NFC North will be on display on Thanksgiving

In Detroit, Quarterback Jared Goff is making a case not to be completely dismissed as an MVP candidate because of the five picks he traded in the win over the Texans. Goff has seven passing grades of 109.3 or better in 11 games. Three of those are above 153.7, including a perfect 158.3 effort at Jacksonville in Week 11 when he completed just 24 of 29 passes (82.8%) for 412 yards, four touchdowns and no picks. Goff has 39 300-yard games in his career. Another game against the Bears on Thanksgiving would make him the fifth player to have at least 40 games with 300 yards passing in his first nine seasons. The others: Patrick Mahomes (46 in the eighth year), Matt Ryan (41) and Hall of Famers Dan Marino (41) and Peyton Manning (40).

In ChicagoCaleb Williams’ two touchdown passes in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Vikings brought his season total to 11. A modest total, no doubt, but the young man is doing things statistically that no other rookie quarterback has done in years, decades Bears succeeded. (Yeah, that doesn’t say much). The 11 touchdown passes tied Charlie O’Rourke’s rookie team record set in 1942. The Bears went 11-0 that year but lost the title game 14-6 to Washington. O’Rourke also threw 16 interceptions that year and started just one game as a backup to Sid Luckman. With 340 passing yards against the Vikings, Williams totaled 2,365 yards this season, surpassing Mitchell Trubisky’s team rookie mark of 2,193 in 2017. Williams also has not thrown an interception on 193 consecutive passes, another rookie team record.

In Green BayThe Packers are celebrating a small milestone with their victory over the 49ers heading into their Thanksgiving night game against the Dolphins at Lambeau Field: They finally played a game this year in which Jordan Love didn’t throw an interception. Love had 11 picks in his nine starts – a 3.9 interception percentage – after throwing 11 in all 17 starts (1.9%) in his first season as a starter a year ago. Miami’s defense has just seven interceptions this season, but six players have at least one.

Yes, the Lions (10-1) are good now, but they’ve still lost seven straight Thanksgiving games, and three of those were in Chicago. The last time Detroit won on Thanksgiving was in 2016, when it beat the Vikings 16-13. The streak ends this year. Chicago is better than its 4-7 record. Williams is a QB the Bears can finally win with at some point. And there’s no point in firing everyone and starting over. The Bears are learning how to win, and unfortunately they are forced to do it in the wrong division at the wrong time. Lions 34, Bears 21.

Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving in prime time. Short week. Packers are 8-3, Dolphins 5-6. Maybe a good choice for the survival pool? Absolutely not. I won’t take the cheese! Literally. Miami’s offense and QB Tua Tagovailoa are too hot right now. Tagovailoa has completed 75% of his passes for 605 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions as Miami has scored 68 points in two wins over the last two weeks. Green Bay is ripe for a surprise. Dolphins 30, Packers 27.