For a while, the NFC North wasn’t exactly associated with great defense. Between 2013 and 2016, an NFC North team only finished inside the top 10 for total defense twice. But that has slowly been changing.
The Minnesota Vikings have now finished no worse than fourth in total defense since 2016. The Chicago Bears have back-to-back top-10 finishes. The Detroit Lions finished 10th in total defense in 2018.
The Green Bay Packers now need to catch up — they haven’t had a top-10 defense since the 2010 season.
But entering 2019, it’s not out of the question that the NFC North could feature all four teams inside the top 15 for total defense.