Very Stupid Question: What are tiers?

[Hyfigh]

You still have an Animal companion, the same base attack and roughly one HP of difference between you and the Monk. And you get more than one spell per day.

Don't forget the potential free AoO for both you and the companion from the wolf (if that's what you chose for a companion) tripping your foe.

Edit: I forgot that a Flurrying monk will be attacking twice at -2 without stats taken into account. The druid doesn't take that penalty for his attack, and his animal companion gets one as well. Bare-bones fighting, even without spells, the druid fares better than the monk in combat encounters. So the druid can end two encounters per day gauranteed, and can still handle the rest of them better than the monk. The druids got a leg up in staying power for sure.