The Minnesota Vikings held on for a 9-3 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and the win helped them claim sole possession of the NFC North. But while the Vikings sit atop the division after two weeks, their path to a title cleared even more when Caleb Williams left the game with a hamstring injury, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Williams was hurt in the fourth quarter when he scrambled to evade Andrew Van Ginkel. While Williams was able to escape Van Ginkel, he felt something as he turned the corner, leading him to fall to the turf to protect himself.
Williams was on the ground for several moments after the injury and did not put weight on his leg before being carted to the locker room.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters that Williams was “in good spirits” after the game, and Williams was spotted “walking under his own power” with no crutches and “a slight limp,” by CHGO’s Adam Jahns.
The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero also added the Bears won’t know the severity of the injury until he undergoes tests on Monday, but regardless of how long Williams is out, the Vikings may have already earned a significant advantage with Sunday's win.
Vikings are watching their NFC North rivals fall apart after Week 2
The win over the Bears was obviously good news for the Vikings as they completed a 2-0 start to the season. But the win is even bigger considering both wins came against divisional opponents.
While neither the win in Chicago nor the season-opening victory over the Green Bay Packers was perfect, it gives Minnesota an early leg up for tiebreakers.
This could come in handy with the Vikings playing five of their final seven games at home, including a Week 14 matchup against the Detroit Lions and a season finale against the Bears. But even with a tiebreaker, the Vikings have to love what has happened elsewhere in the division over the first two weeks.
The Bears looked like a juggernaut in Week 1, hanging 59 points on the Carolina Panthers. While the rainy weather at Soldier Field played a role in slowing them down, Chicago was out of sync before Williams got hurt, committing eight penalties for 58 yards, turning the ball over twice, and having a Cairo Santos field goal blocked by Isaiah Rodgers in the fourth quarter.
The Lions also have their share of issues to begin the year. While they defeated the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, it came after Detroit blew a 21-point lead in the third quarter and stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to hang on.
Josh Allen also destroyed the Lions’ defense on Thursday night, throwing for 248 yards and three touchdowns and running for two more scores to hand Detroit a 41-31 loss.
Add in key injuries to center Cade Mays, safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, and offensive linemen Christian Mahogany and Blake Miller, and the Lions already have an uphill battle – even as one of three teams with a 1-1 record.
Then, there’s the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers were able to escape MetLife Stadium with a 20-17 overtime victory over the New York Jets on Sunday, but it came at the expense of wide receiver Jayden Reed, who was taken off on a backboard in the first quarter. Offensive tackle Zach Bako-Bewele was carted off with a knee injury on the following play, and the win required overcoming a 17-7 fourth-quarter deficit to earn the win.
Even if Jordan Love is going to play Superman to save Green Bay, the Packers are an undisciplined team that committed 14 penalties for 133 yards on Sunday.
They also won’t get Micah Parsons back until Week 6 at the earliest, and with Matt LaFleur also known for late-game meltdowns, there’s a chance Green Bay will continue to shoot itself in the foot, giving the Vikings a lot to be excited about after Week 2.
Caleb Williams’s injury may have created a perfect storm for the Vikings
No team wins its division over the first two weeks, but they can certainly lose it.
Take a look at last year’s Vikings, who went 3-4 in their first seven games while the Packers raced out to a 5-1-1 record. Minnesota’s previous division title in 2022 also came when the Vikings won eight of their first nine games, including fourth-quarter comebacks in five of those games.
Going back to the 2017 season, a division title can also take a little bit of luck.
While Minnesota owned the NFL’s No. 1 defense, the division race was tipped in the Vikings’ favor when Anthony Barr broke Aaron Rodgers’s collarbone, allowing the Vikings to earn a title on their way to their last appearance in the NFC Championship (also, don’t ask what happened in that game).
The Vikings may have a chance to get off to a hot start, traveling to take on a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that struggled with the Cleveland Browns in Week 3 and coming home to host a rebuilding Miami Dolphins team in Week 4.
Minnesota also has some outside forces in their favor as their rivals navigate injuries and become their own worst enemy.
If Williams’s injury isn’t as bad as it appears, that advantage may be smaller than it seems. But winning the first two games and seeing a rival quarterback carted off the field could be the news the Vikings needed to climb to the top of the division and stay there in 2026.
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