It was a run-of-the-mill week in the North. The Vikings were embarrassing. The Bears got a lucky last-minute one-score win. And the Lions took the Giants to OT. Wait, the Giants are bad? Hmm.

Vikings

The Packers handled the Vikings, 23-6. 

Game Notes

• Let's start with the Vikings' take-down. We've been talking since the off-season about the monumental decision the team made to drop Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones and go with second-year QB JJ McCarthy. At the beginning of the off-season, it seemed like it could work out. After all, McCarthy was a first-round pick, and Darnold fell apart at the end of the season, and Daniel Jones had never been good. Turns out it was, quite possibly, the worst ever QB decision in the NFL. Darnold and Jones are both playing better than they ever have, and McCarthy is the clear worst QB in the league. I know we talk about this every week, but it's insane how badly this is going for the Vikings.  
• We need a second bullet point to get this all out. McCarthy was 12/19 for 87 yards and two picks today. Horrific on every level. Once the Packers went up two scores, the Vikings couldn't do anything on offense. McCarthy had negative yards in the second half and the two interceptions. So, what's next? Fortunately (for us), it's going to have to be patience. Currently, the Vikings are $24 million over the cap for 2026. That means they need to shed $24mm just to get to $0 and sign their draft picks. Part of that will be their 2025 space, which is at around $16mm now and will carry over. They can also save $14mm by cutting right tackle Brian O'Neill, who will be on the last year of his deal and got toasted today.  After O'Neill, the next 14 (14!) players by salary cap number would be a net reduction on the cap if cut before June 1. 
• Let's go to a third bullet point. There's certainly no money for a new QB and you can't use another top draft pick on one two years later in a bad draft. That means they probably go with McCarthy next year and either have to commit to O'Neill, who is fine but not great, on another $20mm+ per year deal to get his cap number down, or cut O'Neill and hope they find a good tackle to protect their bad QB. It's a rough situation. Last year, the Vikings were one of the top 3 teams in the NFC, no doubt. If Darnold hadn't fallen apart, they could've gone to the Super Bowl. Now it looks like the best plan for their organization is basically to piss away the 2026 season and hope they can a good QB in the 2027 draft. Will Kevin O'Connell, once thought of as the best young offensive-minded head coach in the league, survive? Will Justin jefferson demand a tarde? You have to think Brian Flores will be out after this season. 
• Speaking of first-round picks, Dallas Turner had a clean-up sack and it reminded me of how O'Connell said he was the best pass rusher in the draft last year, and then he got no snaps last season. Honestly, I forgot he existed, so I wanted to check in on his progress. He has a 61.3 PFF grade, good for 71st among edge rushers and he has three sacks on the season, good for 47th. The Vikings traded up for McCarthy and Turner. They spent what Bill Barnwell calculated as the first overall pick in value for Turner and traded up into the top ten for McCarthy. They hit home runs with Justin Jefferson and Kevin O'Connell and then ruined it with one draft. 
• Anyway, back to the game. Blake Cashman had 16 tackles because Emannuel Wilson kept getting to the second level. They did have five TFLs as a team, but I think basically all of those can be credited to a Packers missed block or Brian Flores. Justin Jefferson had 4 catches for 48 yards and Jordan Addison had no catches. 

Bears

The Bears outlasted the Steelers (without Aaron Rodgers), 31-28.

Game Notes

• How do the Bears keep doing this??? Caleb Williams was 19/35 for 239 yards. Not extremely exciting, but he had three touchdowns and 21 yards on the ground to go with squirreling out of several sacks. He's definitely doing enough right now. 
• It was an interesting day on the ground for the Bears against the stout Steelers defense. This time, D'Andre Slow was the back to average under two yards per carry and Monangai had 12 carries for 48 yards. Altogther, they were held under 100 yards (and remember 21 of those yards came from the QB) for just the second time since week 4. 
• Not the best showing by the defense, which was facing journeyman Mason Rudolph. Rudolph had 171 yards and one each touchdown and interception, and the Steelers accumulated 186 rushing yards on 36 carries. Have to think they win this with Rodgers at QB. To be fair, the Bears were playing with several players out on the defense. 

Lions

The Lions survived the Giants, 34-27 in overtime. 

Game Notes

• The Loons withstood the might of the new-coach Giants thanks to a career game from Jahmyr Gibbs. Gibbs had 219 yards on the ground and another 45 through the air. Fellow supertar the Sun God, who we questioned last week, was back in the groove with a 149-yard performance. Altogether, Gibbs and the Sun God combined for 413 of the Lions' 494 yards. The Lions' performance was the catalyst for the Ginats to fire their DC after the game. 
• 494 yards is a lot of yards, notwithstanding the extra quarter that the team played, but it was 23 yards short of the 517 that the Giants amassed. The Giants moved the ball mostly through the air, with Jameis throwing for 366 yards and catching a 33-yard TD. To be fair to the Lions, it's hard to defend a QB who is willing to throw up 50/50 balls on basically every play. We saw it just last week. And the Lions did come down with one fo those 50/50 balls. We can only hope that watching this film will tempt LaFleur into being aggressive on Thanksgiving. 
• Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary's combined 109 yards on 34 carries didn't come close to the efficiency that Gibbs had. They should've just thrown the ball more.