Packers Earn Bye But Wind Up Inches Short of No. 1 Seed

Green Bay is the No. 2 seed and will host a divisional-round game on Jan. 12.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 30, 2019 11:22 AM EST

DETROIT – With a first-round bye wrapped up, Aaron Rodgers had his Sunday night figured out. With his beverage of choice, he’d be tuning in to watch the San Francisco 49ers’ game at the Seattle Seahawks.

“I’ll have my usual glass and be an interested onlooker,” Rodgers said.

That scotch would have tasted better had Seattle tight end Jacob Hollister gained another 6 inches on his fourth-down catch in the final moments. Instead, Hollister was ruled short of the goal line and San Francisco survived a crazy fourth quarter to win 26-21 on Sunday night.

With that, the 49ers clinched the No. 1 seed and the Green Bay Packers will be the No. 2 seed. Both teams will have first-round byes next weekend and host divisional-round games the following weekend; San Francisco on Jan. 11 and Green Bay at 5:40 p.m. on Jan. 12. If both survive the divisional round, they’d meet in San Francisco for the NFC championship on Jan. 19; the 49ers crushed the Packers 37-8 on Nov. 24.

For wild-card weekend, No. 6 Minnesota (10-6) will play at No. 3 New Orleans (13-3) and No. 5 Seattle (11-5) will play at No. 4 Philadelphia (9-7). The lowest surviving seed will play at San Francisco (13-3); the highest remaining seed will play at Green Bay (13-3). If the top seeds win, it would be Philadelphia at San Francisco and New Orleans at Green Bay.

Green Bay needed a furious comeback from a 17-3 halftime deficit to beat the Lions and clinch no worse than the No. 2 seed. The bye was huge considering the loaded state of the NFC playoffs. Had the Packers lost, they would have fallen to No. 3 and had to host Minnesota next week. Instead, they will have a week off.

Of the 12 teams to reach the Super Bowl the previous six seasons, all had first-round byes.

“I think the NFC is wide open,” Rodgers said. “There’s six really good football teams that are in, and I think home-field advantage can be really important. Green Bay is a tough place to come and play, although we haven’t over my time haven’t had a distinct advantage as far as our win-loss record. I feel like this team can utilize the cold better than some of those other teams that relied on heavy passing games, where we’re a little more balanced this year.”

After a tougher-than-expected victory over Detroit, the week off will give coach Matt LaFleur critical time to fix an offense that malfunctions too often. A team that enjoyed incredible health for most of the season left Detroit banged up. No. 2 running back Jamaal Williams was inactive, and center Corey Linsley and right tackle Bryan Bulaga were among the front-line players who dropped out of the game.

The team’s five-game winning streak will mean nothing in two weeks.

“We just take it one game at a time, and I’ve told you guys that each and every week,” LaFleur said. “So, right now, the record is 0-0. It’s the postseason. I’m thankful that we have a chance to take a week to evaluate, to just look at everything that we’ve done, get healthy and then find out in a week who we’re playing.”