A division incredibly rich with league history, fans of three of the NFC North’s four teams have had more than enough heartbreak for a lifetime.
While the NFL is a cultural force unparalleled across the rest of sports, the passion and fervency in which the fans of the NFC North support their teams feels distinct.
Perhaps it’s a biased take as a Midwestern native who personally knows diehard fans of all four of the division’s clubs, but there’s plenty of empirical evidence to back up the anecdote.
The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are the league’s two oldest teams who hold the most and second-most championships in NFL history, at 13 and nine, respectively.
As for the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, both teams are decorated with plenty of history and highlights, all of which exclude a Super Bowl championship. The Lions have been without a championship since the 1957 season, nearly a decade before the Super Bowl era, while the Vikings have never won a championship.
Despite the rich history of the four teams in the NFC North, the division has not exactly been a common stop for the Lombardi Trophy, with only the Packers having won multiple Super Bowl titles with their four championships in the Super Bowl era.
With the field for the 2025-26 NFL postseason set, the sport’s oldest rivalry is on a collision course in the Wild Card Round, with the Packers and Bears set to square off against each other in the postseason for the third time in the matchup’s history.
As for the Vikings and Lions, two teams that battled for the No. 1 seed in the final game of the 2024 regular season, there will be no more football this January. Despite finishing a combined 24-5 last season, both teams have missed out on the playoffs this year following disappointing exits early in last year’s postseason.
All four teams have plenty of heartbreakers in their history, some of which rival the most painful losses any team in this sport has seen in recent memory.
Here’s a look at the losses that have hurt the most:
Chicago Bears: 2010 NFC Championship Game (21-14 loss to Green Bay Packers)
Honorable mentions: 2018 NFC Wild Card Game (Doube Doink), Super Bowl XLI, 2013 Week 17 (4th & 8)
Though I wouldn’t consider myself to be a Bears fan, being a Chicago-area native surrounded by some of the most passionate football fans the NFL has to offer made this a particularly tough call to make in terms of viewing one loss as more painful than another.
While I certainly wouldn’t argue with a fan believing that the Double Doink and Super Bowl loss were more painful, it’s tough to outdo a Conference Championship game loss at home to an arch rival.
After finishing the 2010 season with an 11-5 record, the Bears earned the NFC’s No. 2 seed and a first-round bye, one that paid off as the Bears got to take on the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional Round after the latter’s Beast Quake upset over the heavily favored New Orleans Saints.
The playoff win, still the Bears’ most recent, set them up for a Conference Championship date with the Packers, who were 10-6 in the regular season and coming off playoff wins against the Philadelphia Eagles and top-seeded Atlanta Falcons.
A game of limited offensive fortitude on both sides, it was the Packers who held a 14-0 lead at halftime while the Bears were grappling with an injury to starting quarterback Jay Cutler, resulting in backup Caleb Hanie taking a plurality of snaps in the affair.
After a scoreless third quarter that included a lost fumble on a punt return for the Bears, Chicago finally got on the board early in the final frame thanks to a one-yard touchdown run from Chester Taylor that immediately followed a 32-yard connection from Hanie to Johnny Knox.
Back within a touchdown, the Bears were able to force a punt from the Packers on their next possession before exchanging three-and-outs as the clock approached the midway point of the fourth quarter.
Any hopes of completing a comeback seemed to be dashed on Chicago’s next possession, which saw Hanie throw a pick-six to defensive tackle B.J. Raji in what was the only interception of Raji’s NFL career.
Sure enough, the Bears still gave themselves a chance to tie the game, scoring a touchdown quickly on the next possession before forcing a Green Bay punt. Trailing by a touchdown with 2:53 left in the game and two timeouts, Hanie took the Bears as far as the Green Bay 27-yard line before throwing a game-sealing interception on a 4th & 5 with 53 seconds left, cementing the loss for the Bears.
The Bears have played in just two playoff games since, while the Packers went on to win the Super Bowl two weeks later against the Pittsburgh Steelers – which remains their most recent championship.
Detroit Lions: 2023 NFC Championship Game (Lost 34-31 to San Francisco 49ers)
Honorable mentions: 2024 NFC Divisional Round, 2014 NFC Wild Card Game, 2011 NFC Wild Card Game
An obvious choice, the Lions have been a franchise of futility for the vast majority of my life, having made just seven playoff appearances in the last three decades while only winning playoff games in one of those seasons.
That one season was 2023, which saw the Lions return to the postseason after a seven-year absence, with Detroit toppling the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers en route to a date in the NFC title game against the 49ers.
On the road at Levi’s Stadium, it was the Lions who struck often and early, with a field goal just before the end of the first half giving Detroit a 24-7 advantage. This lead began to disintegrate in the third quarter, with the Lions responding to an opening field goal drive from the 49ers with a failed fourth down conversion well into San Francisco territory, passing up on three points that would have given the Lions their 17-point lead back.
After turning the ball over on downs, the 49ers converted on a touchdown drive in around 90 seconds, turning what could have been a 27-10 Detroit lead into a 24-17 advantage.
Nerves became nightmares on the next drive, with Jahmyr Gibbs losing a fumble on the first play from scrimmage that set the 49ers up very well in Detroit territory. Four plays later, the game was tied up at 24.
After forcing a Detroit punt, the 49ers would grab the lead on their first drive of the fourth quarter, with a Jake Moody field goal giving San Francisco a 27-24 advantage. And as if one questionable fourth-down decision wasn’t enough, Lions coach Dan Campbell had one more extreme head-scratcher in store.
With the Lions facing a 4th & 3 at the San Francisco 30-yard line around midway through the quarter, Campbell elected to go for it instead of attempting to tie the game, a decision that immediately backfired in the form of a failed conversion and ensuing 49ers touchdown on their following drive.
After leading by 17 points at the half, the Lions were now somehow trailing by two scores with just over three minutes left in the game, sustaining a touchdown that sealed their fate. While the Lions would score a touchdown on their following drive, they failed to recover the onside kick afterwards and were resigned to a crushing 34-31 defeat.
While the 49ers would sustain a heartbreak of their own two weeks later in an overtime Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the loss arguably hurt even more for Detroit. After nabbing the No. 1 seed in 2024, the Lions were run out of the building in last year’s NFC Divisional Round before missing out on the playoffs entirely this season.
This may very well have been the Lions’ best opportunity to break through, and it’s hard to not place a good chunk of the blame on Campbell, who left six crucial points off the board while drastically impacting the game’s momentum.
Green Bay Packers: 2014 NFC Championship Game (28-22 loss to Seattle Seahawks)
Honorable mentions: 2007 NFC Championship Game, 2020 NFC Championship Game, Super Bowl XXXII
The perennial contender of the NFC North, the Packers have the most championships in NFL history and have been a steady playoff team over the past 30 years, even if not the most successful.
With Super Bowl wins in 1996 and 2010, the Packers have had a healthy share of heartbreaking losses in their many other playoff appearances – though none stand out to be quite as painful for fans as the 2014 NFC Championship Game was.
Facing the defending champion Seahawks in Seattle, the Packers took control of the game early, taking a 16-0 lead into halftime that perhaps could have been larger, as two of Green Bay’s three field goals came from under 20 yards out.
Appearing to force a field goal after a long Seattle drive, a gutsy call from Pete Carroll ended up leading to a touchdown, with punter and holder Jon Ryan keeping the ball himself before floating a 19-yard touchdown pass to Garry Gilliam.
Now a 16-7 Green Bay lead, the Packers went on to force a punt on the next Seattle possession before another Mason Crosby field goal gave them a 19-7 lead early in the fourth quarter. Green Bay’s defense then held serve on a long, fruitless Seattle drive that gave the Packers the ball back with a two-score lead and only seven minutes remaining in the game.
After forcing a three-and-out, the game especially felt over for Seattle after Russell Wilson threw an interception on the first play of the next drive, with the Seahawks still trailing by 12 points with 5:13 left in regulation.
The Seahawks then used two of their three timeouts on the following Packers’ possession, forcing a three-and-out and getting the ball back needing to get to work quickly. Wilson and star running back Marshawn Lynch drove Seattle down the field for a touchdown and ensuing extra point that put the Seahawks back within five points.
With just one timeout left and 2:13 on the game clock, kicker Steven Hauschka and the Seahawks successfully converted on an inside kick after tight end Brandon Bostick failed to recover the football. Within less than a minute, Marshawn Lynch waltzed into the end zone to give Seattle a 22-19 after a successful two-point conversion.
Yet with still 1:33 left in the game and all three timeouts remaining, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers had more than enough time to make their way down the field for a game-tying field goal, one Mason Crosby converted on from 48 yards out to tie the game at 22.
After winning the overtime coin toss, the Seahawks seemed to keep their momentum from late in the game on their biggest drive of the season. While facing a 3rd & 7 from their own 30-yard line, Russell Wilson erased the memory of four earlier interceptions with back-to-back 35-yard completions. First, it was Doug Baldwin completing a home run pass to set up the Seahawks at the Green Bay 35-yard line before Wilson found Jermaine Kearse in the end zone for an NFC-sealing touchdown.
The Seahawks went on to lose in a heartbreaker two weeks later in Super Bowl XLIX, while the Packers have failed to make it to the Super Bowl since.
Minnesota Vikings: 1998 NFC Championship Game (30-27 loss to Atlanta Falcons)
Honorable mentions: 2009 NFC Championship Game, 2017 NFC Championship Game, 2015 NFC Wild Card Game
Even when considering all professional sports and some of the most gut-wrenching losses any team has sustained in recent memory, I don’t know if any are undoubtedly more painful than the 1998 NFC Championship Game defeat the Vikings sustained.
While Minnesota has had plenty of good teams in the past three decades and have made a handful of NFC title games, their season-ending loss in 1998 continues to be felt by Vikings fans to this day.
At a 15-1 record led by quarterback Randall Cunningham and star receivers Cris Carter and rookie Randy Moss, the Vikings appeared to be among the best offensive teams the game had ever seen, dominating throughout the entire regular season with a +260 point differential.
After handling the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Divisional Round, the Vikings were met by Chris Chandler and the Falcons, against whom they were heavy favorites. Though it was Atlanta who struck first, Minnesota responded with 20 unanswered points of their own to take a 20-7 lead, an advantage that was bit into thanks to a 14-yard touchdown pass to Terance Mathis just before halftime.
Now leading 20-14, the Vikings were held scoreless on their first drive of the second half before the Falcons responded with a field goal to cut the lead to three, with Morten Andersen connecting from 27 yards out.
Minnesota answered back with a long drive of their own that stretched into the fourth quarter and ended with a five-yard touchdown reception from Matthew Hatchette, giving the Vikings a 10-point lead. Atlanta would respond quickly on their own on the next drive, largely thanks to a 70-yard reception from Tony Martin that set up the Falcons in the red zone.
Though failing to score a touchdown, Morten Andersen once again connected on a chip shot to put Atlanta back within a single score. The teams then would exchange three-and-outs before the Falcons failed to take advantage of a lost fumble from Randall Cunningham, going three-and-out following the takeaway.
Minnesota then began a long drive just past the halfway point of the fourth quarter, making it down to the Atlanta 21-yard line with only 2:18 left in regulation. The Vikings turned to star kicker Gary Anderson, who had been perfect the entire season with both field goals and extra points. Though it certainly was no chip shot, there was certainly an expectation that the consistent Anderson would bury a 38-yard field goal inside a dome to give his team a seemingly insurmountable 10-point lead.
But he missed the kick. After being perfect the entire season.
The Falcons responded to this shocking twist of fate with a feverish touchdown drive as Chris Chandler quickly threw for 56 yards en route to a game-tying touchdown that sent shockwaves through the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the rest of the Twin Cities.
Head coach Dennis Green would receive plenty of criticism for electing to take a knee and play for overtime, despite 37 seconds remaining on the clock with all three timeouts.
Unlike most playoff overtimes, this game was not over in a flash. It was Minnesota that won the toss with a chance to end the game with a field goal in the days of sudden-death NFL overtime. Yet both teams would exchange punts on their opening drives of overtime, with the Vikings starting the period with a quick three-and-out.
After the Falcons’ defense held serve once again on the following Minnesota drive by forcing a punt and only allowing a single first down, Atlanta embarked on a lengthy drive that brought them down to the Minnesota 21-yard line with just over three minutes left in the overtime period.
Coincidentally from the same distance that Gary Anderson missed his field goal in the fourth quarter, Falcons kicker Morten Andersen drilled a 38-yard field goal attempt to win the game and conference for the Falcons, leaving the state of Minnesota utterly shellshocked.
It’s not a stretch at all to believe that had the Vikings won the Super Bowl, this team would have been crowned as among, if not the best NFL team of all-time, at least from an offensive standpoint. Instead, it’s a loss that offers countless “what if” questions while also serving as the peak of the franchise in this era.
The Falcons went on to get blown out by the Denver Broncos two weeks later in Super Bowl XXXIII, while the Vikings could not quite get back to where they were. Minnesota fell in the NFC Divisional Round in 1999 before getting blown out by the New York Giants in the 2000 NFC Championship Game. Since then, the Vikings have been back to the NFC title game twice, sustaining losses on both occasions.
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