Through Week 6 into the NFL season, the NFC North as a whole is 17-3, the best conference by far. No one expected this division to look this good through this first half of the year.

In the offseason, Minnesota's new rookie quarterback, JJ McCarthy, tore his meniscus, right after the team resigned Justin Jefferson for four years, $140 million. This led Sam Darnold to start and disappointed fans, coming from his career path so far. But Darnold has stepped up and showed experience from being a backup to Purdy last season. He is now leading the NFL MVP race and 4th in touchdown passes and is one of the best touchdown to interception rations in the league, leading the team to a 5-0 record, beating teams such as the 49ers, Texans, Packers, and the Jets.

The Lions came from an NFC Championship appearance last season in a terrible loss to the 49ers which included a 17-point comeback. But this season, they have been on a scoring rampage these last few weeks with a win over the Seahawks 42-29 and the Cowboys 47-9. Their defensive appearance has been impressive too behind Aidan Hutchinson who is currently leading the league in sacks, although unfortunately going down at the end of the Dallas game with a season-ending injury. Their offense has been unlike any other with their star duo of running backs, to their tight ends and wide receivers, along with the number 1 overall pick in 2016 in Jared Goff who’s having another great year with the Lions being top competitors.

The Bears have also been a surprise with Caleb Williams struggling off the start of the season compared to his counterparts in Jayden Daniels. But over the last few games, especially at home, they are 4-0 even with an overseas game under their belt. Caleb has stepped up giving DJ Moore his targets as well as slinging it to Keenan Allen and Cole Kmet. The Bear’s presence in the running game has been great with D’Andre Swift stepping up. All in all, Caleb has stepped up to what you’d expect from the #1 overall pick in this year’s draft from what he’s been given.

The Packers as we all know had a good run into the playoffs last year with former first-round quarterback Jordan Love finally getting his chance to start. Putting up almost 50 Points against Dallas in the wild-card round, and then facing the 49ers, ultimately losing by 3; but this year they signed Josh Jacobs and have been on the move even with some injuries. Starting the season in Brazil with a high-scoring game against the Eagles, in the 4th quarter Love hurt his knee and would be out for 2 weeks. In stepped Malik Willis, who largely outperformed expectations, leading the team to winning both games with him as the starter. With Love coming back in week 4, the Packers have since have won two out of three of their games losing one to the Vikings. Even with Love coming off an injury he still looks great and so does the rest of the team. On the defensive, they held up while the offense struggled without their starting QB and the offensive side held its own with new RB Jacobs and receivers Jayden Reed and Christian Watson.

The NFC North being this dominant was what no one expected coming into the start of the season, but here they are with three losses combined, six weeks into the season. After some bye weeks, we will see if Darnold will hold his part along with the dominance from Goff and the Lions, the Bears with a young rookie QB, and the resurgence of Jordan Love and the Packers.