Lopsided divisions leave 6-3 Packers in last place and 3-5 Panthers in first place

Back-to-back wins have the Green Bay Packers on a roll with a 6-3 record headed into the second half of the NFL season.

The Carolina Panthers have lost three straight and have a 3-5 mark.

Yet amazingly, the Packers currently sit in last place in the historically tough NFC North, while the Panthers are in first thanks to another season of mediocrity for the NFC South.

All four teams in the North have at least six wins with Chicago on top at 7-2, a half-game ahead of both Detroit and Minnesota at 6-2.

This marks the second time in NFL history that every team in a division is three games over .500, according to Sportradar, the AFC North pulling it off after Week 12 in 2014.

The North teams have 25 combined wins and are on pace for the most since the 2002 realignment set two years ago when those same four teams combined for 45 wins. The division could have back-to-back seasons without a losing team after Detroit finished fourth at 9-8 in 2025.

The four NFC North teams are a combined 20-4 in games outside the division for the second-best mark through nine weeks behind the 21-4 for the AFC West in 1984.

The NFC South is the first division with every team holding three wins or fewer through nine weeks since the NFC East did it in 2020 when Washington won the division at 7-9.

New Orleans is tied with Carolina at 3-5, with Tampa Bay and Atlanta at 3-6.

It's been a recent pattern for the division that has lacked a true contender since Tom Brady's second-to-last season in Tampa Bay in 2021.

The NFC South teams have a .366 winning percentage in non-division games the past five seasons for the worst mark and have had a division winner with a losing record twice in that span — with the Buccaneers winning it at 8-9 in 2022 and Carolina last season.

There have been three other division winners with losing records in NFL history, with Seattle doing it at 7-9 in 2010, Carolina at 7-8-1 in 2014 and Washington in 2020.

Two of those teams won a playoff game. Seattle beat New Orleans in the 2010 wild card and Carolina topped Arizona in 2014.

The long wait for No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza to make his first start for the Las Vegas Raiders appears to be over.

With the Raiders trading Kirk Cousins to Minnesota on Tuesday, Mendoza is expected to make his first start Sunday against Seattle in the 10th game of the season for Las Vegas.

Only three of the 29 previous quarterbacks taken No. 1 overall in the common draft era starting in 1967 waited longer to make their first start, with Vinny Testaverde doing it in the 12th game in 1987 for Tampa Bay, JaMarcus Russell doing it in the 16th game in 2007 for the Raiders and Carson Palmer doing it in the opener of his second season with Cincinnati in 2004.

Jared Goff (2016 Rams) and Eli Manning (2004 Giants) also made their first start in the 10th game of their rookie seasons.

There were 20 of those QBs who started the season opener, including the previous six. Tim Couch (Game 2), Baker Mayfield (Game 4), Alex Smith (Game 5) and Michael Vick (Game 8) all did it in the first half of the season.

The trade also opens the possibility for Cousins to pull an NFL first. Since the Vikings had their bye in Week 6 and the Raiders don't have theirs until Week 13, Cousins could become the first quarterback ever to start 18 games in a regular season.

Four players have appeared in 18 games since the season expanded to 17 games in 2021, while several others did it from 1925-30, but Cousins would be the first QB.

Joe Burrow has put together a remarkable run that has put him in elite company.

Burrow has at least four total touchdowns rushing and passing in each of the last four games, matching a feat done by only some of the best QBs ever.

Peyton Manning has the longest streak at five straight in 2005 and Burrow can match that Sunday night against Pittsburgh.

Drew Brees did it four games in a row in 2018 and Dan Marino in 1984. Tom Brady did it in four straight regular-season games, with two coming at the end of 2020 and two to start 2021 but that was broken up by the postseason.

Two of the NFL's most dynamic running backs reached impressive milestones.

Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs had a touchdown run against Miami for his 60th touchdown in his career. Gibbs is the third player to reach that mark in his first four seasons with Terrell Davis having 61 and LaDainian Tomlinson 60.

Christian McCaffrey caught his 37th career touchdown pass on Sunday for San Francisco against Las Vegas, passing Marshall Faulk for the most by a running back in the Super Bowl era.

McCaffrey also had a touchdown run, extending his record with his 18th career game with a touchdown run and reception. Faulk is second with 15.

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