Last season, the NFC North was one of the most competitive divisions in the league. The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings battled all season long for the division title and a shot at the #1 seed, and ultimately played in a winner-take-all regular season finale - where Detroit won in resounding fashion, 31-9.
The Green Bay Packers also had a good season, finishing 11-6 and grabbing the 7th seed for the second year in a row. Even the Bears, who admittedly finished with just five wins on the season, still were quite competitive in most of their games - seven of their losses were by a single score or less, and there was talk early on that the entire division would all go to the playoffs together.
As the 2025 preseason hits, however, each team has questions that they face.
Detroit Lions
The obvious questions are "How will the team move on from losing both coordinators?" and "How will the defense bounce back from all those injuries last year?" Those have already been touched on here and here, respectively, so let's take a look at two other queries:
Will the new-look O-Line keep Jared Goff upright?
Last year's core offensive line consisted of Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, Frank Ragnow, Kevin Zeitler, and Penei Sewell. This offseason, though, Ragnow retired and Zeitler left for the Titans, leaving some huge holes in the center of the line. So far, Detroit seems to have settled on shifting Glasgow to center.
On his left side, Christian Mahogany, in his 2nd year, is penciled in to start, and on his right, he'll see 2nd round rookie Tate Ratledge, mullet and all.
The newcomers' task? Keep that pressure from coming right into Goff's face. The last few years have done much to improve his confidence and resilience, and the sheer amount of work the team did to build up the offensive line as soon as he was traded to Detroit takes much of the credit for that. This is a team that lives and dies depending on how well they do in the trenches, so this group absolutely must step up for Goff and the rest of the offense to continue to succeed.
Does Terrion Arnold take that huge step forward?
Cornerback is one of the most difficult positions to make the adjustment from college to the pros. For almost anyone not named Sauce Gardner, the general wisdom is that it takes around a full year to truly figure out the game at the NFL level. For a secondary that has been rightfully much maligned for most of the last several years, Arnold proving his worth and becoming a true lockdown corner would be a game-changer.
Last year, in his rookie season, he was credited for ten passes defended, according to PFR. On the flip side, he was also penalized quite a few times, especially early in the season, for how handsy he was against opposing receivers. To his credit, he began cleaning that up around mid-season, and now looks to make a hoped-for jump in performance in his second year with Detroit. He'll have veteran DJ Reed to help mentor him this year, and with one of the best safety tandems in the league in Kerby Joseph & Brian Branch also on the field, he'll be in a much better position to grow into his role.
Minnesota Vikings
One of the final unbeaten teams last season (before losing in Week 7 to the Lions), this was a team that hung tough and punched well above what anyone would have given them credit for after losing their rookie QB in training camp.
On trots Sam Darnold, playing for his fourth team, and he just goes out and has a monster season, especially compared to expectations, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record. With J.J. McCarthy healed up and ready to take the helm, and Darnold off to Seattle...
How well does the offense transition to its third quarterback in three years?
After Kirk Cousins walked away after the 2023 season, and renting Darnold last year, now Minnesota looks to establish McCarthy as the team's quarterback of the future. While unlooked for, JJMC got the now-rare rookie season on the bench to learn from a veteran.
He'll be throwing to one of the top receivers in the league in Justin Jefferson, and they also added 3rd rounder Tai Felton to their receiving corps. In addition, WRs Jalen Nailor and Jordan Addison, and TE T.J. Hockenson, should also help give him some additional outlets.
The Vikings retained OC Wes Phillips with a contract extension this offseason, but it'll be HC Kevin O'Connell, last year's Coach of the Year, who will be calling the plays. There's honestly not much to knock the Vikings' offense for heading into the new year (with the exception of their front line, discussed next), so McCarthy sits in one of the best possible situations for a rookie QB.
The Vikings had problems with their offensive line. Did they fix them?
The weakness for the Vikings' offense last season was their front five, who struggled both in the run game and against teams with more complex defensive looks. Last year, they gave up 49 sacks, tied with the Steelers for 9th-most for the season. In addition, Minnesota's rushers combined for 1,855 yards on the ground, good enough for 19th in the league.
To help shore up their line, they brought on C Ryan Kelly and RG Will Fries, both from the Colts, and selected LG Donovan Jackson in the first round of this year's draft. With LT Christian Darrisaw back on the field and RT Brian O'Neill coming back from being a lone bright spot on the line, they have a chance at seeing some improvement.
Green Bay Packers
With the departure of Aaron Rodgers two seasons ago, Green Bay turned the reins of the team over to Jordan Love, and did everything they could to build a strong offense around him.
In some ways, after a great 2023 season that showed a lot of promise, Love did take a small step back, throwing for 770 fewer yards last year (in large part due to missing time early in the season from a leg injury) with a 63% pass completion rate. Still, he led the team to its second straight playoff appearance as they improved from 9-8 in 2023 to 11-6.
How many games will the Packers win against the rest of the division?
This was the difference in Green Bay competing for the division title vs ending up with the 7th seed. The Packers went 10-1 against the entire rest of their schedule, with their sole loss coming against the Eagles in Week 1 in a Brazil game that featured a truly horrific playing field.
For all of their success in non-division play, though, they only won a single division game - and it took a blocked field goal to beat the Bears for that lone win. Even a 3-3 record against the NFC North would have put them at 13-4, and depending on how they got their wins, they could have put some tiebreakers in their hip pocket.
The Packers hadn't done that badly in division games since 2018 when they went 1-4-1 against their rivals, en route to a 6-9-1 finish. For HC Matt LeFleur, he's had the entire offseason to dwell on this - expect Green Bay to do their best to turn Lambeau Field back into being one of the toughest venues to play in again.
Does the Packers' defense continue to improve?
With Jeff Hafley taking over the helm at DC last year, the Packers gave up the 6th-fewest points in the league. Up front, they expect to return a starting front four of DEs Lukas Van Ness and Rashan Gary, and DTs Kenny Clark and Devonte Wyatt, with a combined 20 seasons in the NFL, all with Green Bay.
That kind of cohesion is exceedingly rare, and they took a step up as a collective unit. Overall, the team combined for 45 sacks on the year, good enough for eighth.
Also shining last year were safety Xavier McKinney, a free agent pickup last year from the Giants, and LB Edgerrin Cooper, in his second season. The real question mark for the team is the cornerback room, with Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine, and NB Nate Hobbs all set to take on starting roles.
With Jaire Alexander departing the team after a frustrating season that included a knee injury that required surgery, that leaves room for the trio to show what they are capable of.
Chicago Bears
For a team that consistently is reported to have won the offseason, recent regular seasons have not been kind to Chicago's fanbase. Once again, the team has a new HC working with a quarterback inherited from a previous staff. Surely, this time it'll be different, right?
For all the hype he got, does Ben Johnson have the chops to succeed as a head coach?
After turning down sure bets with Carolina and Washington in back-to-back offseasons to return as OC for the Lions, Johnson finally accepted a huge deal with a division rival to take over just a couple of months after the Bears did the unthinkable (for them) move of firing a HC mid-season.
The main concern for Johnson is just how well he can improve a team that continually failed to cross the finish line, beginning with gifting the Commanders a Hail Mary win in Week 8 that began a ten-game losing streak, before finally getting their first victory over the Packers in twelve attempts to close out the season.
No one denies his talent with the Xs & Os. But he's already made headlines by kicking the entire starting offense off the field early in training camp and continuing to bash his team's offense for being sloppy.
For all of that, the big question is how well the team, particularly the offense, can handle Johnson's direct approach to their performance. If he can't connect with the team, his push for perfection may begin to fall on intentionally deaf ears, and sooner rather than later.
Will Caleb Williams be the first Bears' QB to break 4,000 yards?
Founded in 1919 and one of just two original members of the NFL still playing today, the Bears hold the dubious distinction of being the only active team without a 4,000 yard passer. Last year, rookie Caleb Williams came close, passing for 3,541 yards and 20 TDs/ 6 INTs - good enough for 5th on the Bears' all-time single season passing chart.
That put him at 17th for the NFL last year, though, as he watched six other QBs, including two within the division, easily cross that 4k mark. He's not unaware of the stat, as his stated goal for this year is to break that barrier. To help him out, he'll have a HC in Johnson who knows what it takes to get there, as Jared Goff gained 4,000+ yards in each of his three seasons in Johnson's offense.
In addition, the Bears drafted some weapons for him this year. Colston Loveland, a TE from Michigan, and WR Luther Burden both went in the first two rounds to Chicago, along with some OL help with OT Ozzy Trapilo late in the second round.
While he has his work cut out for him, the team also returns TE Cole Kmet, WRs DJ Moore and Rome Odunze, and RB D'Andre Swift to help him meet his, and his team's, goals for this year. It's also a sure bet that, with Johnson as HC, he'll have senior coaching staff helping study tape with him this season, unlike last year - and more important for him, help train him how to study tape.