The battle for supremacy over the NFC North is always a frigid one, and not just because of the weather. There is no love lost between these teams — particularly the historic Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears rivalry that decided the fate of the division in 2025. Much of the debate fell back to the two rising stars at quarterback, Jordan Love and Caleb Williams.
For some, the quarterback debate comes down to personal preference in style of play, but the underlying metrics tell a different story. Sure, Williams finished the 2025 season with more passing yards and touchdowns, but he played two more games and was far less efficient in doing so. In fact, Love beat him in several major statistical categories, including quarterback rating (+11.1), completion percentage (+8.2%), and touchdown percentage (+0.4%), when it was all said and done.
Those statistics paint a pretty clear picture, which was highlighted by ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum on the Pat McAfee show, when he said the following:
"I think to be an elite quarterback, you have to be able to throw at a much higher completion percentage... when you're under 60%, which [Williams] was last year, that's a concern," Tannenbaum said. "I would take Jordan Love and that Packers offense over this Bears offense."
In fairness, Tannenbaum also praised Williams' potential to become a better version of himself, which is a likely outcome much to the chagrin of Packers fans everywhere. But the fact of the matter remains that Jordan Love is still a better quarterback right now because of the intangible qualities he brings, from his precision and accuracy to the mental fortitude of executing at the highest level of this sport.
Jordan Love's lead over Caleb Williams gives Packers a roadmap to Super Bowl contention.
Sure, the Bears beat the Packers in a hard-fought Wild Card matchup last season, but Green Bay was far from full strength. Between a concussion and shoulder injury, Love was practically limping to the finish line last season, pushing himself to the brink to compete for his team.
They were without their best defensive player and likely their best overall player, Micah Parsons. Arguably their best offensive weapon, Tucker Kraft, had torn his ACL. Every receiver in the rotation had been banged at some point, with most missing multiple games to nurse them. And that's only the major injuries, not counting all the nicks and bruises accumulated along the way.
So we didn't get to see the best version of the Packers in the postseason, but that could very well change this year. It was also an anomalous year for a Chicago Bears defense that will likely regress to the mean a bit in the volume of turnovers forced. All the while, Williams and the Bears' young receiving core will have to adapt to life without their lead receiver in DJ Moore, who was traded to Buffalo.
The Bears are still young and learning what type of team they will be, but the Packers are ready to prove who they are right now. That puts them in a far better position to contend and retake the NFC North from their rivals in Chicago.
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