The first week of the 2024 NFL regular season is here and the Chicago Bears open their season with a game against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field next Sunday.
Before then, the lid lifter on the season is the game between the Kanas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night. For the NFC North. things get started on Friday night when the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles play in Brazil.
The best competition in the NFC this season may just be in the NFC North. The team that the Packers are playing on Friday, the Eagles, used to be the standard in the NFC but last season seemed to prove a changing of the guard. There is no question that the San Francisco 49ers remain at the top of the conference, but a case can be made that outside of the 49ers, one of the NFC North teams could represent the conference in the Super Bowl.
That is where we kick off our Week 1 NFC North Power Rankings.
NFC North Power Rankings Week 1
1. Detroit Lions
The Lions were a second-half away from reaching the Super Bowl last season, and of all the teams in the NFC North, they enter 2024 with the strongest chance of reaching it.
The Lions open the season with a game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. It will be a rematch of the playoff game between the two teams last season.
The old adage that NFC North fans have of "the Lions going to the Lions" no longer holds true. The Lions now set the standard for the NFC North, and their ascension two seasons ago should be the blueprint for the Bears this season.
2. Green Bay Packers
Far be it for a Bears' blog to say that the Packers are being over-hyped the open the season but the Green Bay Packers are being over-hyped to open the season.
Sure, given how quarterback Jordan Love finished the 2024 season and the run the Packers had in the playoffs, they deserve to be behind the Lions in the first installment of our NFC North Power rankings this season. But, let's not forget that through the first six weeks of the season last year, the Packers were ready to move on from Love. Despite that, the Packers used Love's second-half run last season as a reason to make him the answer at the quarterback position for the long term.
In fact, Love's decision-making regression in the Packers' second half of their playoff game against the 49ers last season is reason to believe there could be a sophomore slump for the quarterback in 2024. But, for now, Love and the Packers get the benefit of starting where they finished last season.
3. Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears were the winners of the offseason given not only the arrival of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams but also offensive playmakers in Rome Odunze, D'Andre Swift, and Keenan Allen.
For all the focus on Williams and the Bears' passing game with Allen, Odunze, and DJ Moore, Swift may actually be the focal point of the offense. The Bears placed a priority on the running game this offseason, as Swift was the first free-agent signing the team made last March. Swift wasn't used in the preseason, a sign that the Bears are saving his workload for the regular season.
If the Bears are going to climb up the NFC North power rankings this season, it will be due to their play in the trenches. If the Bears' offensive line finds not only stability but victories in their protections this season, Williams is going to be the quarterback that many fans expect him to be. For the defensive line, if they win their matchups, the Bears' secondary will be the reason the defense is not only a Top 10 unit but a Top 5 unit by the time the season is over.
4. Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings open the season against the New York Giants next Sunday in a matchup of two teams that could prove to be the biggest disappointments in the NFC this season.
Vikings' head coach Kevin O'Connell does deserve credit for his quarterback-friendly offensive system, but let's not forget that Minnesota ended the 2023 season on a 4-game losing streak, mostly due to the inconsistent quarterback play that the team was receiving.
Thanks to a torn meniscus injury for rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy during the preseason, the 2024 season seems to be a transition year for the Vikings. Sam Darnold will open the season as the starting quarterback and whenever Darnold is a team's starting quarterback, the expectations should not be high.