The NFC North is an excellent division with all four teams mounting a case for playoff consideration. So who will be last place? Unleash the drama.
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As NFL minicamps get under way and the preseason inches closer, there are tons of stories around the league to monitor. From position battles to new coaching regimes to rookies in important spots, a laundry list of questions will find data in these next couple months before Week 1. They all will go toward answering the ultimate, overarching question: who is going to win.
To preview the 2026 season, we are going to go division-by-division and answering just one question about how that division is going to shake out. Next up is the NFC North. The question is: Who is going to finish in last place?
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In the NFC North, there are no bad teams. This was literally true last season, when all four teams finished above .500 and with positive point differentials. It could be argued that there are also no elite teams in the division, or at least no team that stands head and shoulders above the other three. This is the hardest division in the sport to handicap from top to bottom.
Luckily, we don’t have to do that here. All we’re asking is to figure out who finishes last. Easy, right? Bears, Packers, Lions and Vikings. One must be the loser.
NFC North Battle for Last Place
Todd Salem: Chicago Is In For A Reckoning
Where I’ll start is trying to figure out which team is the worst at each specific aspect of the game. At quarterback, now that Minnesota has Kyler Murray in-house, none of the teams are bad, but the Vikings are probably worst at the position. Or, if worst is too strong, they have the lowest floor. It’s tough, though, because Murray can be a game-changer, whereas someone like Jared Goff is not.
At head coach, it’s tough again! All four guys are superb in my mind. I know some people love Ben Johnson and already consider him one of the best coaches in the sport, but I guess I would personally put him last just because of small sample size. The other three guys I know are exceptional.
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As for the rest of the offensive environment, Detroit and Minnesota are loaded at the skill positions and should be solid along the line. Chicago has some unproven talent at receiver but is also really deep and has a great offensive line. I guess Green Bay is last ironically. For years, the Packers were the deepest team in the North on offense, and the first time they start to thin the herd, they immediately drop to last.
Okay, so that didn’t help. We are nowhere closer to determining the worst team here. What about on defense? None of the four are truly elite defensively, though the Vikings often get coached up to that level. Detroit would seem to have the best overall talent, though it’s super close…as is everything else in the NFC North. The worst defense probably belongs to Chicago, if for no other reason than they project to have the worst pass rush by a substantial margin.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Bears are the answer; they end up dropping from first to worst. Having the worst defense is a big building block to my prediction. I’m also not sold on Ben Johnson yet, as I mentioned. I agree he was great last year, but we’ve seen one-year wonders at head coach before in this league.
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Caleb Williams also scares me at QB, even if he is certainly quite talented. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he led the league in turnovers. Last year, of any QB with at least 250 attempts, he was worst in bad throw-rate and lowest in on-target percentage. There is a lot of bad to his game to go with the good.
The Bears famously squeaked out so many wins last year, and I don’t love any of their individual roster groupings. This is your last place team in 2026.
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Dan Salem: Packers Take A Tumble
All four of the teams in the NFC North are pretty good, but not one excites me or screams championship caliber. Defense has won the last two Super Bowls and that fact will remain this season, which puts all four of these teams at a disadvantage. Minnesota still has the best defense, so there’s no way they finish in last place. Ignoring their unpredictable offense, we know the Vikings will remain around .500 on the back of their defense.
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I’m fairly confident that Detroit will improve from last year and that Chicago will take a step back, but neither team is going to move much. We are talking about a two-win swing in either direction, which could place the Lions in first place, but certainly won’t put the Bears in last. Detroit likely finds its footing on defense and can keep this ship sailing another year. Chicago is like a giant wave. We don’t know if it will burn out in the ocean, or crash majestically on shore. But all of this speculation leaves but one team remaining, the Green Bay Packers.
We know what Jordan Love is and is not and it feels like the offense is slowly breaking apart around him. The Packers have quietly plateaued over the last few seasons and while the front office has worked hard to improve the defense, it’s unclear how far their work will carry this team. I don’t feel great about labeling Green Bay as worst, but I also don’t feel great about their offense or defense when comparing them to the other teams in the NFC North. A seven or eight win Packers team is likely in last place, but they could sink even farther.
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Perhaps I just didn’t want to agree with you that Chicago will be worst, but it’s going to be a photo finish regardless. None of these teams are bad, but as I noted, none of them are great either. It feels like Green Bay is due for a true down year, placing them in last place this season.
Meet our Sports Writers:
Dan Salem is Lead Editor and Co-owner of BuzzChomp. He’s an award winning Actor, Director and Producer. Visit M Square Productions for his film work, or get lost in his old-school comedy on Pillow Talk TV. You can follow him on X, TikTok and Instagram. His latest film ‘Alone’ is now on Amazon.
Todd Salem is a Staff Writer and Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also a champion of fantasy football and fantasy baseball, dominating leagues for over two decades. Comment below on his unfiltered opinions.
NFC North Preview – This Is The End
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