The NFC North is a division stacked with powerhouse football teams. There are a combined 27 wins among the top three teams. There’s another unable to keep pace, and it’s the Chicago Bears.

They’re lost five straight after a strong start, seeing this season sink to the point that recovery seems impossible. That’s especially true with the Lions, Vikings and Packers all seemingly playoff bound. Oh, and the Bears must face those teams four more times in the next six games.

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That has created separation between the Bears and the rest of their pack, due to the fact they can’t put complementary or complete games together. The NFL’s top teams certainly can, as we’ve seen some quality play from the Chiefs, Bills and Eagles especially. As we head down the home stretch, the inevitable separation between haves and have nots is starting to show.

That’s clear in these NFL Power Rankings after 12 weeks of the 2024 season:

1. Detroit Lions (10-1): Lions don’t take it easy on anybody. Bears better be ready on Thanksgiving.  

2. Buffalo Bills (9-2): It’s possible Buffalo clinches the division in Week 13. Unreal.

3. Kansas City Chiefs (10-1): It took late Pat Mahomes magic to beat the Panthers. No signs on dominance, but they still win.  

4. Philadelphia Eagles (9-2): Saquan Barkley is worth every penny.

5. Minnesota Vikings (9-2): Minnesota is so good in one-score games. That’s a real asset down the stretch.

6.  Baltimore Ravens (8-4): Running backs normally fall off a cliff as they age. Not Derrick Henry.

7. Green Bay Packers (8-3): Josh Jacobs is such a force. One of the best runners around.

8. Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3): Top teams don’t lose games like that to bad teams. Snow is a great equalizer, but that offense has some issues to work out.

9. Los Angeles Chargers (7-4): Jim Harbaugh has trouble beating older brother, though the respect is there. Bolts are being built in the Ravens image.  

10. Denver Broncos (7-5): Bo Nix starting to look like a contender for rookie of the year. 

11. Houston Texans (7-5): C.J. Stroud is a good quarterback who is going through it right now.

12. Washington Commanders (7-5): The Commanders season is starting to slip a bit. Dan Quinn’s gotta get them going right, and in a hurry.  

13. Seattle Seahawks (6-5): Seahawks defense can win them all like that. Seattle needs Geno Smith to crank back up.

14. Atlanta Falcons (6-5): Falcons needed a CTRL+ALT+DELETE so bad. Got one on the bye, but the Bucs are within striking distance.  

15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-6): Having Mike Evans back makes such a huge difference. He makes Baker better.

16. Los Angeles Rams (5-6): Rams hare intriguing, but they’re not a top tier team. But the NFC West is wide open and they’re still in it.  

17. Arizona Cardinals (6-5): Can’t figure this team out. Not sure their fans can, either. Up and then down for Arizona.

18. San Francisco 49ers (5-6): Saw some social media posts about Kyle Shanahan being on the hot seat. That’s insane. He’d have suitors lined up down the block.

19. Cincinnati Bengals (4-7): Bengals must go on a run coming out of a bye. No other choice.

20. Miami Dolphins (5-6): Dolphins are starting to crank things up. Might be too little, too late.  

21. Indianapolis Colts (5-7): Lions fans took over Lucas Oil Stadium. That’ll happen with a bad team turned good and the home team currently putting out a bad product.

22. Dallas Cowboys (4-7): Cowboys end a long losing streak, but needed some wacky special teams mistakes by Washington to get one.

23. Chicago Bears (4-7): Five straight losses. Unacceptable for a team with this much talent.

24. New Orleans Saints (4-7): Darren Rizzi will continue making his case to take away the interim tag off a bye.

25. Carolina Panthers (3-8): Bryce Young is playing better. Maybe the Panther have something in head coach Dave Canales.    

26. Tennessee Titans (3-8): Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk shed a tear after being the Texans in Houston, where he father used to own the Oilers. That’s a big win for a team that doesn’t get very many.

27. Cleveland Browns (3-8): Browns fans deserved a good day, and got one against Pittsburgh in the snow on Thursday night.

28. New England Patriots (3-9): Continuing Drake Maye’s development is all that’s left to accomplish this season.

29. New York Jets (3-8): GM Joe Douglas said he felt “relief” after getting let go. That tells you all you need to you know about the state of the Jets.

30. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9): Pretty shocking that Doug Pederson has survived to this point.  

31. Las Vegas Raiders (2-9): The Raiders are essentially at ground zero. They’re gonna start over and draft a quarterback, maybe as high as No. 1 overall.

32. New York Giants (2-9): Giants ownership did the right thing releasing Daniel Jones right now. We’ve taken some shots at his as a player, but he has a reputation as a standup dude.