Why the 2026 NFC North might be the best NFL division ever - ESPN

Sunday, unsurprisingly, brought three more wins for the NFC North.

During the afternoon games, the Lions comfortably beat the Dolphins 19-9 in what might have qualified as a home game given the makeup of the crowd in Miami. The Packers stomped the Patriots 45-27 with an offensive blizzard in Foxborough. And while the Bears turned the ball over five times, they had enough left in the tank to move the ball into position for a game-winning field goal and beat the Buccaneers 27-24 in primetime.

Unquestionably the NFL's best division as we hit the midway point of the 2026 season, the NFC North can go 4-0 for the first time in a single week this season if the Vikings beat the Bills on «Monday Night Football» to cap Week 9. But even if the Vikings fall, the NFC North can hang its hat on its first-half résumé. Regardless of Monday's result, the North will finish Week 9 with the best collective record of any division through nine weeks in the Super Bowl era. You are watching, at least by wins and losses, what so far has been the best division in NFL history.

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Can these four teams keep it up? And if they do, what does it mean? Will the stiff competition to win the division exhaust four of the best teams in football and leave them easy pickings in January? Or does iron sharpen iron and make the North winner the favorite to win the Super Bowl? Of these four teams, which one has the best shot of actually winning the division and making that deep playoff run?

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Historically great division?
The Bears' case as the best
The Lions' case as the best
The Packers' case as the best
The Vikings' case as the best

Chicago's victory Sunday night left the NFC North at 25-8 with one game left to go in