Can the Packers or Vikings end the NFC North’s Super Bowl drought?

It has been 3,275 days since the most meaningful win of the NFL’s greatest rivalry: a 21-14 Packers victory at Soldier Field that left Jay Cutler sidelined and showered with boos because of an injured knee. When Sam Shields picked off third-string quarterback Caleb Hanie’s fourth-down pass to win the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 23, 2011, it felt like a dynasty’s first step. The Packers confirmed as much two weeks later, when they beat the Steelers to win the Super Bowl.

With quarterback Aaron Rodgers in only his third year as the starter, the Packers seemed destined for multiple trips to the Super Bowl.

The Bears haven’t come close to greatness since. The Packers had six consecutive playoff berths, ending with the 2016 season, but never made it back to the Super Bowl.

Neither did anyone else from the NFC North.

At this time last year, there were no NFC North teams still alive — thanks to the Bears’ first-round double-doink loss to the Eagles. This weekend, the Packers and Vikings will try to move one step closer to becoming the first North team to win the NFC since the end of the 2010 season.

Surprise first-round winners against the Saints, the Vikings will aim for their second upset in six days Saturday at the top-seeded 49ers. The division champion Packers, the No. 2 seed, host the Seahawks on Sunday.

If they both win, the winner of the George Halas Trophy will be decided Jan. 19 at Lambeau Field.

That would mark a decided shift from the rest of the decade.

Since the Packers-Bears NFC Championship Game, only three North teams have even made it to the conference title game. The Packers lost twice — at the end of the 2014 and ’16 seasons — by a combined 29 points. Two years ago, the Eagles drubbed the Vikings by 31, ending their hopes of playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium.

While the North has been shut out since the Packers’ last Super Bowl trip, berths have been sprinkled throughout the other NFC divisions. In the last eight seasons, three NFC West teams have reached the Super Bowl — the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks (twice). The South saw the Panthers and Falcons lose in dramatic fashion, while the East’s Giants and Eagles won their Super Bowl berths.

For the Bears, that must be the most frustrating part about their latest decade of ineptitude. Since losing to the Packers in the NFC title game, they’ve made the postseason once and failed to win a game. But it wasn’t because they were rendered helpless in the wake of some juggernaut.

With a 76-84 record in the last 10 seasons, the Bears spent the decade as the third-best team — with the fourth-best quarterback situation — in the NFC’s least threatening division. Neither the Packers, who had 102 wins in the decade, nor the Vikings, who had 81, look ready to concede their spots.

Coach Matt LaFleur provided the culture change the Packers needed this season, though their free-agent splurge on defensive players — and their even rarer running-game focus — was more of a driver for their 13-3 season.

The offense was about league average — 15th in points and 18th in yards — but Rodgers still scares anyone with a pulse. His 16 postseason starts are the most of any offensive player still alive in the playoffs. He has the benefit of handing off to Aaron Jones, too. No running back had more regular-season rushing touchdowns than his 16.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins quieted the biggest criticism of him — that he can’t win important games — by throwing a touchdown pass in overtime to beat the Saints.

By keeping his team alive, Cousins ensured that coach Mike Zimmer would return. There were rumors of the Cowboys being interested in him as head coach had the Vikings lost. A defensive guru, Zimmer devised a plan to hold the Saints to 20 points, eight below their season average.

The Bears? As in most years, they can take comfort in the fact they’re not the Lions, whose coach, Matt Patricia, got to stay despite winning nine games in his first two seasons — then set about replacing eight assistants this month.

While the Bears haven’t won a playoff game in nine years, the Lions’ winless streak goes back to 1992.

It’s up to the NFC North’s other two teams to change the division’s reputation.