Heading into week nine of action in the NFC North, the division remains any teams to grab with all teams sitting within one game of the division-leading Chicago Bears.  The division championship and a playoff spot will come down to the team that gets the hottest over the final half of the 2018 season.  Who will that be?

Chicago Bears

This past Sunday, the Bears welcomed the hapless New York Jets to Soldier Field where the Windy City held up to its name during the matchup featuring 20 mile per hour winds off of Lake Michigan.  In their 24-10 victory, the Bears attacked the Jets defense with a steady dose of running backs Jordan Hoard and Tarik Cohen and the duo produced well on the ground.  In the windy weather, Trubisky struggled at times through the air for the Bears offense and the Bears defense, minus Khalil Mack, held up their end of the bargain in the game against the Jets.

The Bears continue beating the teams that they should beat and remain in the lead in the division with a 4-3 record.  As the team looks to travel to Buffalo this Sunday to take on the Bills, the Bears have a great opportunity to stay in the division lead for the time being.

Minnesota Vikings

In front of a national audience at home this past Sunday, the Vikings allowed the New Orleans Saints to come into their house and earn retribution for the Vikings victory against the Saints in the divisional round of the playoffs this past season.  In a game where the Vikings defense, minus starts Anthony Barr and Xavier Rhodes, would hold Drew Brees to just 120 yards passing, the Vikings were still handled by the Saints to a final score of 30-20.  While limiting the damage Brees could do to them, the Vikings coughed up some untimely turnovers in an Adam Thielen fumble that led to a quick Saints touchdown and a Kirk Cousins interception for a touchdown early in the third quarter and these turnovers were costly in the final result of the game.  The Saints defense was riding the coattail of Kirk Cousins all night and eventually tallied four sacks and nine quarterback hits on the night.

The loss dropped the Vikings to 4-3-1 on the season as they look to welcome the Detroit Lions to US Bank Stadium this Sunday afternoon.

Detroit Lions

After two wins in a row to climb back to a .500 record, the Lions fell flat on their faces this past Sunday when they hosted the Seattle Seahawks.  In the 28-14 loss to the Seahawks, the Lions committed three costly turnovers.  Two of the turnovers were at the hands of quarterback Matt Stafford as the Lions were driving to put points on the board and cost them the extra points needed to stay competitive in this game.  After jumping out to a 7-0 lead, the Lions allowed 21 unanswered points in the second quarter of the game and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw just 17 total passes for a perfect passer rating on the day.

The Lions will look to get back on track this Sunday as they travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings.