NFC North End of the Year Awards

With the NFL Honors ceremony occurring on Feb. 8, there is no better time to look back at the 2023-2024 season and celebrate the best players in the NFC North.

Much like the awards handed out at the NFL honors ceremony, these NFC North awards will only take into account what each NFC North player did in the regular season. Including playoff stats in these awards would be unfair since only two NFC North reached the playoffs, and one made it further than the other. Now that it is understood how these awards will be handed out, it is time to get into it.

Best Quarterback- Jared Goff Detroit Lions

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The two finalists for this award were Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff and Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love. Both quarterbacks finished the seasons with respectable stat lines, but Goff had a slightly better season, finishing the year with 4,575 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, six fumbles and a completion percentage of 67.3%. Whereas Love finished the year with 4,159 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, nine fumbles and a completion percentage of 64.2%. It should be noted that not all the fumbles these quarterbacks committed resulted in turnovers, but it still shows they have some ball security issues.

While Love’s stats are a bit more eye-catching since this was his first full NFL season, and he did not start out well, Goff has played more consistent football over 17 games. Even with the few multiple turnover games that he did have. If Love can play at a consistent level next season, he can be the NFC North’s next great quarterback.

Best Running Back- Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

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The three finalists for the NFC North’s best running back of 2023 were Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones and Detroit Lions running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. Each of these running backs faced injuries this season, making it difficult to compare stats one to one. Jones finished the year with 656 rushing yards on 142 carries, scored two touchdowns and averaged 4.6 yards a carry in 11 games played. While David Montgomery played 14 games and rushed for 1,015 rushing yards on 219 carries, scored 13 touchdowns, and averaged 4.6 yards a carry, Jahmyr Gibbs played 15 games and rushed for 946 yards on 182 carries, scored 10 touchdowns and averaged 5.2 yards a carry.

It's hard to estimate how many yards Jones would have finished the season with if he hadn't missed seven games, but he definitely would have been closer to Gibbs and Montgomery. However, that's not how the season played out, which meant the winner of this award came down to the two Lions running backs. Many would assume since Montgomery rushed for over 1,000 yards and scored 13 touchdowns he would win. However, Gibbs's explosiveness led to averaging over five yards a carry in his rookie season which was more impressive than what Montgomery did this year.

Best wide receiver- D.J. Moore, Chicago Bears

Deciding a winner for best wide receiver in the NFC North was the most difficult because three of four teams' wide receiver ones are stars. The Vikings have Justin Jefferson, the Lions have Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the Bears have D.J. Moore. These receivers all had over 1,000 receiving yards, with varying levels of quarterback play and playtime, this season. Jefferson had 1,074 yards on 68 catches, scored five touchdowns, and averaged 15.8 yards a catch in ten games this season. On top of that, when Jefferson came back from his injury this year, his quarterback situation was not great, so the fact that he still surpassed 1,000 yards was impressive. This season St. Brown had 1,515 receiving yards on 119 catches, scored 10 touchdowns and averaged 12.7 yards a catch. St. Brown led these receivers in yards, catches, and touchdowns but still lost the race for this award.

How is that possible? Well, it's because Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore was arguably more productive. Moore finished the season with 1,364 receiving yards on 96 catches, scored eight touchdowns and averaged 14.2 yards a catch. This was Moore's best season statistically, even though it seemed like the Bears forgot he existed in the games sometimes. If the Bears targeted him more, then he could have had more yards than St. Brown had, and there wouldn't be any disputing who the best receiver in the NFC North was this season.

Best Defensive Back- Jaylon Johnson, Chicago Bears

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Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson was by far and away the defensive back in the NFC North this season. Not only was Johnson Pro Football Focus’s No.1 rated cornerback this season, but he also stayed fairly healthy, playing 14 games. That’s double the amount of games his only true competition, Packers star Cornerback Jaire Alexander played this season. In the 14 games Johnson played he had four interceptions, one forced fumble and 36 combined tackles.

Surface level Stats like those are the easy ones to track, but what truly set Johnson apart from other defensive backs in the NFC North is that he shut down whatever half of the field he was on. This made it hard for opposing quarterbacks to get the ball to their No.1 receiver, which made them uncomfortable. Johnson’s high level this season helped elevate the Bears' defense in the second half of the season.

Best Edge Rusher - Danielle Hunter, Minnesota Vikings

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The player classification for this award is definitely the most interesting on this list. That is because players people think of as pass rushers aren't necessarily listed as defensive ends. For instance, Vikings star Danielle Hunter is listed as an outside linebacker, but he typically rushes the quarterback. That's different from players listed at defensive end, like Detroit Lion Aidan Hutchinson or Chicago Bear Montez Sweat. Even though all three players do the same job, they aren’t listed at the same position, but for the sack of this award, they are all edge rushers.

Deciding this award was difficult because of Aidan Hutchinson. Danielle Hunter and Montez Sweat all respectfully impacted the game massively for their teams. Sweat’s case for winning this award comes because he was a total game changer for the Bears after acquiring him. In eight games with the Bears, Sweat had six sacks and six quarterback hurries. Sweats' presence transformed the Bears' defense into one of the best in the NFL.

On the other hand, Hutchinson spent all of 2023 with the Lions and was by far the best player on that defense. Through 17 games he had 11.5 sacks, 29 quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and one interception. Hutchinson was a complete game wrecker all season for the Lion defense and truly the only reason their defense had any success.

So why doesn't Hutchinson win this award? Put simply, there was an edge rusher better them him his season in the NFC North, Danielle Hunter. Hunter had 16.5 sacks, 17 quarterback hurries, and four forced fumbles in 17 games. While Hunter may not have forced as many turnovers as Hutchinson, he had a slightly bigger impact. Even though some of Hunter’s success is due to how often the Vikings blitz, the fact he was able to bring the quarterback down that many times is impressive. With Hunter getting up there in age, this could be his final season as the best edge rusher in the NFC North. If it was, then he went out with a bang.