The NFC North pulled off a historical regular season in 2024, but surprisingly, that didn’t translate to any wins in the playoffs.
The four teams in the division combined to go 45-23 in the regular season, which gave the NFC North the highest winning percentage (.662) by any division since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, but somehow, the Lions (15-2), Vikings (14-3) and Packers (11-6) all ended up crashing and burning in the postseason.
The playoff failures started in the wild-card round with the Packers losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, 22-10. This was the only loss by the division that wasn’t a total surprise. Although the Packers went 10-1 this season against non-divisional opponents, that one loss came to the Eagles. The Packers also went 0-5 against teams that won 11 games or more in the regular season, which is a big reason why they were a 5-point underdog to the Eagles.
The Vikings also went down in the wild card round, and like the Packers, they got stuck facing an opponent that they lost to during the regular season. The Vikings went 10-1 in 2024 against non-divisional opponents, but that only loss came to a Rams team that ended up beating them in the playoffs, 27-9. The Vikings, who became the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs as a wild-card team, were favored by 2.5 points in the game.
The most surprising loss came from the Detroit Lions. Not only were they the top seed in the NFC, but they were favored by 9.5 points against the Washington Commanders in the divisional round. The Lions have been dealing defensive injuries all season and those injuries finally caught up to them in a shocking 45-31 loss to Washington on Saturday night. Although the defense struggled, so did Jared Goff, who threw three interceptions, including a pick-six.
Overall, the Lions, Packers and Vikings combined to go:
- 29-4 against non-divisional opponents in regular season
- 0-3 against non-divisional opponents in playoffs
The 0-3 showing by the NFC North made it just the second division since the merger to put three teams in the playoffs without winning a single game. The only other time it happened came in 1982 when the AFC Central put three teams in, but that was a strike-shortened season where 16 teams made it into the playoffs (The Browns made the postseason that year as a 4-5 team, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that the AFC Central got swept).
The NFC North is the only division in NFL history to go 0-3 in the playoffs a non-strike season, which was an unfortunate ending for a division that made history in 2024.
The ending was so ugly for the NFC North that the Bears will end the 2024 season as the only team from the division that went undefeated in January.
