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| Conference | National Football Conference |
|---|---|
| League | National Football League |
| Sport | American football |
| Founded | 1967 (As NFL Western Conference Central Division) |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Country | United States |
| Most recent champions | Detroit Lions (5th title, 6th overall) |
| Most titles | Minnesota Vikings (21 titles) |
TheNational Football Conference – Northern Division orNFC North is one of the fourdivisions of theNational Football Conference (NFC) in theNational Football League (NFL). Nicknamed the "Black and Blue Division" for the rough and tough rivalry games between the teams, it currently has four members: theChicago Bears,Detroit Lions,Green Bay Packers, andMinnesota Vikings, with the latter three based within most definitions of theUpper Midwest.
This division has some of the oldest franchises in the NFL, including the Packers (founded 1919), the Bears (founded 1920), the Lions (founded 1930), and the most recently-founded team being the Minnesota Vikings (1961). TheTampa Bay Buccaneers were also members from 1977, one year after they joined the league as an expansion team, until 2002 when they moved to theNFC South.
The division was created in 1967 as theCentral Division of the NFL's Western Conference and existed for three seasons before theAFL–NFL merger. After the merger, it was renamed theNFC Central in 1970 and retained that name until the NFL split into eight divisions in 2002. The four current division teams have been together in the same division or conference since the Vikings joined the league in 1961. The Bears, Lions (known as the Portsmouth Spartans until 1934) and Packers have been in the same division or conference since the NFL began a conference format in 1933. Largely because the four teams have played each other at least twice a year, with the exception of the strike-shortened 1982 season, for more than 60 years (more than 80 years in the case of the Bears, Lions and Packers), the entire division is considered one very large rivalry. All four teams currently representing the NFC North have all finished a regular season with 15 regular season wins at some point; the Bears in 1985, the Vikings in 1998, the Packers in 2011, and the Lions in 2024; the only division to do so.
The division has a total of five Super Bowl wins.[1] The Packers have won four and the Bears one, with the most recent happening at the conclusion of the2010 season. Of the ten NFL teams with the highest winning percentage throughout their respective franchise histories, three of them are in the NFC North (the Packers, the Bears, and the Vikings). Conversely, the Lions have one of the lowest winning percentages in the NFL, including the first winless 16-game season in NFL history, in2008.[2]
The Packers hold an overall regular season record of 810–604–38 (through the end of the 2024 season) with an overall playoff record of 37–26, fourSuper Bowl titles in five Super Bowl appearances, and nine pre-Super Bowl league titles. The Bears hold an overall regular season record of 798–646–42 with an overall playoff record of 17–20, oneSuper Bowl title in two Super Bowl appearances, and eight pre-Super Bowl league titles. The Vikings hold an overall regular season record of 537–438–11 with an overall playoff record of 21–31, noSuper Bowl titles in four Super Bowl appearances, and one league title. The Lions hold an overall regular season record of 606–709–34 with an overall playoff record of 9–14, and four pre-Super Bowl league titles. They have yet to appear in a Super Bowl.
In recent years, the division has been less successful in the playoffs than their contemporaries, holding the second-longest active Super Bowl drought (only ahead of theAFC South) and a 1–9 record in conference championships since 2007, with the only win being the Packers over the Bears in 2010. They have clinched two Super Bowl berths in the 21st century, compared to the other NFC divisions which each have six or more.
The division earned the moniker "Black and Blue Division" due to its intense rivalries and physical style of play, and this nickname is still used regularly today. It is also known as the "Frostbite Division" as all teams played home games in late season winter cold until the mid-1970s. The division is also humorously called the "Frozen North", although Detroit has played its home games indoors since 1975, and Minnesota also did so from 1982 to 2013 and returned to indoor home games atU.S. Bank Stadium in 2016. The entire division is geographically further north than itsAmerican Football Conference counterpart, theAFC North (Chicago barely edging outCleveland), though that division currently has all four teams playing outdoors and all receive brutal winters.
ESPN sportscasterChris Berman often refers to this division as the "NFC Norris" because of its grittiness and its geographical similarity to theNational Hockey League's formerNorris Division, although in a twist of irony the NHL dropped theNorris name in favor ofCentral almost a decade before the NFL dropped theCentral name in favor ofNorth.
Place cursor overyear for division champ or Super Bowl team.
| Years | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFL Western Conference Central Division | NFC Central Division[B] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1900s | 2000s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 67[A] | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago Bears | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Lions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green Bay Packers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota Vikings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers[C] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NFC North Division[D] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02[D] | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Chicago Bears | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Lions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green Bay Packers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota Vikings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team not in division Division Won Super Bowl Division Won NFC Championship Division won NFL Championship, LostSuper Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
+ A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games, so the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year. Division standings were ignored; Green Bay had the best record of the division teams.
+ A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games, so the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year.
(1967–2024 seasons)
| Team | Division championships | Playoff berths | NFL league titles | Super Bowl appearances | Super Bowl wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota Vikings | 21 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Green Bay Packers | 17 | 27 | 13 | 5 | 4 |
| Chicago Bears | 11 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| Detroit Lions | 5 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(1)Does not include Green Bay's 1966 season Super Bowl I win
(2)Does not include Tampa Bay's 1976 season (AFC West) and 2002+ seasons (NFC South)
(1920–2024 seasons)
| Team | Division championships | Playoff berths | NFL league titles (pre-merger) | Conference wins | Super Bowl wins | Total(1) championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Bears | 19 | 28 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| Green Bay Packers | 21 | 37 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 13 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 21 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Detroit Lions | 6 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theSuper Bowl |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theNFC Championship |
| (#) | Denotes team that won theNFL Championship |
| (#) | Denotes team that qualified for theNFL Playoffs |
| Year | Opponents | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Interconf. | Intraconf. | 17th opponent | |
| 2025 | AFC North | NFC East | AFC West (away) |
| 2026 | AFC East | NFC South | AFC South (home) |
| 2027 | AFC West | NFC West | AFC North (away) |
| 2028 | AFC South | NFC East | AFC East (home) |
| 2029 | AFC North | NFC South | AFC West (away) |
| 2030 | AFC East | NFC West | AFC South (home) |
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| Division championships (21) | |
| Conference championships (4) | |
| League championships (9) | |
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