This past Sunday, the entirety of the NFC North division faced devastating losses. While fans may be disappointed with their teams, this performance by the NFC North isn’t anything new. Since the founding of the division in 2002, all four teams have traditionally played poorly, to begin their seasons. Additionally, while other divisions in the NFL continue to evolve their teams and take advantage of new players, the NFC North has generally been slow to do so. This past showed just that. 

The Minnesota Vikings lost in overtime against the Cincinnati Bengals. During the first half of the game, Cincinnati led with a score of 14-7. Minnesota however, wasn’t backing down. By the end of the second quarter the game was tied with a successful field goal attempt made by Greg Joseph, making the score 24-24. In overtime though, Vikings running back Dalvin Cook fumbled the ball on a play which was recovered by the Bengals. This turned out to be the key turning point of the game as it gave Cincinnati possession of the ball, which then resulted in their game winning field goal. (Final Score: 27-24)

The Detroit Lions were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers after Detroit had made a major comeback late in the game. While an exciting game to say the least, Detroit’s defense couldn’t keep up with the 49ers dominant offense led by Jimmy Garoppolo. The Lion’s offense tried to keep fans on their toes, by consistently making attempts to gain yardage. However, after two failed attempts to gain yardage and a sack of Detroit quarterback Jared Goff, the 49ers were able to secure their first victory of the season. (Final Score: 41-33)

As the Rams had taken an early 10-0 lead in the first quarter, the Bear’s had some catching up to do. The Bears offense, led by Andy Dalton and rookie quarterback Justin Fields, actually had more first downs and had more possession of the ball than the Rams. In addition to running a balanced offense, Fields scored his first career touchdown in the third quarter, but that wasn’t enough for these Bears to claim victory. (Final Score: 34-14)

The New Orleans Saints entered this season without their newly retired, star quarterback, Drew Brees. The Saints offense is now led by Brees’ replacement, Jameis Winston. Even with the change, the Saints absolutely dominated last year’s NFC North division champs, the Green Bay Packers. With Green Bay’s head quarterback Aaron Rodgers developing a potential habit of inconsistent play time in practice and the lack of third down conversions during this game, it is unsure whether or not the Cheese Heads will repeat that division championship title. (Final Score: 38-3)

After these unfortunate losses by the NFC North, this division is in dire need to use their new players to their advantage. If not, these losses will continue and end up leaving fans disappointed. Combining the old with the new will work in their favor and these huge overall losses hopefully won’t repeat themselves. Sometimes change is a good thing, and based off of these teams’ performance, they’re in need of some change.