Packers Move Into No. 2 Seed; Staying There Will Be Vital
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Given the team’s inconsistent play and uninspiring performances the last three weeks, the Green Bay Packers’ best hope for getting to the Super Bowl is to earn a bye so they can sit out wild-card weekend and stay home for the divisional round.
With three weeks to go, the Packers are in position to get that coveted bye. With Green Bay’s win over Washington and New Orleans’ loss to San Francisco, the Packers moved into the No. 2 slot in the NFC standings on Sunday.
To stay at No. 2 – or potentially surge to No. 1 – probably will require the Packers to win their final three regular-season games.
Given the power of the NFC this season, it’s an obvious advantage to not have to play a quality opponent on wild-card weekend. Moreover, after a stretch in which several teams – including the Packers in 2010 – won the Super Bowl while playing in the wild-card round, the overwhelming edge the last several years has gone to teams with byes. In fact, no team since Baltimore in 2012 has advanced to the Super Bowl while playing on the opening round of the playoffs. That’s a six-year streak in which all 12 Super Bowl participants got to chill out for the wild-card games.
The Packers missed the playoffs the last two seasons and haven’t had a bye since 2014. Remarkably, for all of Green Bay’s success with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, it’s only had the bye in 2011 and 2014.
“That’s what we’re playing for at this point is to have that nice week off,” Rodgers said. “First, it’s the division, though. Obviously, we know what’s coming next to week. Chicago’s 7-6 and they’ve been playing better of late, obviously. They’re still in the mix, so we’ve got to put together a good performance and then we know what’s after that, as well.”
What’s after that is a Week 16 trip to Minnesota. The Packers lead the Vikings by a game in the NFC North and, at this point, would have the tiebreaker based on better division record. So, the Packers could lose against the Vikings and win the division, but that could knock them out of the first-round bye. The regular season concludes at Detroit (3-9-1).
“Yeah, and it’s not even necessarily the final three games, it’s the Chicago Bears,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Shoot, you look at what they did beating a pretty good Dallas team and they were pretty much in control for the entire game. I don’t think the final score was indicative of how that game went. I just think that we’ve got a tough task in front of us and I know we’re going to get their best shot. We’ve got to get a lot corrected in order to beat a quality opponent like that.”
After a one-week hiatus, San Francisco (11-2) is back atop the NFC with its shootout win over the Saints. Green Bay (10-3) and New Orleans (10-3) have matching records but the Packers have the conference-record tiebreaker with two losses vs. NFC teams compared to three for the Saints. If Green Bay and New Orleans stay at No. 2 or No. 3, obviously the Packers would have a better chance of beating the Saints at Lambeau Field than the Superdome.
Somebody has to win the NFC East and get the No. 4 seed; at the moment, it’s Dallas (6-7). Seattle, which lost at the Rams on Sunday night, is in fifth place at 10-3. Minnesota is in sixth place at 9-4.
Los Angeles and Chicago are in hot pursuit. The Rams, the defending NFC champions, are 8-5 and have won two in a row since getting trounced by Baltimore. Chicago, which comes to Green Bay on Sunday, is 7-6. The Bears have won three in a row and will have three extra days of rest.
“That’s big-time,” running back Aaron Jones said of the team’s place in the standings. “You want everything to run through here come playoff time. For us, it starts with Chicago. We’ve got to handle business there and next week and the week after the week. Then we’ll talk about where we’re at.”
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