The division of the National Football League consisting of the following teams:
Minnesota Vikings
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
This division was created as part of the realignment decided upon by the owners of all NFL Teams, and is officially in use as of the 2002 season. The realignment was decided upon due to the entry into the league of the Houston Texans, as well as wanting to fix the geographical anomalies in the old system, which had four of the teams in the NFC West either on the Mississippi River, or east of the Mississippi.