Every NFL team has played at least one preseason game now, so it’s time to take stock and spotlight the biggest emerging storylines across the league. Here’s the latest on every NFC North team.
Starting with the Hall of Fame Game last week and continuing with a full slate of preseason games Thursday through Saturday, NFL fans got their first taste of live action since the Super Bowl.
And if third-string quarterbacks balling out is what gets one revved up for the season, then the start of preseason play delivered in a big way.
While most of the league’s stars are mere spectators this time of year, there is still plenty to evaluate and learn from these games — and also the continuing developments from training camps.
As we go division by division, let’s dive into the top performances and most compelling storylines from every NFC North.
Chicago Bears
Preseason Week 1 Result: 34-10 W over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday
Top Performers: CB Beanie Bishop Jr. and WR Kaden Davis
Two players competing for roster spots made big impressions in the Bears’ preseason debut
Beanie Bishop, who just signed with the Bears on Aug. 9 amidst depth concerns in the secondary, made 2 interceptions in the fourth quarter Saturday.
First, he picked off Browns QB Shedeur Sanders on a badly overthrown pass down the seam and returned it 34 yards for good field position.
On the Browns’ very next possession, Bishop then picked off Dillon Gabriel on another woefully overthrown pass, returning this one 21 yards to help set up an eventual Bears field goal.
Bishop went undrafted in 2024 out of West Virginia but caught on with the Steelers and had 45 tackles, 4 interceptions and 7 passes defended. He was relegated to Pittsburgh’s practice squad last season before being released in November. He then signed with the Saints practice squad and was released in July.
In the meanwhile, he picked up a three-game NFL suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, but the Bears knew that when they signed him (along with four other defensive backs this month) with mounting injury concerns at both safety (where big free agent addition Coby Bryant set to miss 4-6 months after knee surgery) and to the cornerback depth (with Kyler Gordon still out indefinitely with a calf injury). So Bishop has a chance to play his way into a roster spot.
Meanwhile, Kaden Davis led the Bears with 4 catches for 88 yards, including a 41-yard reception down the middle from backup QB Tyson Bagent.
Undrafted in 2022 out of Division II Northwest Missouri State, Davis has bounced around NFL practice squads the last few years while earning some special teams work with the Cleveland Browns the last two seasons. He’s competing for the final WR spot on the Bears roster and has had a solid camp overall.
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: Settling on a left tackle
It was initially presumed that 2025 second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo, who emerged as the Bears’ starting left tackle late last season before rupturing the patellar tendon in his knee in the team’s first playoff game, would be out for most of 2026.
Even still, the Bears didn’t sign a notable free agent to replace him, setting a training camp battle between former starter Braxton Jones, former Browns first-round pick and starter Jedrick Wills Jr. and 2024 third-round pick Kiran Amegadjie, who missed all of last season with an elbow injury.
Jones was the favorite to reclaim the job, but he has been out since early August with an unspecified injury, Amegadjie (34 snaps) and Wills (29) split work in the preseason game, though neither particularly stood out.
Meanwhile, Trapilo was activated from the physically unable to perform list Sunday, meaning he’s allowed to practice with the team though there has been no update on his status.
Detroit Lions
Preseason Week 1 Result: 16-14 L at Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday
Top Performer: RB Jacob Saylors.
Since going undrafted in 2023 out of East Tennessee State, Saylors has bounced around training camps and practice squads and spent two seasons playing in the United Football League. That earned him a shot last year with the Lions, where he was primarily a kick returner (averaging 27.2 yards on 33 returns) while getting 2 rushing attempts for 11 yards.
With star running back Jahmyr Gibbs predictably held out of the preseason opener and new backup RB Isiah Pacheco sidelined with a sprained MCL, Saylors got a full workload Thursday to showcase himself in the role.
He turned a team-high 8 carries into 55 yards (6.9 YPC) and caught 3 passes for 28 yards. His long run of 27 yards showed impressive field vision and shiftiness.
Saylors is battling Sione Vaki, a special teams contributor the last two seasons for Detroit, for the Lions RB3 role — which could be an important one given Pacheco’s injury history and general decline his final couple years in Kansas City.
“He’s been in our system now. He got a full year with us, he’s banked a lot of reps — particularly on special teams, but he’s been in that [RB] room,” coach Dan Campbell said. “… This is a great opportunity for him.”
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: A new No. 2 QB and devastating injury loss
Veteran backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater announced as week ago that he’s retiring — for good this time — due to the physical toll of his 11-year career and not feeling like he can continue through another season.
After earlier retiring for a year, he returned late in the 2024 season by re-joining the Lions before spending last season with the Buccaneers.
Bridgewater was set to backup Jared Goff again this season. With his retirement, the Lions signed well-traveled Josh Dobbs, who has played with six other teams since 2018. He went 4-of-8 passing for 32 yards in the preseason camp, while undrafted rookie Luke Altmyer handled the bulk of the work (13 of 22 for 130 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs).
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The other big news from Lions camp is new center Cade Mays’ wrist injury, which ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported as a “bone break” that will sideline him until roughly the middle of the season.
Mays came over from the Panthers on a three-year, $25-million contract this offseason as the Lions’ biggest free agent addition.
Unless Detroit makes a move to address the position, it will be left to patch it together with Juice Scruggs (who was a reserve guard for the Texans last season, coming over in the David Montgomery trade), Seth McLaughlin (who spent time on the Bengals’ practice squad last year as an undrafted rookie) and Michael Niese (who has appeared in 26 games with no starts over three seasons with the Lions, including 12 snaps at center last year).
This is a major blow to one of the best offenses in the NFL.
“He will be out for a significant period of time,” Campbell said of Mays. “He will be back for the season at some point, but it will be down the road.”
Green Bay Packers
Preseason Week 1 Result: 28-9 L at Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday
Top Performer: Kicker Trey Smack
The Packers did nothing of note offensively in their preseason debut with just three field goals, but that’s notable in itself as Smack has had some early struggles in his first training camp after being drafted in the sixth round out of Florida.
Smack is the only kicker on the roster after the Packers released veteran Brandon McManus in May, and he was the only kicker selected in the entire 2026 NFL Draft, so Green Bay is invested in his potential.
And Smack rewarded the confidence Thursday, going 3-for-3 on field goals from 37, 58 and 38 yards. He also knocked an earlier 58-yarder through the uprights, but a penalty extended the drive before he instead kicked the 37-yarder.
The long field goals are nothing new for Smack, who was 10 of 13 on attempts of at least 50 yards during his time at Florida, but his career long in college was 56. Overall, he made 53 of 64 field goals and 100 of 101 extra point attempts in three seasons for the Gators.
As for the Packers’ offense, QB Jordan Love played one series (3 of 5 for 18 yards) while leading a field goal drive. Backup QB Tyrod Taylor also played just one series (4 of 8 for 21 yards), while Kyle McCord, a 2025 sixth-round draft pick of the Eagles, was 12 of 16 for 102 yards.
The real disappointment was the ineffective performance by young running back MarShawn Lloyd (the Packers’ 2024 third-round pick), who had a prime opportunity handling all the first-team reps and some with the second unit as well with starting RB Josh Jacobs nursing a groin injury and Chris Brooks also sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Lloyd managed just 13 yards on 4 carries and 1 catch for negative yards. He looked like a high-upside Day 2 pick when the Packers drafted him out of USC, but he’s played in just one game in two seasons due to injuries.
Brooks, who has rushed for 395 yards and a TD on 4.8 YPC in two seasons in Green Bay, signed a two-year, $4.85-million extension in March, so he’s not going anywhere. If Lloyd is going to have any future with the Packers, he needs to show something this year and Thursday was a missed opportunity.
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: A true cornerback competition
Cornerback Brandon Cisse was Green Bay’s top draft pick — No. 52 overall out of South Carolina — and he’s competing for a role at one of the Packers’ deepest positions, with three-year starters Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon and free agent addition Benjamin St-Juste (a three-year starter for the Commanders before playing in a reserve role for the Chargers in 2025).
And so far, Cisse is holding his own with the veterans, making highlight plays throughout camp and delivering an encouraging performance in his NFL preseason debut.
The touchdown-saving tackle above is uniquely notable in this case as Nixon drew scrutiny last January for appearing to shy away from a tackle opportunity near the goal line in the Packers’ playoff loss to the Bears.
Nixon (25 in the clip below) then had a bad missed tackle in the preseason game Thursday.
Nixon was a first-team All-Pro for the Packers in 2022-2023 as a nickel corner and earned a Pro Bowl invite last year after moving to the outside, while totaling 72 tackles, 1 interception and 17 passes defended (tied for the sixth-most in the NFL). But he also led all defensive backs in penalties (accepted or declined) with 13, per ESPN.
And the coaching staff has challenged him to compete for his job this camp.
“I guess I’m being punished right now. I guess, I don’t know,” Nixon said. “I don’t really worry about what I’m running in camp, the 1s or 2s, I just keep my process and just compete.”
Minnesota Vikings
Preseason Week 1 Result: 13-10 W at New York Giants on Saturday
Top Performer: WR Myles Price
Price led the way for the Vikings both on the stat sheet and in the highlight reel Saturday, making an impressive one-handed catch in the end zone for the team’s only touchdown of the game.
Price, who caught the 1-yard scoring pass from Carson Wentz, finished with a team-leading 4 catches for 51 yards, including a 28-yard reception that might have been even more impressive than the touchdown grab.
That also came on a pass from Wentz, as Price went over a Giants’ defender to secure the catch, and then took off running for significant extra yardage.
Unfortunately for Price, there’s really nothing he can do this preseason to usurp the Vikings’ vaunted top three at WR of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and new addition Jauan Jennings.
Price, an undrafted rookie out of Indiana in 2025 who signed a three-year, $2.965-million contract last year, is in the mix for the WR4 role with 2025 third-round pick Tai Felton (just 3 catches for 25 yards as a rookie) the top competition.
Price carved out a big role on kickoff and punt returns (despite fumbling four times and losing three) as a rookie. The ball control issues are a concern, but he averaged 25.9 yards on 57 kick returns with a long of 61 yards and averaged 9.9 yards on 30 punt returns with a long of 43 yards.
Emerging Training Camp Storyline: Kyler Murray asserts himself as QB1
We tried to cut through the palaver a couple of weeks ago and make abundantly clear that there was never actually a quarterback competition in Minnesota or any doubt that free agent addition Kyler Murray would be the starter over J.J. McCarthy, but it took an official announcement from coach Kevin O’Connell on Tuesday to bring an end to the preseason’s most useless non-storyline.
With that non-mystery solved, Murray played one series in the Vikings’ preseason opener, completing 2 of 3 passes for 10 yards on a ground-led field goal drive.
McCarthy was 4 of 7 for 34 yards with Wentz getting most of the work, completing 9 of 14 passes for 81 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs.
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The bad news from the preseason opener was the season-ending knee injury to safety/linebacker Jamal Adams, a former Pro Bowl/All-Pro who had just signed with the team at the end of July.
Entering his 10th NFL season, Adams was working at both linebacker and safety for the Vikings and was set to provide key depth for the defense.
With Adams out of the picture, the Vikings could look to revisit the potential of six-time Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith returning for a 15th season with the team. Smith had been delaying a decision on retirement or a return for one more season.
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