm
Please do not feed the trolls.
Starrbrite
September 30, 2025 at 02:27 pm
Yes-Crosby—like he did against us.
Brewcity_BearsFan
September 30, 2025 at 02:45 pm
It is equal parts infuriating and jaw dropping, watching him just wreck a team. Infuriating when it is against the team you cheer for, but damn...still incredible.
BuckyBadger
September 30, 2025 at 08:59 pm
Don't see 4 teams above .500. Bears are improved but have yet to beat anyone with a pulse and the Vikings don't have a QB.
BuckyBadger
September 30, 2025 at 01:13 pm
Bears could morph into a team that is a problem at the end of the season. Fans want instant gratification and what you are in week one must be what the team will be in week 12 right? They have brought in a lot of FAs the last two years and the QB is still very young and raw. Ben Johnson I think is a very good coach but they all have their struggles when they take over the 1st time. They still have a ways a to go.
Starrbrite
September 30, 2025 at 02:33 pm
“Big Dufus (Campbell)” got a win at home against the Browns- big deal. And they beat the Ravens who have zero defense. We’ll beat them again on thanksgiving.
Any Viking or Broncos loss is music to my ears.
The Bears—trending up, but slowly.
Go Packers!!!
edp1959
September 30, 2025 at 03:33 pm
Packers settled for a tie instead of playing for the win. A team that wants to win doesn't kick that field goal. Looks like MLF doesn't have faith in his QB.
dobber
September 30, 2025 at 08:10 pm
.
Packerlifer
September 30, 2025 at 03:43 pm
For a look ahead at our Division here's the schedules leading up to Thanksgiving. We can speculate on what the records might be looking like at that point.
DETROIT: Cincinnati, at Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, at Washington, at Philadelphia, NY Giants.
CHICAGO: at Washington, New Orleans, at Baltimore, at Cincinnati, NY Giants, at Minnesota, Pittsburgh.
MINNESOTA; at Cleveland, Philadelphia, at LA Chargers, at Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, at Green Bay.
PACKERS' Cincinnati, at Arizona, at Pittsburgh, Carolina, Philadelphia, at NY Giants, Minnesota.
The Lions have 4 home games they should be favored in, with Tampa the possible "fly in the ointment." Their road games at KC, Washington, and Philly will test them.
The Bears can be called favorites at home vs New Orleans & Cincy and could have some "maybes" with the Giants, at Vikings, Steelers.
Minny looks like the toughest "row to hoe."
Bearmeat
September 30, 2025 at 03:56 pm
Yeah. But I counted CLE and DAL as easy dubs 10 days ago. Most did… Any given Sunday. GB has to start executing better in crucial situations.
Starrbrite
September 30, 2025 at 05:49 pm
Good post Lifer —puts in a nutshell what is ahead.