Caleb Wilfinger
After a long and eventful offseason, the NFL season is nearly here. Week 1 will kick off on September 4 with Thursday Night Football between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. Here at Pickswise, we are building up to the new season and you can check out our NFL futures guide, which has our Super Bowl winner picks, MVP best bets, player award predictions and much more.
For now, our handicapping team is breaking down every division with in-depth team analysis and best bets. Let’s dive into the NFC North, which will generate plenty of headlines all season long as the home of the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, who all are looking to make it back to the playoffs in a crowded NFC. Here are the NFL odds and our expert NFL picks for this fascinating division.
NFC North Odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook and available at time of publishing.
- Detroit Lions +150
- Green Bay Packers +250
- Minnesota Vikings +290
- Chicago Bears +550
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Detroit Lions (+150)
You could argue that the Lions window was at its most open last season, as Detroit racked up 15 wins and was the dominant force in the NFC over the course of the regular season in 2024. However, since crashing out as heavy favorites against the Commanders in the Divisional Round back in January, the offseason news around Detroit has been mostly negative. Gone are both coordinators, with Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn off to new opportunities, while franchise legend and 3-time All-Pro Frank Ragnow retired, leaving a significant hole on the offensive line. Defensively, this is a unit with more questions than answers, especially in the secondary. Both sides of the ball are undergoing real changes, and the schedule is difficult throughout. With that in mind, it’s hard to think the Lions won’t take a significant step back this fall.
Detroit Lions best bet: Lions under 10.5 wins (-120)
Green Bay Packers (+250)
Following back-to-back playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024, the Packers are finally primed to make the leap this fall. It all starts with quarterback Jordan Love under center, and while he is a polarizing player, Love’s excellence in the second halves of each of the last 2 seasons stands out compared to some of his contemporaries in this division. Green Bay has a ton of weapons at the skill positions for its quarterback to work with, and this offense should certainly be a top 10 unit in the sport under the watchful eye of coach Matt LaFleur.
On the other side, the Packers should also experience positive regression in terms of injuries on defense, particularly in the secondary, which was a key weakness a season ago. As long as Green Bay can avoid the injury bug, this unit should bounce back in a big way in the second season in Jeff Hafley’s system. Lastly, the schedule is one that is conducive to the Packers picking up some easy wins, to go along with a lot of coin flips. There’s certainly a path to double digit wins on this schedule.
Green Bay Packers best bet: Packers to win the NFC North (+250)
Lock in our expert’s AFC West best bets
Minnesota Vikings (+290)
The Minnesota Vikings are arguably one of the biggest mystery teams in football this season, and it starts and ends with the quarterback position. After all, we know that Kevin O’Connell will have the offense primed for success, and the defense should still flourish under the tutelage of Brian Flores. However, it will all come down to quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who missed all of last season due to injury and is a massive question mark in his first season under center. It doesn’t help matters that the schedule is pretty unforgiving, with the Vikings drawing the AFC North, along with games against the Chargers, Commanders, Seahawks and Cowboys, most of which are on the road. This is a great situation for McCarthy long term, but I just can’t see double digit wins for the Vikings in 2025.
Minnesota Vikings best bet: Vikings under 9.5 wins (-135)
Get the latest NFL MVP odds and find out our expert’s longshot prediction at +4000!
Chicago Bears (+550)
Speaking of mystery teams, what are we going to get from the Chicago Bears this season? Only time will tell on that front, but it should be improved compared to what we saw a season ago. Caleb Williams hit the rookie wall, everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the offensive line and the defense was pretty underwhelming in key moments. All of that doesn’t even include the disastrous coaching we saw throughout the season, and the hope is that will improve dramatically this season with Ben Johnson at the controls. The offense certainly should be better with Johnson calling plays, and the defense should be improved barring any major injuries. All of that said, it’s another tough schedule for Chicago as the Bears look to finish above .500 in 2025.
Chicago Bears best bet: Bears and Vikings to split the season series (+125)
Grab our expert’s NFC East predictions
NFC North division predictions
- Green Bay Packers
- Detroit Lions
- Minnesota Vikings
- Chicago Bears
NFC North Best Bet: Green Bay Packers to win the division (+250)
There’s a version of this Packers season that goes pretty poorly, and I could see Green Bay finishing as low as third place if the injury bug strikes again. However, the floor for this team is one of the highest in the conference, and I think we’ll see the Packers play closer to their ceiling this fall. Green Bay will only be an underdog in a handful of games this season, while the Lions can be expected to take a step back given their difficult schedule and pair of new coordinators, as mentioned previously. All things considered, 11 wins and a division title certainly isn’t out of the question for the Packers. I’ll take a shot with Green Bay at the current price.
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