But since the NFL went to four divisions in 2002 and the Central became the North, there has been so much separation between the top team and the contenders that other goals, such as home-field advantage and preparation for the playoffs, have taken precedence as the season wears on.

Only once since the North was created has a team won the division by fewer than two games, and three of those six years the margin between first and second was at least five games. It has been a runaway for the most part.

But not this year.

Nine games into the season, one game separates the Green Bay Packers , Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings , and barring a collapse throughout the NFC, only one team out of the North will be going to the playoffs. With records of 5-4, the division-leading Bears and Vikings would be in third place in the NFC East, fourth place in the NFC South and second place in the NFC West.

"I think you have to be realistic," Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said last week. "Looking at the NFC East and NFC South, obviously their records speak for themselves. You have to go in thinking you have to win the division. That's the only sure thing.

"Could a team get hot? Certainly. Could a team go south? Yeah, we've seen that all the time. But right now, given the landscape, given what we're seeing, that's probably the case in our division."

At noon today at Lambeau Field, the Packers (4-5) and Bears meet for the 176th time, and while there have been games between the two when much more hung in the balance, this contest is critical for both teams' hopes of winning the division.

Lose, and the Packers fall two games behind the leader. Lose, and the Bears allow the Packers back in a race they probably don't deserve to be in.

"We're one game back, they're leading the division right now," Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "We've got two games left against them; we want to win all of our division games. We know that's one of the tiebreakers when it comes down to it. It's an important time for our Football team to establish our identity here in the second half and make a strong push for the playoffs."

There are a number of reasons the race is so tight this season, but probably only one explains why the balance of power appears to have changed. One team consistently had an advantage at the most important position, and that was quarterback Brett Favre.

Over Favre's 16 seasons in Green Bay , the Packers had only one losing season, and they failed to make the playoffs just four times. The Bears, Vikings and Lions continually changed quarterbacks, constantly remade themselves, but the Packers kept rolling with Favre under center.

Now that Favre's out of the division and playing in New York, the marked advantage the Packers had is gone.

"I wouldn't discount that Aaron Rodgers is a good Football player because obviously we all know he is, but there's probably some truth to that," Angelo said of the balance of power evening out. "Hey, Favre is a Hall of Fame player at the most valued position on the team, and that is going to give you an extra card on the table so to speak. He slanted the field, so I thought that gave Green Bay a tremendous advantage.

"I think the field is a little bit more even now. We have young quarterbacks and you have to start with the quarterbacks."

The Bears have struggled to find a quarterback for a long time - they started 21 of them during Favre's 275-game starting streak with the Packers - but they seem to have found their man in Kyle Orton, a former spread-offense practitioner who has been a classic game manager with the Bears.

The Bears started 5-3 with Orton but suffered a setback when he injured his ankle against Detroit and wasn't able to play in a loss to Tennessee last week. Orton hasn't had a horrible game, and in six of the eight games he has played he has not thrown an interception.

"He gets it," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "He makes the right decisions. He can throw the Football. He's a great leader. It's not just for me saying he's a leader, I mean, he was voted a captain the first time he started. He was voted the captain. We could talk on Kyle for a long time."

Rodgers, meanwhile, started out like a ball of fire in his first season as a starter but has taken his lumps lately. He has not been able to lead the team to reasonably achievable fourth-quarter comebacks in three of the teams' five losses. He has not been the difference-maker that Favre was during his time.

There's no debate, however, that the Packers and Bears reign over the rest of the division at the quarterback position, which gives the best hope for long-term success. The Vikings are playing with 37-year-old Gus Frerotte and probably won't ever get anything out of the younger Tarvaris Jackson. The Lions aren't going anywhere with Jon Kitna or Daunte Culpepper and need a complete makeover.

The one X-factor in the division is Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. If there is a player in the division who has the potential to shift the scales the way Favre did, it is Minnesota's phenomenal runner.

"He's a premier back," Packers defensive ends coach Carl Hairston said. "He's the closest thing to Jim Brown I've seen. He's a competitor, he's strong. I see why they gave him that nickname ('All Day'). He fits it well. Even out in the Pro Bowl, he came up to me and said, 'Can I play defensive end? I want to rush the passer.' I thought, I'm going to put him out there just for the hell of it.

"You have a guy like that, he's a great teammate. He kind of wears off on everybody else. He's helping that Football team a lot."

There are some who doubt a running back can dominate in the division the way a quarterback can. Angelo points to how much impact Hall of Famer Barry Sanders had on the Lions during his career.

"He probably took a sub-.500 team and made them a .500 team and got them in the playoffs one year," Angelo said. "It's hard to build a dynasty with a running back. You do it with a quarterback. Obviously a running back, a great player at that position, is going to give you a big advantage on offense. Our league is about scoring points. You have to be able to do that. But you have to be able to run and pass the ball."

Peterson might provide just enough for the Vikings to prevail over the others this season, but at this point, it's too close to call. The remaining schedule, injuries, the weather and several other factors will play a role in determining who wins this race of mutts.

Few in the division are willing to accept that the title will be meaningless because the winner won't stand a chance in the playoffs against a strong NFC field.

"I just think there are a lot of things to be determined yet," Packers tackle Mark Tauscher said. "It's always easy to examine on a weekly basis, but teams are judged by their record after 16 games. Everybody gets into these half-season reports - the bottom line is you look at a half-season report from last year, nobody would have said the New York Giants would be world champs.

"That's why you play 16 games to get into the playoffs."

Let the race continue.

BALANCE OF POWER

Year Champion W-L Runner-up W-L Margin

2007 Green Bay 13-3 Minnesota 8-8 5

2006 Chicago 13-3 Green Bay 8-8 5

2005 Chicago 11-5 Minnesota 9-7 2

2004 Green Bay 10-6 Minnesota 8-8 2

2003 Green Bay 10-6 Minnesota 9-7 1

2002 Green Bay 12-4 Minnesota 6-10 6

REMAINING OPPONENTS

Green Bay (4-5) Chicago (5-4) Minnesota (5-4) Detroit (0-9)

Chicago (5-4) at Green Bay (4-5) at Tampa Bay (6-3) at Carolina (7-2)

at N. Orleans (4-5) at St. Louis (2-7) At J'ksonville (4-5) Tampa Bay (6-3)

Carolina (7-2) at Minnesota (5-4) Chicago (5-4) Tennessee (9-0)

Houston (3-6) Jacksonville (4-5) at Detroit (0-9) Minnesota (5-4)

at J'ksonville (4-5) New Orleans (4-5) at Arizona (6-3) at Ind'polis (5-4)

at Chicago (5-4) Green Bay (4-5) Atlanta (6-3) New Orleans (4-5)

Detroit (0-9) at Houston (3-6) N.Y. Giants (8-1) at Green Bay (4-5)

(28-35) (26-37) (35-28) (40-23)

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